Page 56 of Don't Fall

I open my mouth to argue, for no other reason than I feel compelled to, probably because he said I smell...even if he meant it in a good way...but he cuts me off before I can even get a word out.

“No. No more talking. No more standing there, being all...you...get out.” He points at the door. “And don’t even think about returning until all of class is here. In fact, be late. Sneak in the back and sit by those stoner kids that always hang in the right corner. Maybe their stench will hide you.”

It’s supremely hard to take him seriously, and yet, he does seem to mean it. Eyes wide and a loud exasperated gasp laced with giggles later, I’m backing out of the room, hands up in surrender.

Shaking my head, I take a few more steps out into the hall, there definitely wasn’t anything normal about that.

Nevertheless, I follow his bizarre instructions, including sitting with Wes and JD in the back, which I may do again, because those boys are funny as hell trying to interpret Lane’s teachings while fully baked. Then, just to be on the safe side, I duck out of class a few minutes early.

From there the day takes on a bit of a déjà vu vibe, feeling eerily similar to our first day of class and my intense desires to avoid Lane and further humiliation at all cost. Only today it’s not humiliation I’m steering clear of. To be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely sure what it is I’m attempting to remove myself from. His intense yearning from me? My sudden desirability? The way I make men wild with my untamed sexiness?

By the time I’m done following that train of thought, I’m bent over laughing, looking like a full-blown lunatic in the middle of campus.

My eyes still watering up despite my efforts to squelch the laughter, I take the long way to the track, just to avoid anyone stopping me and demanding an explanation, or at the very least to be let in on the joke.

After running my ass off, literally, for over two hours, I’m too exhausted to contemplate the craziness any longer. Gross and wiped out, I stumble into our apartment, grateful to find it empty for once.

“Shower,” I mutter to Dick who comes strolling out of my room as soon as he hears me walk in. “Shower, then I feed you.”

He meows loudly, voicing his displeasure, but he knows the routine. On track nights, he never gets fed on time. Doesn’t matter that he sits right outside my shower the entire duration of it, yelling at me. I can’t be swayed. And there are few things I can still claim that about.

Lane

“Why aren’t you eating my paella? Do you have any idea what it took to make that? I’ve been in the kitchen for hours!” Alexis nudges the plate a little closer to me, just in case I’ve been too far away from it to grasp the privilege of being served such an exquisite dish.

“You really think I don’t know Tapas’ paella when I see it? Come on, we ate there every Sunday growing up.” I lean back into my chair, laughing at her. “The woman who can’t successfully scramble eggs trying to pass off restaurant quality Spanish cuisine as her own. That’s fantastic, Lex.”

Her nose scrunches up as she retracts my meal and starts to work it over with her own fork. “Fine. I picked it up on the way home from the hospital. Also, I got it for me, not you.”

“Obviously.” I cross my arms, relaxing a bit now that I’m no longer being pressured to eat. Food is the last thing on my mind.

“Why are you here, Lane?” she asks, mouth half-full and reaching for her water. “For months, all I hear every time I try and talk to you is that you need space. Then, that chick shows up and now it’s like I can’t turn around without running into you.”

“The last time I saw you, you called me!”

She shrugs. “Yeah, but you were only on my mind because you insisted I get in touch with everyone I know and drag them to the Basement the day before.”

“Nice to know I’m so easily forgotten otherwise.” I know she’s not being serious. She’s getting back at me for being MIA all summer long and refusing to talk to her even when she went all out and an act of desperation forced her to play the twin card.

“You know how it goes. Out of sight, out of mind.” She moves a large mussel out of the way as she digs through the rice, likely in search of more shrimp. She always eats those first. Always has.

“Are you done yet?”

She lifts her head, eyes rolling thoughtfully toward the ceiling, then she sighs. “Yeah, I guess I could be done.” She finds the shrimp and stabs it, raising it into the air triumphantly before shoving it into her mouth. “But that means you have to actually start talking.”

“Nah, didn’t come to talk.”

“Are you kidding me with this?”

“Yes.” It’s just too easy to get her going. “Of course, I came here to talk. Well, ask a question. And I need you to be honest with me.”

“I’m always honest. It’s the least likeable thing about me,” she mutters, searching her plate for more shrimp, all of which I’m sure are in her belly already, but I don’t say anything because she’s better at advice when she’s not thinking too much about giving it.

“Do you think I was ever in love with Olivia?”

“No.” Damn. She didn’t even skip a beat on that one. Still looking for shrimp though.

“Care to elaborate?”

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