The Theory of Unrequited (The Science of Unrequited Book 1)

by Len Webster

And with his whole heart.

  Alexandra Parker was his whole heart.

  His best friend was his everything.

  And he would do everything to make her happy.

  19 K

  potassium

  AJ

  Now

  Dinner with Kyle was nice.

  And horrible.

  And torturous.

  It was a confliction to her emotions.

  She was betraying Evan.

  As she sat and ate her truffle and cream pasta, she felt sick pretending that having dinner with his brother was okay. She felt even worse when Landon had walked by. He had stared at Kyle for a long moment before he left the restaurant. She felt like she was betraying him, too. Landon Carmichael was an innocent bystander who she could hurt if she let him get too close. But he proved his interests when he smiled at her and allowed that to be the last sight of him she had. Thankfully, Kyle hadn’t noticed.

  Between catching up, Kyle swapped text messages with a few of his teammates who were already in Florida. After dinner, they had taken a cab back to Duke, and he had walked her to Wilson. He had kissed her on the cheek and pleaded that she come home for the playoffs.

  AJ made no promises.

  All she said was that she would see.

  She had the finances to go home.

  Her parents made sure she never struggled, and that she was financially stable at college. In fact, if she wanted to go on a spending spree, she could. As long as she didn’t lose focus or get a job. Her father was still adamant that she worked hard to get into MIT for her postgrad. And she would. Not just for her parents but for herself, too.

  After AJ went to her dorm room, she found her roommate lying in bed, reading a book. When AJ asked how the reading was going, Savannah had sighed and said she wasn’t as lucky in the boy department as the women in the books. AJ had laughed, slipped off her shoes, and jumped onto her own bed. Next thing she knew, Savannah was handing her an ice cream pint and demanding AJ tell her about her dinner with Kyle and Landon’s unexpected appearance.

  That had been weeks ago. Now, AJ was in the library, staring at a picture message from her roommate.

  Savannah: [image]

  Alexandra Parker’s one true pair (OTP) partner!

  1. Evan and Alex.

  2. Alex and Evan.

  3. Evan and Alex.

  4. Savannah and Alex (admit it, I am the best roommate ever!)

  5. Landon and Alex.

  Re: Number five.

  Landon Carmichael aka Connecticut deserves a chance at being your one true pair because he has done everything right, and you deserve the way he looks at you. I’m not blind. I saw it at the frat party.

  6. Kyle and Alex

  Sorry, Alex. Kyle Gilmore is HOT. Unbelievably HOT. But from everything you’ve told me, you adore him like you’d adore a brother. Or a puppy! So you and Kyle are not the OTP.

  Just as AJ was about to text back, she got another message from her roommate, who was supposed to be working at the coffee shop.

  Savannah: If Landon does anything that warrants him moving above you and me or you and Evan as OTP, please let me know right away so I can amend the order. I like Landon for you, Alex, but I don’t know enough about you and Evan, so I can’t cross him off the list just yet.

  AJ: The fact that you wrote a list and made notes is crazy. There is no “one true pair,” Sav. There is no Evan and me because he hates me. And I haven’t seen Landon SINCE my dinner with Kyle. And NO, I will not date or be in a relationship with Kyle. He is my friend. And as much as Evan hates me, I still consider him my best friend, and I will never betray him like that. Can you lay off my “colorful love life” as you put it because there is NONE. My goal is to get through freshman year, then sophomore year, then junior year, and finally senior year. Then I can graduate and go to MIT for my Ph.D.

  AJ: Also, you should be working!

  Savannah: I’m on a ten-minute break. I don’t think Evan hates you, Alex. I’m sure he’s hurt, but I don’t think he truly meant that email. Read his other ones.

  AJ: And read more of how much of a horrible person I am? No, thanks. There better not be a copy of that list anywhere in our dorm room when I get home.

  Savannah: Nope. Electronic copies are the way to go. Means I can send you reminders all the time, and I’m being responsible to Mother Earth and not printing copies.

  AJ: How about not having a list at all?

  Savannah: Relax, no one is going to see this list. Would you like me to bring back those muffins you like?

  AJ: Yes, please. I’m almost done with my math assignment anyway.

  Savannah: Pick me up on the way back to the dorm? Also, why do you have to do math?

  AJ: Because there’s math in physics.

  Savannah: GAG!

  AJ: I’ll stop by the coffee shop once I’m finished with my assignment.

  Savannah: See you later, my OTP!

  Rolling her eyes, AJ exited her text messages with Savannah and stared at her email app. She had almost thirty unread emails from Evan. AJ chewed her lip as her thumb hovered the screen. She could open them to get rid of the annoying and scary notification balloon that told her how many emails she had. Or she could delete them. Two very different options. Two different paths she could take to handle her tattered relationship with her best friend, Evan Gilmore.

  But AJ didn’t want to accept either option and went for a third.

  The ignoring option.

  The option she had taken for weeks since she had read his first ever hate-filled email.

