Page 8 of Anyone But Me
“I’m surprised you stayed here the whole time. Must be a really good book.”
“Are you done already?” I asked as I blinked up at her to try to get my eyes to focus after reading for so long.
Jax laughed. “I’m actually five minutes later than promised. I got held up with my last customer.” Jax bounced back and forth on the balls of her feet and pointed her thumb toward the door. “Ready to go?” She pointed to my book next. “If you want to finish the chapter you’re on, I’m fine waiting. I can find someone else to bother while you do.”
I’m sure you can.I had no doubt Jax was probably friends with half of the people in this cafe, and even if she wasn’t, it still wouldn’t be hard for her to strike up a conversation with a random stranger.
“I actually just finished a chapter.”
Jax’s smile shimmered. “Look at that. Perfect pair already.”
I swallowed hard. I was sure Jax already realized it from the little bit of time we spent together, plus what she heard from Olivia throughout the years, but Ireallyhoped she didn’t expect me to be anything like my sister.
Instead of responding, I stood up and followed her out of the cafe. As we walked, Jax pointed to different places, tellingme stories about each one. I couldn’t get a word in, but that was honestly fine with me.
When we got to the grocery store, Jax warned me not to get too much, because it would make the rest of the walk home miserable. I bought a little bit of fruit and the ingredients to make sandwiches. As much as I didn’t want to be stuck eating only that every single day, I figured it was a good place to start since I hadn’t planned out my meals for the week yet.
I cringed looking at Jax’s small collection of microwaveable meals. I wasn’t judging her for liking them, but I wondered if she truly did. I thought back to the way her face lit up when she talked about Quinton’s cooking, and my next words stumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them. “You know, I always wanted to try one of those meal delivery services that delivers fresh ingredients, but most of them don’t offer just a single serving. If you want to split the cost with me, I could cook for us.”
Jax’s face lit up even more than it had earlier. “Really? You would do that? Even with how busy you’ll be with your fancy job?”
I shrugged. “I have to make time to eat, right?” Plus, this would make planning my meals for the week even easier.
“That sounds awesome! I’m in.”
The rest of the walk to the apartment was filled with discussions about what kind of food we each like to eat and which meal delivery service we should choose. The discussion continued as we each put away our groceries and even as I walked to my room. Jax followed closely behind me and followed me into my room.
I had forgotten all about my discarded planner until Jax’s eyes moved right to it, focusing on the page labeled “New Carter.”Great. This is fucking embarrassing.
She lifted an eyebrow at me. “New Carter? What’s wrong with the old one?”
I grabbed the planner and held it against my chest as if that was somehow going to make Jax forget what she had just read. When she continued to stare at me, waiting for my answer, I knew I had no choice but to explain it. “New York is a fresh start for me. I want to do things differently here.”
“Differently how?”
The blank page should have told her all she needed to know. “Great question,” I said with a laugh.
Jax furrowed her eyebrows like she was really considering what I had just told her. The smile that came to her face a few seconds later made me extremely nervous for multiple reasons. “Did theOld Carterhost many parties in Philly?”
I choked on my laugh. “No. She definitely did not.” The old Carter hostedno parties.
“Perfect.” Jax clapped her hands together. “How would you feel about hosting a party here with me on Saturday night? It’ll be something new to do, plus you’ll get a chance to meet the whole crew.”
I felt a lot of things about it, and none of them were good, but if I wanted things to be different, I needed to step outside of my comfort zone more often. “Okay. Let’s do it.”
Chapter 3
For the rest of the week, I spent most of my days at Serenity Sips. If Jax found it strange that I showed up at her job every day, she didn’t show it. In fact, she even insisted on giving me free drinks every time. I didn’t want her to get into trouble with her boss, so I purposely went before she woke up one day since I obviously knew that meant she wouldn’t be working.
When she came in two hours later and found me sitting there reading, she seemed genuinely concerned about why I chose to come when she wasn’t working. I lied and told her I needed to get out, and since the cafe was the one place I was comfortable with, I decided to go there. This answer seemed to satisfy her, and the smile had quickly returned to her face when she told me she would grab me a muffin to make up for the fact that I bought my own coffee.
The two days that followed, I did go in while she worked, because the smile she gave me every time she saw me walking through the door felt like coming home.
On the Saturday of the party, I met her at work, so we could grab chips and drinks for the party together once she got off. I was happy to find that “hosting” to Jax simply meant setting the drinks out on the counter, putting the chips into bowls, and ordering pizza. With the amount of pizza she ordered, it did have me nervous about how many people were part of her “crew.”
Fifteen minutes after the time Jax had told people to arrive, there was a knock on the apartment door. I stood behind her as she opened it and found two men, one who appeared to be of Hispanic origin and was tall with short dark hair and evendarker eyes, and another who was practically his opposite—a few inches shorter than me with bright red hair and freckles.
Jax gave each of them a hug before turning toward me, her hand resting on the taller man’s arm. “Carter, this is Luis. Olivia and I met him at a club like five years ago. Literally love at first sight, let me tell you.” She pointed to the guy beside him. “And this is his much better half—Oscar. The two of them got married last year.”
