It was almost like he knew. Like he knew that every time he walked past me with those abs on display my breath caught in my throat. Like he knew that when he walked past wearing tight pants I immediately started to dream about what was underneath. It was like he was doing it on purpose, to taunt me.
Instead I got to listen to him have sex with a different girl almost every night.
And it drove me insane.
Chapter Eight
Before I knew it Christmas was just around the corner. Annie and I were spending every waking moment –and quite a few moments where we weren’t awake - together in the library, trying to cram for our exams.
“You know, I actually thought I liked Intro to English Lit,” Annie mumbled as she desperately tried to find a certain quote in Pride and Prejudice.
“Tell me about it. I don’t even know what this exam is going to be like. Multiple choice? Essays? A bit of everything?”
“Probably that last one, so they make us work super hard at it.”
I gave up and groaned as I lay down on the floor in the corner where the two of us were sitting.
“No, don’t do that, you’re going to fall asleep again,” Annie told me. “And you’re way better at dissecting the themes in stories than I am.”
“At this point, the only story I’m interested in is one where the heroine doesn’t ever feel the need to get an education.” Still, I forced myself up off the floor and stifled a yawn.
“I’m going to go get some more coffee. Do you want anything?”
“Definitely also some coffee. Maybe a Redbull while you’re at it?”
“Coffee and Redbull. Those companies must love exam time.”
Groaning as I pulled my sore and tired body off the ground – I really should use that gym in the house, I thought – I made my way down to the convenience store just off campus to grab us some energy drinks, then made a pit stop at the Starbucks next door.
“You’re a lifesaver, even if you have terrible taste in coffee,” Annie told me as I sat back down and handed her a low-fat latte.
“Hey, you find me another coffee shop around here that’s open at almost midnight and I’m there, it’s not just because I’m American,” I told her as I took a sip from my cappuccino.
“You’re right. At this point I’m really not picky about my caffeine choice,” Annie replied, grinning as she grabbed one of the Redbulls from the bag and cracked it open.
“That should get me through this genetics stuff,” she added before grabbing her science textbook and burying her face in it. “Why would the gods schedule my first two exams on the same day?” she complained, and I smiled at her in sympathy.
For the next hour or so we worked in silence, more or less, with only the occasional complaint about our classes and just how much stuff we had to memorize. Then, suddenly, I felt like we weren’t alone in our corner of the library anymore. A thin shadow passed over us, and I looked up.
Standing there, looking down on us, was my brother.
“Hey Jack, are you lost?” I quipped. “This is the library.”
“Ha. Ha. Aren’t you hilarious. Believe it or not, I actually care about my grades.”
“Of course you do, that’s why you’re never paying attention in class.”
“Well, I can see my time here is wasted. I guess I should know better than to come see two people who are too dumb to figure out there are spare seats left in the study area. See you later, little sis,” he finished with his trademark smirk.
With that he turned and left, and I rolled my eyes at Annie.
“So now you’ve met the famous brother of mine.”
“Yeah, I can see why you don’t like him that much. You didn’t tell me how hot he was, though.”
“Uh, that’s because he’s my brother?”
“So, that doesn’t mean I can’t have him.”
“Ew. Have you even listened to me when I speak about him? He basically sleeps with a different girl every single night.”
“I can forgive a man a lot of faults when he has cheekbones like those.”
“You’re disgusting,” I told Annie, going back to my studies.
Still, I could understand where her ideas came from. After all, I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought about Jack that way too.
“I wonder what he wanted.”
“Don’t know, don’t care.”
Ten minutes later, we found out. Jack came back to where we were sitting, and once again the two of us looked up at him.
“Look, Julianne,” he started, using my real name for the first time. “Jules. I like that better. Jules, can I borrow your notes about chapter seven in our HR class? I missed that day.”
“If I was in your class, you could absolutely borrow my notes, anytime,” Annie told him, and I glared at her.
“Say please,” I couldn’t help myself but say. After all, he’d made my life so much more frustrating, the least I could do was make his uncomfortable for thirty seconds.
“Please,” he tried, even giving me a normal smile, and I dug through my notes and handed them to him.
“Here you go. But I need them back in a few hours, please.”
“No problem. Thanks, sis,” he replied with a wink, and my rage came back.