  And before she was able to truly cement her choice, a throat cleared. She glanced over to find Landon Carmichael standing next to her. It wasn’t hard to find her. She always sat at the same table in the same seat in the library. When that table by the window was taken, she would study in her dorm. Most didn’t like this spot since it had the poorest Wi-Fi signal in the entire building, but AJ didn’t mind. Her textbooks were all she really needed, and the programs were already installed on her laptop. AJ realized just how predictable she was since Landon was able to find her once again. Though it did make her wonder why it took two weeks for him to find her again.

  “Massachusetts,” Landon said in a soft voice. “How are you?”

  AJ smiled, unable to stop herself. “Connecticut. I’m good. How are you?”

  Formality was awkward, and she knew it was obvious.

  “I’m good. You mind if I join you? I have a paper due, and there are no free tables.”

  AJ blinked and then glanced over her shoulder to find plenty of empty tables and chairs. Then she gazed back at him, her eyebrow raised.

  “Well, no other table that has you sitting at it,” he added.

  Her shoulders sagged. “Fine. Take a seat.”

  Landon grinned at her, set his books down, took off his backpack, then set it on the floor. With ease, he sat down in front of her and asked, “How are you, Alex?”

  “You already asked me that,” she said, setting down her pencil.

  “I know. But I just want to make sure I asked. So how are you?”

  She let out a small laugh. “I’m good. A little stressed with assignments, but I’m good. How’s basketball going? I heard you guys won last weekend. Congratulations.”

  “You didn’t go?”

  AJ shook her head. “No. I’m sorry. Maybe next time.”

  Landon nodded, and he glanced down, taking in the sweater she wore. “Pythagorean theorem?”

  She glanced down to take in the equation on her pink sweater.

  a2 + b2 = c2

  “Yeah, it is.”

  “Why are you wearing the Pythagorean theorem?” he asked as his blue eyes met hers. “You’re a physics major, not a math major.”

  “Well, I like math, but the Pythagorean
theorem doesn’t just tell you an unknown side of a triangle—”

  “So ‘x’?”

  AJ nodded. “That’s right. It can also calculate the force it would take to push an object up a hill. You know, physics.”

  Landon glanced down at her chest and then back at her. “Then why doesn’t your sweater have the correct equation?”

  She stared at him in confusion. “The correct equation?”

  He nodded as he reached for her pencil, brought her open notebook closer to him, and scribbled something down. Then he slid it back to her and asked, “Wouldn’t this be the equation to calculate force when using Pythagorean theorem?”

  Glancing down at the notebook, she took in what Landon wrote.

  F = √ a2 + b2

  AJ’s heart pounded in her chest as she took in Landon’s rectified equation. It was correct. The jock in front of her knew math, and he wasn’t afraid to show it. He was a lot more than she could have comprehended. AJ lifted her chin and pressed her lips into a tight smile, not wanting him to know how he affected her with that math. No one should be swept off their feet by a math equation. Especially not by a man as attractive as Landon Carmichael.

  “That’s correct.” His victorious grin had her shaking her head at him. “Don’t let it get to your head.”

  “I won’t if you answer me this one question.”

  AJ stilled.

  He would do it.

  After weeks of teasing, he was finally going to fulfill his promise and ask her to dinner.

  “Okay?”

  Landon set his arms on the table and leaned closer, his eyes looking at hers. “Are you going back to Brookline for fall break?”

  “Oh,” AJ breathed, her cheeks warming in humiliation. She thought he was going to ask her out to dinner. She felt like a total fool. AJ cleared her throat, wishing she didn’t feel hot under his watchful gaze. “I’m not sure yet. Are you going back to New Haven?”

  His nose crinkled, and he shook his head. “No. Not this time. My parents are attending a charity remembrance dinner for that doctor who worked with my father in New York. That’s where he worked for a few years before he moved back to Charlotte to retire.”

  “Oh, and how is your father?”

  Landon’s lips pressed into a tight line. “Lost a good friend, but he’s okay. When I saw you at Improvvisare, it was the first time that day I actually smiled. Funerals suck, but wakes, God, they’re worse.”

  “I’m sorry,” she uttered, hating that she felt so helpless.

  “Thanks, but I didn’t know the guy that well. So it hasn’t really affected me the way it has with my father. Why aren’t you sure about going home?”

  Because Evan might be there.

  AJ winced at the truthful thought she just had.

  She was still too scared to see Evan.

  To hear, feel, and see his hate for her.

  “Brookline is a lot farther than New Haven,” she deflected.

  “It is.”

  “Exactly.”

  He squinted at her. “What are you running from that’s preventing you from going home?”

  AJ suddenly felt uncomfortable as she leaned back in her chair, needing distance from Landon. “Nothing.”

  Not a what.

  A who.

  “Really?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. Really. I might go home. I just haven’t decided yet. Plus, I want to see if my roommate goes home or not.”

  “Yo, Landon!” someone shouted behind her.

  Landon tilted his chin up and acknowledged the person behind her. “I’ve gotta run, Alex,” he announced.

  “Yeah, of course.”

  He collected his textbooks, grabbed his bag from the floor, and slipped out of his chair. Then he gazed down at her, and he seemed conflicted. He let out a heavy breath. “Alex?”

