I should have just skipped class. I know I should have. But I didn't really have a choice because we have to hand in our progress reports today to Professor Warren. There's no way Lucas would have done it because A) he doesn't give two shits about this project or our mark and B) I'm avoiding the hell out of him so I didn't bother asking. My only option is to just hope he doesn't show up but even I know how unlikely that is. After our kiss on Friday, something tells me he'll only let me avoid him for so long.

I fight the urge to close my eyes otherwise I'll go right back to that moment like I've been doing all weekend. I'm pathetic. I stayed holed up in my bedroom and did nothing but replay that kiss in my mind over and over again. I can't stop feeling it even days after it happened because that's how deeply embedded the memory of him is in me. It's not even a memory because I haven't put it behind me yet. It's at the forefront of my mind and I've abused the amount of times I've relived it. I could almost swear it feels like it's still happening. He struck me like electricity and I'm still lit up. That's what Lucas does me and I absolutely loathe it.

"Crap," I mutter and rub my temples. My brain hasn't shut off in days and now I have a headache. I think I'm hungover on the bastard.

"You okay?"

I jerk in my seat, eyes snapping open. The voice brings me back to reality and I turn around to face Beck, who asked the question.

"Hi," I manage to say when I get over my initial shock. I didn't expect him to talk to me so soon. "Yeah, I'm fine. Head hurts."

He nods and hastily looks down at his notes like he didn't think this through. There's a beat of awkward silence until I can't take it anymore.

"How are you?" I ask timidly, not wanting to send him running by doing too much too soon.

"Good," He clears his throat and glances up at me. Automatically his eyes go to my lips and he quickly looks down again. I know before he even has to say it that we're not past our lump. "Sorry I didn't say hi to you at the bonfire."

"That's okay," I fight a smile because even when he's upset with me, he's nice. I can tell his parents raised him with good manners. "It was your party. I'm sure you were busy."

"It was Drew's party," He corrects, referring to one of his teammates. "But yeah, we were kind of all over the place."

I nod and try to think of something else to talk about. Regardless of what happened between us Beck was my friend and that's what I miss the most. I might be a social person but I pick and choose my friends carefully. More often than not I come across people who are fake and are only interested in my image, or better yet my dad's image. It's hard to come across others that genuinely want to know me and Beck was one of them. I appreciated it that much more because I know how rare that is.

"When's your next game?" I finally ask after a minute.

"This Friday, actually. It'll be the one that decides if we're selected for the frozen four this year."

"No pressure, huh? I'm sure you guys will win."

"We better. We aren't working our asses off for nothing," The barest smile peeks through and I smile back.

"Let's get started class," Professor's Warren announcement forces me to turn around but I don't mind. That was a good conversation — not awkwardly short or awkwardly long. "I'm going to start off by coming to your groups one by one so you can update me on the progress of your major project. We're halfway into the semester so hopefully you've already started because there's a lot to do for this one. After that I'll give a brief lecture on the history of Pluto and why it's no longer categorized as a planet."

While he takes attendance I grab my notes from my backpack and open the half written essay from my laptop. I'm immediately reminded of that day in the library and I frown at the mental image of Lucas kissing another girl. And then Lucas kissing me. And then I'm hit with another flurry of emotions I can't make sense of because my brain and my heart will never be on the same fucking page.

I'm all too relieved that Professor Warren actually comes to me first. My train of thought would have went to unwanted places without this interruption.

"Hey sir," I smile at him as he takes a seat across from me. "How's your day going?"

"Quite spectacular, Miss West," He grins back and I can't help but find it adorable. Professor Warren is like the grandfather everyone should have. I only have one gay grandfather but we don't talk to him much because of Mom's rocky past with him. We stick to holiday cards and occasional phone calls, sometimes meet-ups if he really wants to see us. "I have to admit, I knew you'd have the most work to present me with so I thought I'd start with you."

"I'm flattered," I tell him honestly with a laugh. I turn my laptop towards him and he puts his reading glasses on, taking a look. "We picked the constellation The Northern Crown."

"Great story," He agrees. "Will Mr. Cage be joining us any time soon?"

I shift in my seat and give him my most apologetic look. "I think he's sleeping in. But we're sharing the workload so he's caught up."

This time it's him who gives me a polite smile and it's obvious he doesn't believe me. "Very well. What have you completed so far?"

