Page 13 of Barron's Second Chance
Eden looked different. The same, but different. Her body looked longer and leaner, and since he was into fitness, he could tell she was working out. But not to lose weight - it looked like her body was toning up. Her hair was in a high ponytail, showing off her beautiful features. She usually kept her hair down, telling him that she felt comfortable hiding her insecurities that way. Whatever that meant. She was beautiful to him, hair up or down. But with her hair away from her face, he could see the long swan-like curve of her neck, wisps of hair falling against the beautiful slope. A neck he would love to bury his lips against once more.
As he stared at her unashamedly, he noted that the haunted, pale look she constantly wore after summer was gone. She held her head up; her face looked fresh with a bit of color. She looked like the same Eden he knew and loved, but something was different.
As he watched his former friends gaze intently at her while she animatedly relayed something to them, breaking out into a shy smile or giggle when they reciprocated with something, he realized what that something different was.
Confidence.
And he sadly realized that probably meant she was starting to get over him if she wasn't already.
As the end of the school year drew closer, a sense of panic rested deep within him. After they graduated, he had no idea what Eden's plans were. He continued respecting her privacy by not enquiring after her, so he was clueless about where she was going. Was she staying in New Haven? Was she taking time off? Was she traveling? The not knowing was driving him crazy.
But then, one cool Spring day, he got his answer.
"What a slut, she's practically naked! I would never do anything like this!"
Lissa's annoyingly shrill voice rang across from him as he sat at their table. He glanced towards the rear of the room and swallowed his disappointment that Eden was not at her usual table. Again.
"What's going on?" He asked as he opened a bag of chips.
Lissa glanced up at him, her blue eyes squinting in barely controlled rage.
"Has your precious Eden told you what she's been up to in New York?" She sneered.
Barron jerked his head back. What the hell?
"Eden? Why are you talking about her?"
"Bro, you haven't seen?" Brad asked disbelievingly.
"Seen what?" He glanced at the phone in her hand, gesturing towards it. The contents of it seemed to cause her a lot of anger. "What happened?"
Lissa rolled her eyes and thrust her jewel-encrusted phone toward him. "See for yourself," she scoffed. "Little Miss innocent is not so angelic after all."
His expression marred in confusion as he stared down at the image on his phone. His mouth fell open in shock, trying to decipher what he was seeing.
It was an ad for jeans, that much he could tell. A well-known brand's name lay across the top of the spread.
But that's not what caught his eye.
It was the couple posing in said jeans - both of whom were topless. It was a black-and-white shot taken from above. The male was staring, unsmiling, at the camera, his eyes smoldering while lying on his back.
The female model was lying face up with her head on his washboard abs and staring intensely at the camera with a heated look. Her legs were stretched out, and the male model's arm was curved around the female model's chest. His forearm covered what were clearly bare breasts. One of her hands was clasping his arm against her chest while the other had a finger pressed to her slightly open mouth.
Her full, plump mouth.
A mouth he had kissed a thousand times since the first time he kissed them behind a pink-colored curtain at Brad's birthday party over three years ago.
As he continued to stare in shock at the image, a red haze fell over him, and a fit of deep-searing jealousy bubbled to the surface. His windpipe felt crushed, making it hard for him to breathe. Jesus, if this is what he felt by looking at this posed picture, he couldn't even think about what it would've felt like for Eden to have seen him with Lissa.
"What the fuck?" He whispered as his mind tried to compute what he was seeing. Linger was a well-known designer denim brand. This was more than the catalog modeling that Lissa did.
"Have you seen her Instagram?" Brad asked.
Wordlessly, because he was still in shock, he shook his head. He was still blocked on there the last time he checked, which was last night.
"Here," Brad shoved his phone at him while Lissa snatched hers back. Barron stared at the screen, which was pulled up to Eden's Instagram page. A page that used to be private but now looked to be set public. There was also a blue check mark next to her name.
What. The. Fuck.
