Page 106 of The Hookup Type

And for the first time since I met him, we were finally on the same page.

Chapter57

Jaxon

March 2016

We remainedat Razzle’s for another hour before people wanted to head back to the condo and chill in the hot tub at Heather’s. I couldn’t say I was upset that the night ended a little early regarding the club scene.

After I watched Maci and Bryson have another argument right before he left in a car full of people, I started to feel last night’s choices creeping up on me again. The thought of unwinding in a hot tub sounded perfect.

Since Brad was the only person I recognized in the group of people that left with Bryson, we still needed three Ubers to get everyone home. As they arrived, I purposely chose a different car from Maci. I needed some space to clear my head as I tried to convince the asshole side of me to stay put for the rest of the night. I felt him creep out the moment Maci got mad that I tried to look out for her.

Unlike the guy she got upset about, I paid attention to where she went and what she did. The fact that she took her frustrations out on me was beginning to piss me off. If I lost my shit on her, I wasn’t sure if I could recover. I would say things I didn’t mean and do my best to make her feel bad. That was just what I did and how I handled situations like this.

Everyone else's bedroom doors were closed when I stepped inside Connor’s condo with Jared. I wasted no time changing and grabbed a towel from my bathroom closet.

Jared waited for me in the living room and looked up from his phone when he saw I was ready. “Connor’s Uber had to reroute because of an accident. He said to go on over, and they’ll catch up.” He slipped his phone into his pocket. “I invited this girl that I met at the club. She had a few cute friends too.”

“Nice, man.” I chuckled.

Jared meant it as a suggestion for me, but somehow it felt like a blow to my chest. It didn’t matter what those girls looked like or what they tried to offer me as a good time. None of them were Maci.

We walked across the parking lot and let ourselves into Heather’s condo. I was relieved when the living room was empty and everyone else was already outside. I didn’t feel like talking to Heather, Reagan, or any other people they might’ve invited over.

There was a fully stocked bar and a few coolers of drinks on the deck. Jared and I each helped ourselves to a beer and threw our stuff on one of the chairs. I stripped off my hoodie and shuddered as the cold air hit my chest. My brisk walk quickly turned into a jog as I spotted the last free corner of the hot tub.

I slid into the bubbling water and placed my bottle on the piece of plywood that ran around the edge of the tub. Reagan hurried to the free seat beside me and I sipped my beer so I didn’t have to say anything to her.

Heather’s hot tub was the size of a small swimming pool and could hold at least fifteen people. The lights on the tub matched the music on the surround sound, and when I looked around, there were no new faces. I recognized everyone in the group that traveled with us from Bowling Green.

My shoulders relaxed, and I sank further into my seat. I tried to pull my focus to the music playing in the background, but my thoughts tugged me in multiple directions—all of them involving Maci. I felt like I was overflowing with a mixture of anger, annoyance, and anxiety. It was a shitty combination.

I wasn’t sure why another altercation between Bryson and Maci threatened to push me over the edge. It was just another step in the direction I knew they were going, but how many more steps would there be?

It had been five months of watching my best friend sleep with the one girl I had set aside because I didn’t want to risk losing her. Since the night we tried to hook up, things hadn’t been the same. I had been trying to justify that I had made the right decision by saying no—but the more time that passed, the more I regretted everything that happened. She hooked up with a guy who did exactly everything I told her I would.

Bryson was everything I admitted I would be if we followed through—that was the part that pissed me off the most.

“Did you?” Reagan’s voice rang in my right ear.

I turned to face her and realized she had just repeated herself.

“Did I do what?” I asked.

She wore a devious smile. “Did you think about what I mentioned a few months ago about Heather and me?” She sipped her drink and cocked her head while I processed.

I lightly shook my head and caught a glimpse of Heather sitting on the other side of the hot tub. Fortunately, she was too wrapped up in a conversation with one of Brad’s roommates when I noticed her. I didn’t want her to try and make her way over here when Reagan was already too close in proximity.

“Hasn’t crossed my mind.” I sighed and bumped her shoulder. She rolled her eyes and laughed.

While I didn’t necessarily want attention from Reagan, she wasn’t unbearable in the way Heather was. She was a pretty cool girl, but at the end of the day I only knew her because of one thing—we used to hook up, and I kept her in my back pocket for an easy lay.

Yet here she was, reminding me about an offer that included her and another girl, and I couldn’t give two shits. It was infuriating that my mind was wrapped around someone I couldn’t have because of a decision I had made. This was why I didn’t get tangled up in friendships with girls I wanted to sleep with. All it did was complicate everything.

Just as I felt myself climbing into an aggravated headspace all over again, Connor, Katie, and Maci filed out onto the deck. The girls walked in front of Connor with their arms linked, laughing about something he had said. Katie looked over her shoulder and smiled sweetly at him as he shook his head. They looked effortlessly happy to be exactly where they were. It was so natural for them to be together.

The scene reminded me of our time in Maci and Katie’s apartment—the weekend I stayed with them because of Tyler, and all of the visits in between. The endless hours of movies and the TV shows Maci wanted to binge—so much of this school year had been invested in a friendship I cared about more than I wanted to admit. But it turned stagnant when we tried to make it more than what it could be.

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