"I'm halfway through the essay. So far I've broken it down into summary of the constellation, where and how to locate it, the surrounding planets, and the galaxy it's in. I have a rough outline of the sky map and once I make the final copy, I'll finish the essay explaining the process and our personal experience creating it."

"Excellent," He nods and scribbled something down in his notebook. "You're right on track, a little ahead even. I look forward to seeing the rest of the project."

"Thank you," I smile at him but it's quick to disappear when Lucas suddenly strolls inside the classroom. His eyes immediately land on me like he was looking for me and for the life of me I can't read his expression. I can only watch with dread as he makes his way to my row. I mutter an unenthusiastic, "Fantastic."

Professor Warren turns around too and I can't see his face but I can hear the tentativeness in his tone. "Mr. Cage. We were just talking about you."

Lucas smirks almost playfully. "Can't say I'm surprised."

"We're talking about the project," I feel the need to defend. I don't know why. Maybe it's because I practically jumped on him and mauled his mouth so the last thing his ego needs is to be fed even more.

"So am I," He sets down a small poster board and I blink at it.

"What's that?"

"The sky map."

"What sky map?"

"For our project, Olivia," He sounds amused but I can't peel my eyes away from the poster board. It is the sky map and it looks...flawless. The constellation is neatly drawn, the coordinates are perfectly placed, and he's labelled each star accordingly. It's visually aesthetic too. The constellation is done in silver glitter glue. Freaking glitter.

"What..." I trail off, at a loss for words.

"This is excellent, Mr. Cage," Professor Warren beams and holds the poster board up to get a better look. Lucas just shrugs and I continue to gape at him.

"When did you make this?" I finally find my voice to ask him. When he looks at me his eyes are void of any emotion so I can't read him.

"On the weekend," He answers like this is something he does everyday.

"But...you had to actually go to the site to be able to see the constellation."

"Yeah. I drove out to Worcester."

"And how did you know how to make a sky map?"

"I used to watch you make them with Uncle Cam, remember?" He finally looks away and I can see his jaw pulse from his side profile. "I paid attention."

I have no idea what to say to that. I don't even know what to think. So I look away and try to listen as Professor Warren instructs us on how to proceed with the project and the best way to wrap it up. I nod occasionally and keep my eyes on him but I'm not processing anything he's saying. My brain is on overdrive trying to figure out what the hell Lucas is up to. What game is he playing this time? There has to be some ulterior motive for why he did this, right?

Professor Warren wishes us luck on the rest of the project and moves on to the next group. Meanwhile I'm still staring at the sky map like it'll disappear at any moment, like my eyes are playing tricks on me and it's not really there.

"Did you forget how to use your words?" Lucas breaks the silence with a bored voice.

I like that he's being an ass. I can deal with Lucas the Asshole. I can't deal with Nice Lucas. He's ten times scarier to me.

"Why did you do this?" I can't help but ask him.

"It's part of the project."

"No, Lucas. Why did you do this?"

He scoffs, shifting in his seat and refusing to meet my eyes. "Fuck if I know, okay? Those fuckers on Friday made you upset and you looked like you were going to cry or some shit. You needed a break."

What is happening right now? "Does it matter if they made me upset?"

"It does to me," He looks at me then for a split second and I can see the truth his words hold before he looks away again. "Fucking whatever. It's just a stupid map."

Sensing that he wants to drop this topic I wisely stay quiet and stop myself from saying anything else. It's not just a map. It's what he did for me. It's that he did anything for me at all. I still don't understand why. Nothing has changed between us besides our kiss. Was that the reason?

"You won't get in my pants because of this, you know," I say sternly. I don't want him getting any ideas. But the comment does seem to take him by surprise because he blinks fast as he turns to me, one brow going up. I lower my voice and continue. "Just because we kissed doesn't mean it'll happen again so if this is to score brownie points, it won't work."

Oh, I've definitely amused him now. He bites the inside of his cheek like he's holding back a smile, his eyes dancing with humour. "Aren't we full of it?"

"I'm not full of it. What else am I supposed to think? That you did this without expecting anything in return?"

"That's so hard to believe?"

"Unless I imagined the last four years, yeah."

"Think what you want then," He sinks down in his chair with a yawn and draws his hoodie over his head, pulling the strings. "Wake me up when class is over."

"You're staying?" For some reason that surprises me.

