Page 53 of XO

“No! Get lost.”

He frowns, confused by it all.

Surely, he doesn’t think I’m that stupid. Does he?

“I’m not leaving until you open it.”

Knowing Jacob Lynch as well as I do, I believe him when he says such a thing. He’s as stubborn as an ox. Grunting in frustration, I kick off the bedsheets and stomp over to the window. Once face to face still with only the glass separating us, he witnesses the full power of my glare.

“What’s happened, Rosie?” My heart skips a beat at his genuine concern.

“What’s happened?” I snap, gripping the window frame and angrily sliding it open. “How dare you come around here.”

There’s that confused face again. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, why come here when you have Chelsea?”

He shakes his head. “I don’t have her, I want you.”

“Did you just decide that this afternoon?”

“Rosie… what are you talking about? And why are you so mad?”

Rage bubbles from within.

“Jacob, I’m mad because after the shitshow of an afternoon I had, I saw Chelsea fawning all over you.”

He looks over his shoulder into the quiet street and then back to me. “Can I come in?”

“No!”

“I have a very reasonable explanation for what you saw, but I’d rather not be standing on your porch roof.”

“How reasonable of an explanation?”

“As soon as I say, your shitshow of an afternoon will all be forgotten.”

“I highly doubt that. Fine… come in.” Begrudgingly moving to the side, Jacob climbs through and jumps down. Taking my hand, he leads to me sit on the edge of the bed.

He studies me a moment until a small smile plays on his lips. “You’re fucking sexy when you’re mad, especially in that little nightdress you’re wearing.”

I sigh. “Jacob, if you knew how upset I’ve been all afternoon, you wouldn’t be cracking jokes.”

He shakes his head, wiping the smile off his face. “You’re right. So, let me explain. After last period, I went to find Coach Carter, but he wasn’t there. When the door closed behind me, I saw Chelsea had followed me in. At the time I thought Coach still wanted to see me, so I told her to go away. She proceeded to tell me that Coach wasn’t coming and that she wanted some privacy to talk. When I told her I wasn’t interested, she took off her shirt.”

“No, she didn’t!”

“She did. I pushed past her, and she became angry at the rejection. She followed me down the hall while redressing and swiped the car keys from my hand and stuffed them down her bra.”

“Sweet Jesus.”

“She started with the accusations, name-calling us both. Then the threats followed. Shit like, how she believed I cheated on her, and she’d let the whole student body know what a dog I am. When I told her to go for it, Chelsea became vindictive toward you. It took all the strength I had to keep my hands in my pockets. I tried every polite move I knew just to get my keys back, but she wanted more. When she gave me the ultimatum of a hug in return for the keys, I just did it. That’s probably when you saw us. But what you didn’t know was that she was holding me ransom, and all I wanted was to get as far as fuck away from her as possible.

“So, there was no reconnection?”

“Fuck no. I can’t even stand being in her presence.”

“So, it seems like we were both fooled into meeting people never destined to show.”

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