Page 34 of Get Even

We fellinto a steady rhythm over the next two weeks. Coffee on Tuesdays after class, pizza on Fridays with Liv, Kat and Ry’s friends too. I wasn’t sure what we were, exactly. Dating? It didn’t feel gooey enough for that, though Ryan continued to flirt outrageously with me at any given opportunity. It really just felt a lot like friendship, which wasn’t something I’d ever anticipated finding this close to graduation.

I sat down inCocoa & Rumand Ryan blinked up from his phone blearily, bloodshot eyes focusing in on the coffees I set down on the table between us.

“I was just texting you,” he said with a relaxed smile and my stomach tightened in response. Liv had got me a new SIM for my phone in the end. It wasn’t like it had been a huge hassle, all of the people that needed to have my new number were either living with me or people I saw on a regular basis anyway. Ry and I spent a lot of our time texting. His course and the football team demanded a lot more of his time than my studies did of me, but the silly little flirty check-ins that came through each day made me smile.

“You look awful,” I said in lieu of a greeting and he rolled his eyes.

“Gee, thanks.”

“I mean it,” I reached out and placed a hand on his for a second, blushing and quickly pulling it back when he glanced down. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said with a sigh, grabbing the coffee and taking a long sip, eyes closing in bliss as he swallowed. “I was just up late finishing an essay.”

“Leaving it to the last minute?” I smirked, “How very unlike my academically fastidious friend.”

Ryan laughed and bit his lip, “Good word.” His eyes darted to the counter where the barista was calling out another order for collection before they settled back on me. “Is that what we are then, Jamie? Friends?”

“What else would we be?” It was the closest we’d come to any sort ofdefine the relationshipdiscussion and I wasn’t sure how he felt. Sure, he was stupidly hot and yes, we’d previously hooked up. But that had been weeks ago and he hadn’t made another move since, seeming content to be patient.

Ry’s smile drooped slightly before he seemed to catch himself and said cheerily, “Friends, right. Of course. Sounds good!” I raised an eyebrow at his unconvincingly chipper display and he groaned, burying his head in his hands and slumping forward against the table. “I like being friends with you Jamie, really, I do.”

“But?” I asked, my palms started to sweat where they were clasped around my hot coffee and I felt a little sick waiting for him to finish his sentence. It was one of the things I admired about Ryan, when he knew what he wanted, he didn’t hold back. Except with me, apparently.

He peeked up at me from where his head lay on the table, took a deep breath and sat up, looking directly at me. Even with his blood shot eyes and rumpled dark hair, he was still gorgeous. “Look, I’ve been trying to give you time and I wanted us to get to know each other better. I know you had just got out of a relationship, but it’s been a few weeks now and–”

“Ryan–”

He waved me off, “But it’s time for me to say this and for you to hear it and whatever you want to do with this information is okay, okay?” he was breathing hard and I said nothing, just waited. “I love being your friend, Jamie.”

Was that it? “But?”

“But I want more.”

My breath shuddered out of me and I gripped my coffee cup a little harder than necessary, relief swirling through me, and really that told me all I needed to know. If I hadn’t wanted something with Ryan, then I wouldn’t have been feeling so relieved that he’d finally told me what he wanted. What I thought I wanted too.

“Okay,” I said easily and his eyebrows shot up, like he’d said this to me with every expectation of being shot down. I laughed, “I like you. This might be a disaster but I’m willing to try it out.”

A smile overtook his face and he reached for my hand, bringing it to his lips and sending a small pulse of desire through me. “A date, then,” he declared and I smirked. “A real one this time, not this in-between thing we’ve had going on.”

It was dumb to feel nervous when I’d been getting coffee with Ryan by myself for the past few weeks, and yet there it was. A small tendril of nervous anticipation coiling in my stomach, sending butterflies through my body and making my heart beat just a little harder as I nodded.

Ryan grinned, choosing to ignore the blush staining my cheeks. “So how have things been with Davis?”

I sighed and shrugged, “Same as usual really.” In fact, class had been not-awful. Since the fiasco at the mixer, Professor Dick seemed to have adopted the mentality that if he didn’t talk to or look at me, then I didn’t exist. And honestly, I preferred it that way. My phone sounded a littlebingfrom my bag and I fished it out as Ryan took another sip of his drink, trying to ignore the dread that automatically accompanied a phone notification now. In the past, it had been because I was dreading my mom reaching out but more recently it was because of the barrage of hate I’d been receiving mainly on socials. People just really hated it when a woman got laid, I guess.

But things with Ryan were good, my mom hadn’t reached out since I’d changed my number and it had been a few weeks since the photo had leaked for the second time at the mixer, so the hate was starting to die down. Ryan was reliable, and thoughtful – definitely not qualities Aaron had prioritized. We knew each other’s coffee orders and Ry always let me have the last slice of pizza. Maybe I had been kidding myself into thinking that friends were all we had been. Especially when the sex we’d had before… well, you couldn’t really have it that good and then just pretend like you didn’t know the exact way someone moaned when they came. Casual sex wasn’t a problem for me, I could do it and enjoy it just fine. But I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about how sex with Ryan had felt. Maybe it was just the additional rush of getting one over on Aaron. I smirked,guess we’ll just have to do it again so I can compare.

My smile faded as I finally read the notification on the screen. “What the fuck.”

Ryan glanced up, frowning as he took in whatever was on my face. “Jamie?”

I clenched my jaw, holding my phone out for him to see, “I should have bitch-slapped her when I had the chance.”

Ryan’s mouth moved slightly as he read the words in the email, eyes widening in first shock and then narrowing in outrage. “How can they be pursuing this? It didn’t even happen on campus.”

I re-read the email from the Campus Student Support team when Ryan handed my phone back to me. “A formal complaint is not going to do me any favors for my probation. Hell, maybe that’s why I have to go to a hearing for it.”

“You think they’re taking this more seriously because of the probation?”

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