"Is that a problem?" He looks over at me with a smirk. I don't answer as he takes hold of his chair and scoots over until he's beside me, so close that our thighs touch. I blink when he suddenly leans in my face. His voice is a murmur when he speaks. "Am I making you nervous, Olivia?"

"No," I lie. But he is making me nervous and it's because I can't read him for shit right now. He's spinning my mind with this new side of his and I'm trying to keep my head on straight. The last thing I want to do is fall for another one of his tricks. This has to be a trick, right?

"Then why can't I stay?" He questions. I suck in a quick breath when his hand grabs mine and I look down in confusion, watching as he brushes his thumb across my inner wrist. He used to do this to me all the time. Why now? "You shouldn't tell me to stay away, firecracker. It makes me want to corner you until you have nowhere to go."

I narrow my eyes on him and yank my hand away. Now this sounds more like him. "Very funny."

"Wasn't trying to be," He says it so seriously that for a moment I can only stare at him while his words linger between us.

His eyes flick down to my lips and my chest flips over at the approval in his gaze. I'm oddly disappointed when he looks away. I need to get it together. I look at the clock because I need this class to be over yesterday. When I'm forced to be in Lucas's proximity my brain apparently stops working. That much is obvious. I need to get away before I do something else I'll regret, like kiss him again. That definitely can't happen.

"Don't forget to wake me up," Lucas's groggily spoken reminder snaps me out of it. He looks like he's already dozing off.

"When's the last time you slept?" I ask. Lucas has always had really bad insomnia but even I can tell it's worse than it's ever been these days. He looks exhausted all the time.

"Friday night," He mumbles with closed eyes. My brows go up.

"You haven't slept in three days?"

"That's my limit, lately."

"You should see a doctor for that, shouldn't you?"

I swear for a moment his mouth twitches. "Worried about me?"

Just like that any semblance of a normal conversation is gone and I make an irritated noise, turning away. Does he have to be such a cocky asshole all the time?

"Yes," He mutters and I jump, realizing I spoke that last part out loud. Damn it. I really need to work on that. "Could you shut up now?"

"Say please," I fire back, not even sure why I'm still keeping up with our conversation. I would say it's fun but that's just a horrific thought.

"No," He pulls the strings of his hoodie until his entire face is concealed but for a brief moment, I think he might have smiled. Whatever. I need to stop looking for his human qualities. He's the freaking devil.

The rest of class is peaceful because Lucas actually falls asleep. Professor Warren notices when he makes his way to the front of the room but doesn't say anything. He's probably still on cloud nine that Lucas actually did his work. Hell, I'm still not over it myself.

Now that he's asleep I take a moment to look at him and watch as he snores softly. He looks so different when he's asleep. He looks like a little kid, all innocent and fresh-faced without the usual traces of anger he wears. Even though most of the time I can't stand him, there are moments where I do understand him. It doesn't matter how much of a jerk he tries to be — I know him. His biggest enemy is himself. He doesn't need anyone telling him that he's an asshole, or that he needs to get his life together, or that he behaves miserably. He knows that better than anyone. I've watched him these past few months and he's constantly at war with himself. The only time he's not fighting himself is when he's fighting his family or even me. He may be surrounded by people but he's alone and I think he'd rather push everyone away than admit that he needs someone. It's not right, but it is the human in him.

All too soon Professor Warren dismisses us and I find myself with a major headache. This thing with Lucas won't stop becoming more and more confusing. Every time I think I've got a handle on us I'm thrown for a loop. I thought it would be easy to stay away for him and that my hatred would burn strong enough to keep me way. I never thought the hate would blur around the edges and take on a softer note, make me care about him even. Why am I doing this to myself? He's just going to hurt me again. I haven't forgotten what happened to me all those years ago, haven't forgotten how Lucas abandoned me, so why do I feel myself opening up to him again? I can't keep doing this. I can't.

"Get up," I shake him roughly and he stirs, eyes gradually blinking open. The vibrant greenish-blue irises lock with mine and my chest aches because I used to be in love with them all my life. I can't let it happen again.

I abruptly stand up, putting on my shoulder bag and tucking my chair in. I squeeze behind Lucas's seat but he stretches his arms back on a yawn and grabs my wrist, stopping me before I can go.

"Wait," He mumbles sleepily. His head tips back to look at me. "Take the sky map with you."

"You don't have to touch me to tell me that," I take my hand out of his grasp and slide out from behind his chair, grabbing the sky map and tucking it under my arm.

