Chapter 26

JAX

Mila showsup to Willow's in just seconds. Literally.

As though she's been standing out in the hallway.

I'm not sure if she knew I was there or not…

Mila looks flustered. Very flustered.

She rushes right by me to the table where I had been sitting.

Mila spins around and looks at me.

Willow steps out of her bedroom. "Hey, good news. Oh, Mila. You're here. I didn't know you were showing up."

"I needed to see Jax," Mila says. "Alone…"

Willow looks at me.

"How did the doc call go?" I ask.

"Fine. Everything is fine. All the test results came back negative."

"So no baby?"

"What?" Mila cries out.

"Ignore him," Willow says. "He's an idiot. Um… I'm going to go for a walk. I could use a walk. That's cool, right?"

"I'm kicking you out of your own dorm," Mila says.

Then she whispers, "My life is a giant fucking mess…"

Willow looks at her phone. "Oh… look at this…"

She puts the phone to her ear.

It's obviously not a real phone call.

"Yeah," Willow says in a fake voice. "Yeah, sure. I'm going for a walk. I can talk. Sure."

Willow rushes out of her dorm.

I'm left alone with Mila.

And, yeah, I have about ten million thoughts rushing through my head.

Mila turns back toward the table and looks down. "This is wrong."

"What is wrong, honey?" I ask.

"This work," she says. "This table you worked on. You repeated the same deprecation value twice… for year three to four."

"Is that the one Willow checked?" I ask.

"No," Mila says. "This is the side one. Look. Right here."

I close in on Mila and see where she's pointing.

"See? It's the same. It should be a different value. When you're working with depreciation, you want to make sure that-"

"How do you know this?" I ask.

"What? Basic financial stuff?"

"This is basic?"

"It's depreciation."

"You're a doctor, Mila."

"I'm in pre-med," she corrects me.

"Mila. Get real. You're a doctor. It's already decided. You know that, right?"

She doesn't respond to me.

We are in complete silence for a good three or four seconds.

"But I did get this all correct," I say. "See this? Look at this balance sheet. Wrote most of that out by hand."

Mila studies the papers, blinking fast.

It's the first time I realize just how intense her brain must be. How smart she is. The kind of pressure she probably lives with on a daily basis too. I'm sure she puts a ton of that pressure on herself. But still.

"This looks great," she says. "I guess the tutoring is working."

"I don't need tutoring, Mila. Apparently I just need to apply myself more."

She looks at me. "Well, whatever, just get the work done."

"You know, Willow and I have a system."

"A system?"

"Yeah. When I get an answer right, I get something from her. You know what I mean?"

"No. What do you get? A cookie?"

"We start with a kiss and go from there."

Mila steps back. "What?"

"A kiss. Shows me her boobs. I play with her boobs. I tease her nipples. And then…"

Mila cheeks are bright red.

She shakes her head.

"You're a liar," Mila says.

I laugh. "Yeah, I am. I did ask for that but Willow is tough. She won't give it up."

"I thought you were just good friends or something? You didn't have that spark with her?"

"Does that bother you, Mila? I mean, if Willow and I had that spark? Would it irk you? Make you crazy? Drive you insanely jealous?"

"No, Jax. No."

"That's a lie. You're lying to me now."

I move closer to Mila.

She doesn't move away.

I gently reach for her and touch her arms.

"It's okay, honey. I swear, it's okay. We can figure it all out."

"No. You don't get it…"

"Get what? Huh? Willow already told me how a certain person feels. I guess he's mad at me? Is that true? He can't talk to me man to man, huh? What does that make him?"

"Jax," Mila snaps. "Just shut up for a second. Stop talking. Stop… being a dick."

"Wow," I say.

"What do you think I'm here for? Huh? To confess my love for you? To tell you I want you? To beg you to throw me over your shoulder and take me to Willow's bed? That would be the ultimate thing, right? You fuck me in my boyfriend's sister's bed. Oh, Jax, yes. Please. Do it."

Anger climbs across her face.

My jaw tightens.

She then swallows hard. "I needed to see you in person for a reason."

"Well, here I am. You found me. So why fuck around, right? Just say whatever it is you have to say."

"I wanted to talk to you face to face."

"You have more balls than your boyfriend does."

Mila slaps me across the face.

She knows I'm not wrong, but I totally respect the slap.

My cheek burns for a few seconds.

"Listen clearly," Mila says. "We can never talk again. Okay? Never. I'm making that very clear to you. Listen to my words. We. Can. Never. Talk. Again."

Mila stares me down as she backs up toward the door.

I don't need to process the words. I'm capable of hearing and absorbing.

"You don't mean that, honey," I say as she leaves, pulling the door shut behind her.

Mila is gone.

Maybe forever.

Honestly, what the hell do I care?

Mila?

Who is she really?

She's just another girl walking around this fucking campus.

I might as well just make a move and fuck Willow now, right?