Page 21 of Casualties

I respect that he’s responsible and not a crazy partier.Hanging out with him last night was nice, until Ace had to puff out his chest and make things weird.I’m sure he wants to ask what Ace's problem was, but I hope he doesn't.I honestly don’t know how I would respond.I’m not sure why Ace reacted that way.

He leans into me and wraps his arm around my shoulder.The gesture seems innocent, but his touch isn’t giving me the brief flicker of butterflies I got from our dance last night.I guess alcohol affects more than your balance.

“Ahem.Jackson,” a high-pitched voice chirps from Tetherball Tits Barbie.

“What’s up?”He sounds less-than-interested to hear what she has to say.

“So Daddy is sending a car to take us to the charity gala, unless you want to take your Porsche.I told him sending the car would be fine, so we can have drinks and not worry.Remember last year’s fundraiser?”Her claw-like nails slowly slide up his arm.

At first I thought maybe she’s an ex-girlfriend, but now I’m not sure.He rolls his eyes and lets out a breath before speaking—he looks repulsed by her.

“No, Tara, I don't remember that night.I was so drunk and blacked out before we even left the event.As for next weekend, the only reason you are my date is because our fathers are in business together.Trust me, I don't want a repeat of last year, but my dad threatened my trust fund if I don’t comply.”He tosses her the side-eye with his mouth set in a flat line.They may not be exes, but they have definitely hooked up.

Tetherball Tara, as I will call her from now on, grimaces at his harsh words.She looks at her girl squad.“Girls!Let’s go.Now!”Clone One and Clone Two stand up without a word and hastily follow her out of the restaurant.

Cassie leans in close to my ear, so no one can hear her.“They were delightful.”I laugh at her sarcasm.

The server places our food on the table, and I'm practically drooling to take my first bite.Lucky for me, it’s so busy here, I don’t have to worry about Jackson hearing my belly make embarrassing noises.I’ve never been shy eating in front of people, so I dive into a huge slice of pepperoni pizza coated in ranch.

Mmm…This is a good ranch, and definitely homemade.

There is nothing worse than store-bought ranch.

“Dude, what the fuck?You couldn’t have played nice until we got the girls back to the house?I need to get laid.You know it helps me focus during football season.Pussy every day and the high scoreboard will stay,” the big guy sitting across from Jackson disgustingly says, laughing into his soda.

I shift uncomfortably at his brash words.I don’t usually slut-shame anyone, but really?Did he have to say it in such a crude way?Jackson notices my unease.

“Shut the hell up.I think your dick can have a night off from the terror twins.”Jackson throws a breadstick at him with a warning look.

“Ainsley, sorry for my teammates’ shit behavior.They're leaving anyway.”He nods his head toward the door and they pop up almost as fast as the clones did.

“Uh, yeah.We’re out.See you at the house, bro,” the gross one says.

“Ladies,” the other huge mountain of a man salutes us to say bye.

Cassie and I didn’t get their names, and that's fine with me.I have no interest in being friends with those meatheads.We both wordlessly wave bye, and I take another big bite of pizza.I can slowly feel my stomach settle in satisfaction.

“Come here, you have…” Jackson swipes his thumb softly under my lip.

“A little pizza grease on your lip.”He doesn’t wipe his hand on a napkin.No, he licks the tip of his thumb in a slow, mesmerizing way to get the grease off.

The little flutter feeling is coming back as I stare into his chocolate brown eyes.Jackson is handsome in all the ways.Dressed in athletic shorts and a BSU t-shirt that clings tight to his large muscles, this guy is massive.

I'm pretty sure Jackson likes me—the heavy eye contact and full focus on me despite the others that were at the table is a good sign—but I have been wrong in the past.The three of us continue talking as we box up our leftovers.There is no way I can eat another bite.

Jackson is nice and his upbeat energy is contagious; I could see myself hanging out with him more.I’m over feeling down about Ace, and making new friends is a great way to distract myself.

“This has been fun, but we have an early start to get everything prepared for the first day of school.Want to head out AC?”Cass asks me.

I don’t know if I’m ready to leave yet.A part of me wants to, because I know she's right.We do have a lot to get done before school starts.But the other part wants to stay and hang out with Jackson.He jumps in before I can answer her.

“Why don't I walk you both back?Then maybe you and I can go on that walk we talked about at the party last night.”I see the unease in his eyes at the possibility of rejection.“Yeah, I'm down.It’s warm outside and I could use the fresh air.”I smile and nod to Cassie to let her know I'm cool with his plan.

“Well, okay then, let’s go.”

We make it to the dorm in under ten minutes.Jackson and I say bye to Cass, as she waves us off saying something like “don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” and walks inside.He then grabs my hand, pulling me away to start walking.

We talk about everything under the sun.The questions are the typical lame ones like “what's your favorite color,” then get a little deeper when we talk about our families and where we come from.

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