I take quick and big steps, breathing a sigh of relief when I'm outside of the classroom. I need space. But it doesn't last long because I've just left the building when Lucas falls into stride beside me on the sidewalk.

"What the hell crawled up your ass?" He asks with a frown.

Good. He needs to keep being an asshole to me because I give in to him otherwise. It's pathetic but those are the facts.

"Now you're ignoring me?" He questions blandly.

I continue to speed walk in silence but he's matching me step for step. I don't understand why hasn't walked away yet. I can't be around him right now. I'm grateful that my phone rings because he looked like he was going to say something else. He clamps his mouth shut as I take my phone out of my jeans, accepting my mom's FaceTime call without a second thought. Anything to get away from Lucas.

"Hey mamá," I greet. I try to walk ahead for some privacy but Lucas follows. I'm seconds away from punching him. "What's up?"

"How's my girl?" She asks with a grin. "Soon to be nineteen! Are you excited?"

"Not really," I tell her honestly. I kind of forgot my birthday was coming up.

"You should be. Your father and I are throwing together a huge party."

"No parties," I immediately shake my head. "Not this time. I've had enough excitement to last me the whole year."

"Why not?" She frowns. Then she suddenly blinks fast, coming so close to the screen I can only see her eyeball. "Lucas? Is that you, niño?"

Oh, hell. Just what either of us need. I toss him my dirtiest look and he glares back. If he'd just left me alone this wouldn't be happening, would it?

"Hey Tia," He greets reluctantly. I don't bother putting the camera on him.

Mom's grin is so wide I wince. "It is you! What a coincidence! Your mom is here with me too."

"Fuck," We both mutter at the same time.

A moment later, Aunt Em's face pops into the screen beside Mom's. "Hi, baby! How was class?"

"Fine," Lucas bites out. He tries to walk ahead but I grab him by the elbow and glare. Like hell. He had his chance to leave and he doesn't get to leave me hanging now. He shakes my hold off with obvious irritation.

"Look at you two hanging out like old times," Mom's grin widens more if possible.

"Mom," I warn.

"Are you two friends again?" Aunt Em asks excitedly.

"Mom," Lucas speaks through gritted teeth. This is just fucking spectacular.

"This actually works out because I needed a favour," She continues. "You need to go dress shopping with Olivia."

"What?" We ask at the same time. Have they lost it?

"You were supposed to buy your birthday dress last week," Mom reminds me. "Now it's last minute so go with Lucas."

"The two have nothing to do with each other!" I all but scream. "Is he magically going to turn back time for me?"

"Lucas, I'm not giving you a choice," Aunt Em chimes in. "Go with her."

"What for?" He growls. "Fuck am I going to do shopping for dresses? I don't do that shit, least of all with her."

"And thank God for that," I retort.

"Enough," Mom scolds and we both clamp our mouths shut. "The best part about being a mom is using 'because I said so' when we don't have a valid excuse. So go shopping because Emily and I said so. End of discussion."

"Mamá! ¿Que demonios?"

"No fucking way!"

"Stop it," Aunt Em demands. She points a finger. "Lucas, I am asking you and that should be enough. You know good and well I'm still upset with you so you're going to listen to me."

"Olivia, if you don't want a party then do this instead otherwise I'll invite all of Boston and force you to sit through it."

Lucas and I gawk at the screen together. We stopped walking long ago, frozen in the middle of campus and unable to comprehend what the hell just happened.

"Why?" I finally sputter out.

"Because we said so," They say in unison. They both smile and wave and then the call abruptly ends. I blink at the screen and then at Lucas, who looks equally incredulous.

"You're not coming with me," I snap.

"Wasn't going to," He fires back. "You're being childish as fuck, anyways. I'm out of here."

"Fine!" I yell at his retreating back. I stuff my phone in my pocket and head in the other direction. I guess we're back to normal.

_________________________

A/N

This chapter has me dying. Why are Emily and Avery so nosy.

Okay but admit it, Olivia and Lucas DID make progress and their convo was adorable! I like that they're slowly warming up to each other but still have that fire between them! Thoughts?

Don't forget to add Raze (Greg's novella) to your libraries! It releases next Saturday all at once so I want to make sure you'll all be notified! Can be found on my page.

Please VOTE, comment and share if you liked this chapter!

Happy Reading :)