Jackson: I have my ways.

Me: Should I be worried about them?

Jackson: Nah, I’m sure my source will tell you all about it later.

Me: Your source?

Jackson: Aka my sister

Me: You asked Aubrey for my number????

Jackson: Yeah and I caught shit for it too.

Me: LOL

Jackson: Not funny! My sister’s a menace.

Me: Nice to know you’re scared of Aubrey. Might come in handy later.

Jackson: Haha!

Me: Gotta head to the shower and get ready for class. TTYL

Jackson: Fuck!!!!!

Me: Whoops. TMI?

Jackson: Give a guy a warning before you throw an image of yourself naked and soapy into his head.

Me: LOL! Sorry.

Jackson: Don’t be. Now I’ve gotta take another shower and head to class.

Me: Another?

Jackson: No comment. TTYL

“Awwww, you guys are so cute already. And you have the goofiest grin on your face right now. You totally like him!” Char clapped her hands together all excited. “I feel like a fairy godmother and a matchmaker rolled into one.”

I whacked her with my pillow before jumping out of bed to get ready. It was going to be a long one with three tough classes and a grueling dance practice at the end of the day, plus one of my classes was with Aubrey. I was sure she’d have questions for me after Jackson had asked her for my number last night. I just hoped that it wasn’t too awkward between us if I was dating her brother. She was pretty cool. I didn’t want to lose a friend over a relationship that probably wouldn’t go anywhere with graduation looming anyway.

****

My first two classes went pretty well. I turned in the paper I had finished over the weekend, only to have a new one assigned that was due in a couple weeks. We had a pop quiz in the second class, but I had luckily spent some time studying and thought I did pretty well.

Now for the moment of truth—dance class with Aubrey.

I got to the studio before everyone else. I liked to have plenty of time to stretch before class began. Aubrey usually ran in at the last second, but today she showed up about five minutes after me, dropped her stuff on the floor in the corner, and sat down next to me.

“So have you heard the news yet?” she asked.

“News? What news?” I asked, confused as to what big thing I could have missed that would have stopped her from asking me about Jackson right away.

“Yeah. I heard some girl finally convinced my brother that dating was a good idea,” she teased.

“About that… Are you mad at me?”

“Not mad, just concerned. I don’t want to lose you as a friend, and if things go wrong between the two of you, it will be very awkward. But I tried to warn him off you and he wouldn’t listen,” she said.

“I’m sorry.”

“So I’m going to guess that if I do the same with you that you won’t listen either?” she asked.

“I might,” I answered. “If you’re really against the idea of me dating your brother, I don’t have to go out with him again.”

“But you want to?”

“Yeah, I think I do,” I admitted.

“Then go for it. Who am I to deny you two crazy kids a chance at happiness? Besides, it will be interesting to see everyone’s reactions when they realize that he’s found a girl who’s worth the effort of dating. I’ll take my entertainment where I can now that I’ve taken myself out of the dating scene for a while. It’s kinda funny that my brother decided to date shortly after I chose to take a break from it all.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that will be loads of fun for you. Not so much for me though.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“We bumped into Sasha last night at the end of our date. It was not a pleasant experience,” I said before explaining what had happened the night before.

“God, she’s such a bitch. After what she did to Lex, I wanted to beat the crap out of her. But no, everyone told me to let it drop. Not this time. If she pulls anything else, you need to let me know.”

“I don’t know. I think you might have to get through Char to be able to do anything to Sasha. She was so pissed last night and she already hated her.”

“Good! Sounds like I need to hang out with your roomie more often. She’s my kind of girl.”

“You two really would hit it off. You should stop by the bar on Thursday night while we’re both on to hang out. It’s a slower night, but we’ll make sure you’re well taken care of,” I offered.

“I think I’ll do that. It sounds like fun,” she said as the other students started to pile into the class since it was going to start soon.