Page 56 of Waiting For Fate

“What?” Jackson frowns, confused because he couldn’t hear me. I glance up at Sawyer and just before he retreats to the living room, he gives me a wink that—luckily—only I can see. My cheeks heat instantly, and I try to mask it with a smile directed at Jackson.

Tucker slaps Sawyer over the back of the head as they walk side by side across the room and I can’t help but smirk when Sawyer shoves him back.

“Oh, I can’t believe I actually pulled that off.” Jackson walks over to pull me into an embrace, clearly proud of himself for pulling off this very unexpected surprise.

“What are you doing here?” I try my best to sound pleasantly surprised but I’m having a hard time focusing on anything but the phantom feeling of Sawyer’s tongue gliding across mine.

“I wanted to surprise you!”

“During the biggest family Christmas gathering anyone’s ever seen?” I laugh nervously.

“I mean, yeah. I knew you said you’d be here tonight and even if I don’t love being here with all your friends, I still wanted to see you. Plus, I can finally meet your parents this way.” The one part of my brain that was finally starting to work after the hottest kiss of my life, breaks all over again as I process what he just said.

“What did you just say?” Cocking my head to the side I glare at him until he becomes visibly more uncomfortable.

“What? You don’t want me to meet your parents?” He frowns.

“Um, no. I want you to rewind to the part where you said you don’t like my friends.” I don’t let my glare waver for even a moment as I cross my arms over my chest defensively.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like them. I just… I don’t know. They’re a lot sometimes. But you’re not! I just like it better when it’s just the two of us.” He smiles. He actually smiles at me.

“What the hell, Jackson?”

“Is that a problem?” His brows knit together, as my eyes widen. He can’t be serious.

“Uh, yeah. It’s a fucking problem. Those girls aren’t just my friends, they’re my family. If you have a problem with them then this,” I wave a finger between us, “isn’t going to work.”

“Things just seem to work out better for us when they’re not around. Don’t you agree? We don’t have to get along for you and me to be together, do we?”

He truly thinks we can date and just never see my friends? The people I’ve shared more than half of my life with?

Suddenly my entire future flashes before my eyes and it’s only me and Jackson, a closet full of the same pair of khaki pants in bulk, with no other friends in sight.

“Hey, look…if it’s really that important to you, I can try again.” He plasters a larger-than-life smile on his face, takes both my hands in his and it takes everything in me not to rip them away. He makes it sound like he’s doing me some kind of favor—offering to try to like my friends. There are just some things you can’t force to happen, and if he doesn’t love them already, chances are, he never will.

“I don’t think that will be necessary. You should go.” I take a step back out of his grip and his face falls.

I wait for him to argue and say he wants to stay and make this work or get angry that I’m not letting things go any further simply because he doesn’t like my friends. I mean, I’m sure other twenty-eight-year-old women don’t come with four deal-breaker best friends, but I’m not other women, and I do.

But, of course, he doesn’t fight for me to give him another chance. He simply nods and turns to leave. I should have known he wouldn’t care. He’s way too passive to fight for what he wants. Or maybe I’m just simply not what he wants anymore.

I hear the front door slam and I close my eyes, fighting the tears that are daring to spill out the moment I lift my eyelids again. I take a few deep breaths, trying to compartmentalize everything that’s happened tonight so I can at least attempt to appear merry and bright for the remainder of the evening. Then I feel someone’s hands on my arms and my eyes fly back open.

My girls.

All four of them are standing around me in the corner of the kitchen, looking on with concern as I blink away the unshed tears.

“You okay?” Shane asks first.

“What was that about?” Lauren nods to where Jackson just made his unnecessarily loud exit.

“I uh, I think Jackson and I just broke up.”

“What? How come?” Taylor asks. Even though it feels like the universe is trying to somehow apologize for constantly screwing me over in the relationship department by giving me a glimpse of what it will be like to be with Sawyer the very same night Jackson revealed his true colors as the perfect shade of shitstain, I can’t bear to tell them—on Christmas no less—that it’s because he has a problem with them. So, I roll my eyes and brush it off. That’s a conversation for another night.

“Something stupid. It’s not even worth mentioning.” I give them a half-ass smile as they all scoff and start in on the We never liked him anyways speeches that come with the territory of defending your best friend’s broken heart.

Only I’m not broken-hearted. Things with Jackson had become mundane at best even before he said what he did about my friends. I thought maybe I missed the spark between us because our first—and second—kisses were tainted by Sawyer’s presence. But even when Sawyer wasn’t around, things with Jackson never felt electric.

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