That was the thing. Rose had taste. I felt my lips tugging up. That’s why she’d liked me…
That’s why she still did.
I knew she did, whether she admitted it or not.
Ryan’s tough guy attitude seemed to fade a bit and for a second, he looked like an overgrown kid. “What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing…yet. Just go along with my plans.” I turned to Simone. “But I am going to need your help.”
Simone was obviously only too eager to help and the next afternoon after school, I ditched band practice early to finish up our little project that Simone insisted on referring to as my ‘grand grovel’ instead of my ‘grand gesture,’ as I liked to call it.
“How’d band practice go?” she asked as she took a paint can off the shelf in her garage.
“You know…I was going to kill Rose when she sicced her friend Bianca on me to sing some songs at the fundraiser, but now…” I grinned. “It worked out perfectly.”
Simone was smiling too as she shook her head in disbelief. “So you’re really doing this.”
I nodded. “I’m in it to win it, baby.”
“Never call me baby again.”
“Deal.” I pointed to the signs she’d stolen from the backstage area at school. “Shall we?”
She put her glasses on and pulled her hair up in a ponytail. “Let’s do this.”
We worked side by side and by the time her dad was telling her to clean up for dinner, we were done.
“You know you’re the best, right?” I said as I paused in the doorway to leave.
“Of course, I do.” Her faux seriousness made me laugh as she shut the door behind me.
I’d just reached the edge of the driveway when I spotted her.
Rose. Purple hair and sexy black leggings were headed toward me and…
Holy freakin’ crap. This girl could stop traffic without even trying. She didn’t see me at first since her gaze was on the ground in front of her but when she looked up…
Her eyes widened in surprise and for a second I caught it.
Vulnerable. Fragile. Defenseless.
My heart twisted in agony because this was the real Rose and she was perfection. She was flawed and she was troubled and she was a little vain and a lot insecure. She also had a bigger heart than anyone realized and the capacity to feel so deeply she chose to keep that well hidden rather than expose it to the world and risk getting hurt.
I saw it all now…
Now that I was too late.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, tucking some hair behind her ear.
“I needed Simone’s help with an art project,” I said. This was…not a total lie.
Her silence was killer. I wanted her to say something. Anything.
“Okay, well…see you around, I guess.”
Anything but that. “Rose, wait…”
She paused but I had no idea what to say. I’d said everything there was to say the other day and it had gotten me nowhere. But maybe it wasn’t about me. I cleared my throat. “How’s your monologue coming along?”
Her head lifted and her eyes flashed with surprise. That’s when I realized that Rose spent so much time flattering guys, and making people laugh and smile or even roll their eyes, that no one took the time to ask her about her life.
And that, I had no doubt, was entirely on purpose.
The lengths this girl went to in order to keep the world safely at bay were almost…impressive. Sad, but impressive. The walls were steep and they were high, but I would knock them down or die trying.
I felt my lips curve up because, yeah…clearly she wasn’t the only one with a penchant for melodrama.
“Fine,” she said. Her glance flickered toward Simone’s front door. “That’s actually why I’m here. I’m hoping Simone will help me to improve.”
Right. She was here for Simone. I mean, I could have guessed that since we were standing in front of Simone’s house, but there’d still been a little hope there that maybe my mom had told her I was here or something.
I took a deep breath. I was down but not out. I’d show her what she meant to me, and my plan started tomorrow.
“See ya around, Jax,” she said as she moved to pass me.
“Yeah. See ya.” I looked over my shoulder and watched her walk away…just like last time.
But this time?
I wasn’t going to let her go.
Not until she knew exactly how I felt about her.
19
Rose
My heart was still beating furiously as I watched Jax walk away.
The guy had swagger, I’d give him that.
And great hands. And a sexy grin. And freakin’ eyes to die for. And…
Wait, where was I going with this?
“Rose?” Simone called my name from behind me and I saw her hovering in the doorway.
“Hey!” I shook off the daze as I smiled at Simone.
“If you’re here to see Jax, he just left and—”
“No, actually, I came to see you.” I pushed the memory of Jax far, far away as I focused on what I came here to say. “Can we talk for a second?”
“Uh, sure…”
I took a deep breath, but I wasn’t going to turn back.
Last night I’d turned to the Diva Squad for advice again. Or rather, to run Simone’s feedback by them and see if they agreed. What I’d gotten was a whole lot of snark from Jenna and a wise non-answer from Layne, who’d finally checked her social media for the first time in forever. She replied with a meme of the Paul Cezanne quote, “A work of art which did not begin in emotion is not art.”
Enough said, right? She didn’t outright say it—none of them did—but it was obvious they thought Simone was right. And when I got my ego out of the way and really stopped to think about it…I knew Simone was right.
I’d gotten so good at hiding my emotions, that I wasn’t sure how to even begin to tap into them. I had a bad feeling that once I stopped covering things up, a whole freakin’ world of
