Page 107 of Ink & Ambition

“Alex, this is important to me.”

Alex’s voice is quiet, hurt apparent on his face. “I didn’t realize I was pulling you away from what matters.”

I sigh, placing my hands on either side of my face. I squeeze my eyes shut. “You’re not pulling me away. It’s just, this time we’ve been spending together, while it’s amazing, it has been very distracting for me.”

Alex grips my hands, pulling my palms away from my face. “I get it. Sorry, I’ve just…never had a girlfriend before. This is all new to me.”

“It’s new to me too.” A small smile greets me when I look up at him. He kisses me briefly on the nose before dropping my arms and stepping back.

“We’ll figure this whole relationship thing out,” he says assuredly. I nod. “In the meantime, get back in there. Get the scoop. Follow the lead. And all that other stuff.”

I huff out a laugh and Alex’s face lights up. Reaching on my toes to kiss his lips, I linger for longer than I should to savor him before turning on my heels and heading back to my desk. While I’m almost done with the articles that Jessy asked for help with, I still have to start my final paper for my Investigative Journalism class. And then I need to get my head in the game for this internship contest. The deadline is close and Alex needs to move to the back of my mind so I can shift my priorities to the front.

Chapter Forty-One

Margot

Sydneyhandsmeanothersteaming hot cup of coffee and I mutter a thank you, not looking up from my psychology textbook. I’m trying not to panic but I truly cannot believe how far I’ve let myself fall this semester. I’m holding onto my GPA by a thread that’s getting thinner by the minute.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Margot? I haven’t seen you this focused since spring finals week freshman year.”

“A dark time for us all,” Danika chants from my doorway.

“I said I’m fine,” I reply, still not making eye contact. How could I when I need to memorize five key concepts of the mind by tomorrow afternoon?

“You’re not fine,” Danika mutters. Before I know it, she’s snatched the book out of my hands, holding it up over both our heads. If I wasn’t so angry, I would’ve been impressed by her strength–that’s no small feat.

“What the hell, Danika. Give it to me,” I yell, attempting to reach it but she’s always had some height on me.

“You want it?” Danika taunts. “Go get it.” She tosses the book haphazardly behind her into the living room. I gasp, hoping it’snot ripped. It’s a rental. Before I can go get it, Syd and Dani form a united front in my doorway, their folded arms blocking my exit.

“What is wrong with you two? I’m just trying to study.”

Danika sighs. “You’ve been locked in this room studying for two days. Have you even talked to Alex?”

A grunt of frustration erupts from my chest. “I don’t need to talk to Alex! I need. To study.” Pushing past them, I force my way into the living room.

Even though I displaced them when I barreled through, they only form the wall again on the other side of my bedroom.

“I saw him at the gym. He asked me about you,” Sydney says, her voice small.

“He shouldn’t be asking you about me. I’m fine. He knows I’m busy. It’s almost finals week.” Sydney nods but her face is crestfallen.

I pick up the book, thankfully still intact, and sigh heavily, letting it fall back down onto the couch. “I’m losing it, guys. I don’t know how I got so behind this semester but I’m struggling to catch up.”

“I know this podcast thing has kind of taken up a lot of your time,” Danika says, rubbing her hand on my back like she does when I’m not feeling well. The sisterly touches always make me feel better. “Why don’t you let us help you?”

“Help me study psych?” I ask, hopefully.

The girls laugh. Danika holds out her hand. “Hand over the study cards you’ve got in your back pocket and nobody gets hurt.”

Hesitantly, I pull a stack of completely filled index cards and place them on Danika’s waiting palm. “Atta girl,” she says. “Such a nerd,” she whispers to Sydney. I give her a hip check as we all land on the couch, Sydney grabbing my textbook and opening to the page I left off on.

After an hour and another completed stack of index cards, we decide to call it a night. I didn’t mean to ignore Alex this week but he has a tendency to make it hard to focus and I really just needed time to myself to get reoriented. Remember why I’m here in the first place.

After brushing my teeth, I lay down in my bed and pull up Alex’s contact information. I know he’ll answer me even though it’s late. At least I hope he does. I hope he’s not mad I didn’t reach out earlier.

With quiet trepidation, I hit the call button under his picture–one I took of him laying on the bed on our impromptu thanksgiving getaway.

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