Everything Changes

Chapter Eighteen: Winter Break Was No Fun

Winter break was no fun.

The only excitement Juliana had her entire month long break was Jordan coming back home - but that didn't last for very long. He went back to Los Angeles with his girlfriend and left West Coral in one piece. The rest of break was spent doing hardly anything. She worked most days with Cassie and her siblings, but on the days she had off, none of her friends wanted to hang out. Everyone was doing their own things.

Cassie was always spending quality time with her family, which made perfect sense, considering how family-oriented she was. Brittany was always spending time alone, as she didn't crave the social interaction Juliana did. She was perfectly fine lying in bed all day watching television. And her other friends from home had conflicting schedules with hers. So, that left her having a very boring and unsuccessful winter break. It was one month spent dwelling in her boredom.

That was why Juliana was thrilled to be back at school. She missed her friends who were always willing to do something fun - like grab food or hang out until late at night. It was a whole different world being at college. It was like being busy all the time - but in the best way possible.

She scurried down the hallway in her dorm, planning to greet her friend who just returned back to school. As she quickly turned down the hallway, she almost ran into the person walking in the opposite direction. She jumped back in fear, not expecting anyone to be there. To her surprise, it was Lavigne. He was sporting a huge smile on his face, displaying his shiny white teeth.

That was when she was reminded of their... intimate encounter. She remembered how much she disliked sleeping with him. The memories all came flooding back to her as she tried to keep a smile on his face, not wanting to act like something was wrong. After all, that was an entire month ago. She needed to put it past her and move on. Plus, she knew there was still room for improvement regarding her and Lavigne's sexual chemistry... right?

"Hi, Juliana," he greeted, sounding chipper to see her. She immediately snapped out of her thoughts, smiling back at him. He sheepishly ran a hand through his brown hair before speaking again. "How was your break?"

"Good," she answered, nodding her head. What she really wanted to say was: oh, actually. It was boring. I worked every day and hardly did a single thing. It feels like my friends from home all have their separate lives now and are doing their own things. Oh, also! My friend's ex-boyfriend came back home from L.A. after ghosting everyone! However, she knew it wouldn't be socially acceptable to say any of that, so she thought 'good' would do the job. "How was yours?"

"It was good," he responded before checking his watch. "Hey, listen. I have to go because I'm meeting up with my friend," he said as Juliana nodded her head, understanding he had places to be. So did she. "But did you want to grab coffee sometime? I would love to catch up a little bit more."

Her eyes widened. She did not expect him to say that! So... did that mean he didn't think having sex with her went terribly wrong? Did he like it? It made her feel much better about the situation, even if she was just inferring his feelings. She also figured it wouldn't harm her to give him another chance. He was sweet, after all. She didn't want to let go of him too quickly.

"Sure," she nodded, trying to stay cool and collected even though she was freaking out. "Does Wednesday work for you?"

He nodded. "Yeah. That works," he confirmed as she smiled once again. "I'll see you Wednesday, Juliana."

"See you Wednesday, Lavigne."

✰ ✰ ✰ ✰

Wednesday rolled around quickly. Juliana started her second semester of college on a high note, as she was able to find all of her classes with ease and already loved her professors. She couldn't wait to see what the new semester had in store for her. She could only hope that it was just as good as the last one.

After her morning classes, she found herself in the local coffee shop with an iced coffee in hand. Lavigne sat across from her, sipping on his hot latte. She was happy that they were able to follow through with their plans and meet up for coffee. She definitely would have been overthinking for days if he had cancelled on her.

She then noticed that he was drinking a hot latte in seventy degree weather. As it was January, it made sense for the time of year, but not the fact that they lived in Florida. She was quick to jokingly judge his taste in coffee. "A hot drink in this weather?"

He was quick to defend himself. "Who are you to comment on my drink? He said in between laughs. "You ordered the most basic girl drink on the menu."

"Fair enough," she laughed again as she playfully rolled her eyes. That was one thing she liked about Lavigne. She felt like when she was around him, she could say anything on her mind and he would understand her. He wouldn't get too defensive like other people would, instead made a joke out of it, and vise versa. "How have your classes been going so far?"

"Pretty good," he answered before taking another sip of his latte. " I mean, hard... of course. Classes are pretty tough as an engineering major."

Her jaw dropped after he said the words engineering major. For some reason, she didn't know that about him! She was fascinated just by the title of his major, as it made him sound smart... and also sexy. She was very very intrigued.

"Wow, I had no idea!" She exclaimed as she shook her head in disbelief. She could have guessed Lavigne was smart, but not that smart. She knew engineering took brains and hard work. She then felt silly with her little psychology degree and dreams of being a high school guidance counselor like her mother. "I'm a psych major but I'm planning to go to grad school to be a guidance counselor."

His ears practically perked up at her words, just like hers did when he revealed his major. "No way!" He exclaimed. "So... does that mean you can give me free therapy?"

She laughed. "I mean... sure," she said as she shrugged her shoulders. She would be more than willing to give him advice if he ever needed it. "But I definitely don't want to be a therapist. Just a guidance counselor in a school setting."

"Still cool," he said as she took a sip of her iced coffee. "I am actually taking a really fun elective class, though. It should be a breeze compared to my engineering requirements," he started to explain as she listened closely. She was excited to hear what class he was going to say. "It's a cooking class. We're making Chinese food as our first meal."

Juliana gasped. Not only did she think his class was cool, but she also loved Chinese food. It was one of her favorite foods to order for takeout. "I love Chinese food!"

"Me too," he agreed before chuckling. "Maybe I'll save you some after I make it. I doubt it will be any good, though."

"I'll still try," she told him as they both laughed.

In that moment, it was hard to focus on the bad sexual experience they shared a month ago. In fact, Juliana didn't care about that anymore. Sure, at first it bothered her, but now she realized she needed to put it behind. It was obvious she and Lavigne still had chemistry, while also having many things in common.

So, through thick and thin, she still had feelings for him. How could she not? He was warm, friendly, had captivating eyes, a beautiful smile, a great personality, charming humor... she could make a list of all of the things she liked about him. It would be pages and pages long.

All of that outweighed the bad, and it made her confident there would be more good between them in the future. She was determined to make that happen.