“I know she’s not your favorite person, Char, but Jackson was royally pissed at her. He is not the kind of guy I would want to cross, and she wasn’t making things any better for herself. Although he was cool about me insisting that I wasn’t going to leave them alone until he was ready to leave.”

“Whoa there. Hold up a second. Are you telling me you went next door to interrupt their argument?” Charlotte asked.

“I know, I know, but I had to do it. I just went over expecting to ask them to keep it down, but then Jackson made a joke about me being a little girl, and what was I supposed to do then? He irritated me, and Sasha looked like she could use some support. So I stayed, but believe me when I say that I wish I hadn’t.”

“Why? What happened?” Charlotte asked as she plopped down onto her bed across from me.

“Nothing much, really. He yelled at her. She whined. He tried to make sure she wouldn’t hurt Alexa again. She blamed it all on him, his screwing her over after they had sex and the fact that he’s really in love with Alexa. Then he made it very clear that she pretty much was just an easy lay for him, and Sasha argued that it must have meant something to him. When she finally got the message, Sasha agreed to leave them alone. Jackson flirted with me a bit as he was leaving, and then she was a bitch to me and warned me away from him before slamming the door on me on my way out,” I blurted out as quickly as possible while hoping that Charlotte wouldn’t pounce on the bit about Jackson flirting with me.

“What?” she shrieked. “You went over there to help her out and Sasha had the nerve to slam the door on you? I swear she’s one fry short of a Happy Meal, that girl. And you wonder why I don’t like her that much. Well there you go. She’s an ungrateful bitch. It would totally serve her right if you started dating Jackson and she was forced to see the two of you together living next door to us and all.”

“Yeah, she’s an ungrateful bitch, but you can be a vengeful one so I’m glad you’re on my side and not hers,” I teased as Charlotte rubbed her hands together like she was plotting something. Usually when that happened, it didn’t bode well for someone else.

“So when you said that Jackson flirted with you, what did he say? Did he seem interested, or was it ‘let me get in your panties’ for a bit type of flirting?”

“Char, stop! I am so not going to go there. It’s pointless because you and I both know he doesn’t do relationships. And as sexy as he might be, he just isn’t my type,” I protested.

“Oh, please. Jackson Silver is every girl’s type. That’s why he’s been able to go through so many girls on campus. Can you honestly sit there and tell me that he doesn’t make your panties the teeniest bit wet?”

I held my hand up to interrupt her flow of thought before she got going any further. “Jesus, Char! Fine, yes, I will admit he’s hot. But he’s super intense, doesn’t do anything but super-quick hook-ups, and based on what I overheard between him and Sasha, I don’t think we would be a good match in bed.”

“It’s not like your relationships last that long anyway. And you always pick safe guys so you don’t risk getting hurt too much. Maybe you need to go out with someone more like Jackson, even if it’s not him. A guy who will challenge you a little bit, who won’t let you dictate the pace of your relationship. One who won’t let you get away with keeping him at arm’s length,” Charlotte said before hopping out of her bed and climbing into mine with me. “I worry about you. We’re graduating soon, and I won’t be there to make sure that you pick well if you wait to really fall for someone once we’re gone.”

I wrapped my arms around her as I realized that she was really worried about me. “I love you too, Char. No matter how far apart from each other we end up, I promise that you will get the chance to give me the thumbs up or down on guys, okay? But I really worry about your choices if you think that Jackson would be considered picking well. You don’t even know anything about him except that he’s hot and intense.”

She looked at me, her green eyes narrowed on mine as she replied. “I know more than that, Kaylie. He’s someone who managed to get a rise out of you, you think he’s hot even if you won’t admit it, and it would piss Sasha off. I get that the third reason isn’t a good one, but the first two work for me. Add in that his sister is pretty awesome from what you’ve said about her when you talked about helping Aubrey out in the dance class you’re taking together and he can’t be all that bad.”