Page 48 of The Comeback

She finally crosses the threshold, but I leave the door open behind her in spite of the raucous yelling that’s still going on downstairs.

I pull out the chair at my desk and gesture for her to take a seat. Should have grabbed another one before she got here. “Hang on a sec. I gotta grab another chair.” Her nod is a little stiff, but she slides her backpack off and drops it on the desk as she settles down.

I can’t resist the urge to glance over my shoulder at her as I’m walking back out, and she looks away before I can meet her eyes. The fact that she was looking at all is a good sign.

The house quiets to a suspicious silence by the time I jog down the stairs.

“Were you that bad?” Jackson asks.

“What?” I ask, sending him an impatient look.

“If you slept with her and she looks that pissed off with you it must have been terrible for her. Poor girl.”

My jaw clenches. “I don’t have time for this.” My shoulder accidentally slams into his as I walk past.

Beau joins in on the fun at my expense with his arms crossed over his chest. “I don’t usually agree with Jax, but the evidence is irrefutable.”

“That’s not it. It’s just complicated, and I don’t have time to explain it to your middle school brains.”

Jackson of course doesn’t know when to leave well enough alone and he follows me into the kitchen.

“You know we’re just messing with you. You’ve clearly fucked this up somehow. I’m glad she still showed up, but make it right. Fix whatever you broke.”

Great. Now I’m getting relationship advice from the biggest player on a team stacked with players.

“I can handle my shit. I got this.” The words have more bite than I intended. I let my eyes fall shut, take a deep inhale and try again. Team work. I pushed these guys away all last year. I need to cut that out. “I’m sorry. I’m doing the best I can. Abby is…” Everything, but I can’t very well tell him that. “We’ve got a lot of history and I’m trying to deal with it best I can.”

“We’re here for you, man. You know that right?” He adds a smack on my back to drive his point home.

“I know. Thanks.” My smile is tight but there as I grab one of the hard wooden chairs from the kitchen. Not nearly as nice as the black leather office chair in my room, but folding my bulk into this thing will be like my penance.

Chapter 37

Abby

Thisisfine.Keepthings school related and it will be fine. Keep telling yourself that, Abby. I’d have no problem carrying the Lord of the Rings box set on my head with how stiff my back is and I’m hyper aware of every move Sebastian makes.

It’s like we're connected and his presence sends a tingle of electricity through me whenever his hand inches near mine, or he leans in to look at the changes I've made to our paper. Jones is a real treat. She's one of the hardest markers in the music department and notoriously unafraid to fail students. It's kind of crazy how the usual prof is one of the most easygoing fun teachers I've ever met and his class got given to this hard ass. Maybe they knew about its reputation as a bird course and they decided to up the stakes. I think we've nailed this though. It's a lot more technical than the assignments that would usually be given out here.

"We've got this." I realize that while we started out stiff and awkward working on the project loosened me up to the point that I'm smiling at him. I shouldn't be smiling at him. He had sex with me and then ghosted me. Doesn't matter if it was supposed to be casual on both of our parts. Still not a cool move.

"Thanks so much, Fab. I could never have passed this class without you and I don't know where I'd have been then." He drapes an arm around my shoulder for a side hug that has far more weight to it than that innocent over the clothes touch should. I guess once you've seen someone naked it's hard to go back to casual friendly touches. No wonder people can't be friends after they break up no matter what promises they make.

"It's Abby." I slide out from under his arm. The correction feels necessary. Keep the distinction between us of who we are now versus who we used to be.

The triumphant smile on his face falls and I feel like I just snapped his hockey stick. "Sorry."

I'm nervously shuffling the papers around on the desk and starting to pack up my notes. I should really get out of here before I say or do something stupid.

His hand lands on my knee when I'm halfway out of the seat. "Wait. F..Abby." He chokes a bit on my name as if it's hard to force past his lips. Like it's much more natural to call me by our old nickname. He and Tristan were the only ones who ever called me Fab. "Wait. Don't go yet."

I look down at the closed laptop. "We're all finished. The project is submitted. Can't make any more changes now."

It's not about the project it's... Can we talk please?" I never could resist him when he turned those wide eyes on me. They're like a pool of liquid chocolate that give away his every change in mood.

I struggle with myself for a minute. This is a terrible idea right? I should get out of here and not look back. I think I can get through the performance now. I hope, and we've submitted our major project. That was the deal right? The deal is over now. But if I leave now will we ever get another chance? Do I even want another chance?

"What is it?" I ask from my half in half out of my seat position.

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