More Than Exes (Chasing The Dream, #0.5)

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

What was Alexis doing here? She was supposed to be at Princeton, not here in LA and definitely not at our show tonight. Maybe she was with Todd's band. He was exactly her kind of guy, living off daddy's money and taking the private jet on vacations. But still, it was Todd. I thought she had better taste than that.

For a split-second, I debated whether I could duck out or hide or something, but she paused with her camera half-raised to her face, her eyes wide and her lips parted. She'd seen me. It was too late to escape.

We stared at each other for the longest minute of my life. She looked so different it was hard to believe it was actually her. Gone was her preppy image, with the stuffy cardigans and sensible shoes. In her leather jacket and studded boots, she looked like she belonged with our band, not Todd's. And her hair...it had always been red, but when we were in high school, it had been natural red. A soft ginger color. Copper and bronze. The color of the sun as it set over the horizon. I'd spent hours running my fingers through it and watching the strands glow as the light hit them. Now it was Maraschino cherry red, but still just as beautiful.

And that was definitely a tattoo on her wrist, though I couldn't tell what it was from this distance. She'd told me she would never get another tattoo, not after the ones we'd gotten together. What had changed in the past three years?

Of course, I looked different, too. My hair was dyed black now and longer, with an annoying tendency to fall in my eyes instead of sticking up like Jared's did. I'd added round black gauges to my ears, and I had more tattoos—not just on my arms, but across my chest, up my neck, and down my fingers. We'd both changed. My change just hadn't been quite as dramatic as hers because I'd already been halfway there when we'd broken up. Hell, that was one of the reasons she'd dumped me: that we were too different from each other and I wouldn't fit in with her new Princeton lifestyle. Kind of ironic that she had now fallen to the dark side herself.

Everything else faded away until it was only Alexis and me and all of our history stretching between us. Memories flashed through my mind like a slideshow. The first time we'd talked in tenth grade English class, when I'd finally worked up the courage to say hello to the girl so completely out of my league. The first time we'd kissed, in front of my piano after I'd tried—and failed—to teach her to play it. The first time we'd had sex, in her room surrounded by pink walls while her parents were out of town. Sneaking out to concerts using fake IDs. Practicing with the band while she watched and did her homework. Studying for the SATs together. Prom night. And finally, graduation—the last time I'd seen her.

What was I supposed to do? Walk over and say, Hey, how's it going? How have you been since you ripped out my heart, tore it into a thousand pieces, and stomped all over it? I could ignore her and walk away before things got weird, try to avoid her for the rest of the night. No, hiding would seem weak, like I wasn't over her or something. That was out, which meant I had to man up and talk to her.

I pushed off the wall and made my way through the throng of people, and she ditched Todd's band to meet me halfway. She stood a little straighter as I neared but was still a few inches shorter than me. The perfect height for our bodies to fit together. I moved to hug her, either out of habit or because it seemed the natural thing to do, but I shoved my hands in my pockets instead.

"Alexis," I said. "Long time, no see."

"Kyle," she said, in that breathy voice I knew too well, the one she used when she was excited. I'd heard her say my name like that many times—along with, Oh god and Don't stop and Yes!

I quickly pushed those memories aside. Thinking about Alexis like that would get me both turned on and depressed, and that combo couldn't lead to anything good. Especially since her body was as amazing as I remembered, with large, round breasts and curvy hips I wanted to run my hands over. I tried not to stare, but she gave me a dazzling smile that reeled me back in.