  “Yes?”

  He was quiet for a moment.

  A long moment as he stared at her.

  “If you plan on staying on campus for fall break, let me know. I’d like to take you out for dinner one night. If you plan on going back home and need a lift to the airport, you only have to find me.”

  “Was that you asking me out to dinner?”

  His insecurity left his features as he grinned. His bright blue eyes sparkled at her, causing those butterflies in her to create cyclones. “It is,” he confirmed. “Alexandra Parker from Brookline, Massachusetts, will you have dinner with me during fall break or if you are going home, will you let me drive you to the airport?”

  Landon Carmichael had done it.

  He made himself an option.

  A choice for her.

  To acknowledge and want.

  Not to ignore and hide from.

  He had chosen her when many hadn’t, and AJ decided she had to cement that choice.

  And just as she was able to tell Landon her answer, he said, “Let me know your answer the next time I see you. See you later, Massachusetts,” and left her at her table.

  AJ noticed her phone ringing, and Kyle’s name flashing on her screen.

  Her heart raced as her mind thought a million and one thoughts. AJ picked up her phone, shoved all her books into her bag, and raced out of the library. She quickly scanned around her to find Landon walking toward the basketball stadium.

  Sometimes, equations were hard to solve.

  But when you had the right numerals, the right theory, it would lead you to the right results.

  And AJ had her heart’s solution sitting in front of her moments ago.

  She made her choice final as she ran after him.

  It felt right and true.

  And AJ was sure of it.

  Because it wasn’t every day that a member of the opposite sex found her attractive and was willing to reconstruct a math equation for her.

  Landon Carmichael was rare.

  “Landon!” she called out, running toward him. She just narrowly missed crashing into a student on a bike. “Landon, wait!”

  Still nothing.

  AJ came to a stop, taking a deep breath and shouting out, “Connecticut!”

  He stopped immediately, said something to his friend who then continued walking, and spun around. The humor was written all over his face as he took her in, AJ struggling to take in air from the marathon it took to reach him.

  “I heard you the first time you yelled out my name. I was waiting for you to call me ‘Connecticut.’”

  “I …” she wheezed out, hating how heavy her backpack was. She was sure that was what slowed her down and not her fitness.

  “Yes, Massachusetts?”

  “I’m staying,” she managed to say. “On campus … During fall break … I’m staying on campus.”

  “Okay?”

  She took a deep breath and then released it. “Ask me again.”

  Landon closed the distance between them. “You sure?”

  “Just ask me.”

  “Alex, would you let me take you out to dinner during fall break?”

  Ignoring her phone vibrating in her hand, AJ answered, “Yes. I will have dinner with you during fall break.”

  His blue eyes flashed with relief, and her heart clenched at the sight. “Okay. But are you sure you can wait a couple of weeks? Fall break isn’t for a while.”

  AJ rolled her eyes. “I should be asking you that.”

  “I don’t think I can wait a couple of weeks, but I will for you. I have to go, but how about I meet you at the library same time tomorrow, and you can give me your number?”

  “Why don’t I give it to you right now?”

  Landon took a step back, and with a large grin, said, “Where’s the us in that?”

  Us.

  He found an ‘us’ in a short period of time.

  And AJ couldn’t help ho
w quickly her heart gave up its fight against Landon Carmichael.

  In fact, she let her heart go oh so willingly.

  “Seriously, Alex, I don’t want you to buy me sprinkled donuts,” her roommate insisted as they walked down another aisle. It had been a couple of hours since she had agreed to go out to dinner with Landon. After they said goodbye, she walked to the coffee shop and waited for Savannah to finish work. AJ had to pick up a few things from the store, and her roommate had offered to drive and accompany her to Harris Teeter.

  “Are you serious?”

  Her roommate glared at her. “I’m very serious.”

  AJ rolled her eyes as she set the box of pink sprinkled donuts into the cart. “Sav, it’s the least I can do since you drive me to get groceries when we need them.”

  This time, Savannah rolled her eyes. “I’m your roommate and friend, Alex. Plus, it’s fun shopping with you. I didn’t think you’d be the type to have a sweet tooth.”

  “My mother owns a bakery.”

  “Speaking of mothers, are you going back to Brookline for fall break to see your parents?”

  AJ shook her head and walked toward the cereal section. “No. Not for fall break. But I will go back for Thanksgiving. What about you?”

  Savannah pushed the shopping cart, the squeaky wheels following them as they reached the cereal. “I’m going back to Montpelier to see my dad. I can help him out for a few days and hopefully make a little bit of extra money so he can take Thanksgiving off.”

  AJ turned and took in Savannah’s concerned expression. She knew her roommate felt bad that her father was working two jobs to send her to college. Financial aid could only help so much in assisting with school supplies.

  “Do you want Lucky Charms or Apple Jacks?”

  Savannah released herself from cart duties and pushed AJ aside. “Eww, Alex. Apple Jacks? Lucky Charms or no cereal at all,” she said as she pulled a box from the shelf and put it inside the cart, separating it from the rest of the shopping.

  “What are you doing?” AJ asked, eyebrow raised.