Code Blue

Lexi vs. Pop Quizzes

I set my alarm for six in the morning, wanting to get up and go for a run before Quinn broke from her dreams. So I slept in my workout clothes and tied my shoelaces and hair back in the dark and silently crept out of the room, strapping my phone to my arm with my room key so that I could jog to music which would keep me pumped up.

Running always cleared my head. It gave me a chance to detach from the world for a bit, something I sorely needed after the events of Friday night. I wasn’t entirely sure what I was feeling when I first told Quinn that I was going to head back to our dorm because I thought I’d had too much to drink, but after we’d exited the party because she’d insisted on coming with me, and I’d allowed the cool night air to sharpen my senses, I realized what I felt was anger.

Anger that I’d allowed myself to get attached.

My mission from the very beginning had been clear: get close to Max and discover what he knows about his father’s criminal activities, and up until I actually met Max, that seemed simple enough. But being around him had clouded my senses and I’d allowed my emotions to get the better of me. I couldn’t deny that I was attracted to him, but I had to learn to control my wants, because thus far, pining for him wasn’t doing me any good.

Seeing him pressed against another girl had made me sad and the fact that I had any reaction to him being intimate with someone else at all made me angry, because it meant I was developing feelings for him. And having feelings for the subject of my investigation would only end in disaster.

So I needed to regroup, rethink. I needed to find a way to be close to Max which still allowed me to be emotionally distant. The easiest way I could think to do that would be just to be his friend, which would be a whole lot easier now that I had the visual of him pressing his lips to another girl’s neck to keep me from developing feelings for him again. Perhaps she had been a blessing in disguise. Because she had allowed me realize that my emotions towards Max were only getting in the way. If I was to truly complete this mission, I needed some clarity of mind.

Panting, I placed my hands on my hips to catch my breath when I reached the gazebo in the middle of the memorial garden on the edge of campus, a destination I had discovered a week ago and intended on returning to during some of my morning jogs as long as I was at this school.

“We keep meeting like this.”

Startled, I whipped around, my fingers clenching into fists as an immediate fight response after I’d pulled my earbuds from my ears, only to find Trevor staring at me with raised eyebrows, most likely wondering why I looked like a boxer at the beginning of a match.

“Easy there, tiger,” he laughed, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his navy zip up hoodie as he pushed himself off the bench into a standing position. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t,” I insisted, relaxing my fingers and shaking my hands out to my side as my heart rate began to slow. “What are you doing here?”

My words came out sounding much more accusatory than I intended, but if he was offended, he gave no indication, instead shrugging his shoulders and rocking forward in his trainers. “I come here on my morning run. What about you?”

“Same,” I eyed him suspiciously, crossing my arms over my chest. “I haven’t seen you here before.”

“I am a little early today,” he admitted. “I couldn’t sleep last night.”

I tilted my head to the side, my suspicion replaced with genuine curiosity. “How come?”

He paused for a moment as he contemplated his answer. “I don’t know. Just feeling unsettled, I guess.”

“Yeah, I get that,” I murmured, thinking of my own search for serenity.

Not bothering to comment, he quickly changed the subject. “You left the party early.”

“I had a lot to drink in a very short amount of time and the sights and sounds were too overwhelming,” I explained in what I thought was a pretty convincing manner.

I could tell he didn’t believe me, though, because his lips kinked into the slightest smirk and his eyes twinkled wickedly as he responded. “So it had nothing to do with Max sucking on another girl’s neck right in front of you?”

“Max can suck whatever he likes,” I replied with a little too much fire, which earned me an amused smile on Trevor’s part, an indication that I needed to calm down a bit. Once I had done so, I continued. “I don’t give a s**t. We’re not…anything.”

“But you want to be something?” he asked softly, staring me down as though he was reading my mind and I was starting to wonder if he could.

“Of course not,” I shook my head, keeping my voice steady. “And even if I did, he’s clearly not interested.”

Scrunching his nose apologetically, Trevor sighed. “Look, I know Max can be kind of a moron when it comes to other people’s feelings, but he really is a good guy.”

The tension between us seemed to have dissipated a bit, so I let out a laugh and shrugged. “It’s okay, Trevor, you don’t have to defend him; there’s nothing to defend. Like I said, we weren’t anything, so it’s all good.”

“Hey, it works both ways,” he pointed out. “If you want me to put in a good word for you…well, let’s just say you wouldn’t be the first to ask.”

“Isn’t that tiring?” I tilted my head to the side. “Always being the person people go to because they want to get to Max?”

His eyebrows shot up in surprise at the bluntness of my question. “Ouch.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I shook my head, immediately feeling horrible for what I had insinuated. “I…you’re the one who brought it up.”

“Fair enough,” he chuckled softly. “It’s not like I can’t tell the difference; you know? I’ve known Max since we were kids and people have always been drawn to him and I guess everyone’s natural assumption is that making friends with me will mean they automatically get close to him. But I know when someone likes me for me and when they’re just using me to get to my best friend.”

The fact that Trevor had known Max for so long was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, he could probably provide a good amount of sensitive information on his best friend, which would aid in me not having to necessarily spend as much time with Max. On the other, if Trevor was aware of the Stafford family business, then he more than likely knew better than to give away such information too easily. Which meant that either way, I would be doing just what he had told me everyone else did: using him to find out more about Max.

I knew it wasn’t fair to him, but I had a mission, and I had to see it through, and if getting friendly with him to find out more about the Stafford family would lead to Daniel Stafford’s arrest, then that’s what I had to do.

“That’s good,” I said softly, “That you’re aware. At least that way you never get hurt.”

He stared at me a moment before laughing and nodding in agreement. “I guess so. I should probably get back and do some studying for that quiz we have in econ today.”

I blinked as I processed his words, feeling my heart rate spike. “We have a quiz in econ today?”

Furrowing his brow, he tilted his head to the side. “Yeah, the professor mentioned it last class. Do you really not pay attention at all?”

His question had less of a tone of disgust and more of one of genuine concern for my lack of knowledge. And his concern was well placed, seeing as I hadn’t been listening closely enough to anything the professor was saying. Up until this point, doing well in my classes hadn’t been a priority, but I was starting to realize that it probably should, seeing as my supervisors had made it abundantly clear that I wouldn’t be getting any help from them in that department.

“I’ll work on that,” I muttered, turning from the gazebo towards the path. “See you in class.”

Before he could respond, I had begun my jog back to the dorm, pushing open my room door to see Quinn tugging a pair of jeans over her hips, her hair still wet from the shower.

“Hey,” she grinned at me, stepping towards her dresser to find her hair dryer. “Good run?”

“It started off good,” I grumbled, pulling off my phone holding armband and tossing it on top of my desk. “But then I ran into Trevor and apparently we have a quiz in Econ today that I had absolutely no idea about.”

Quinn scrunched her nose up in sympathy as she plugged in her hair dryer. “Sorry, babe. Who’s Trevor?”

“One of Max’s friends,” I shrugged, stepping out of my running shoes. “Met him at the party.”

“Gotcha,” she nodded, running her fingers through her wet hair. “Speaking of Max, have you figured out what you’re gonna say to him?”

“What’s there to say?” I replied nonchalantly, pulling off my socks and striding towards my closet to deposit them in my laundry basket. Quinn knew the reason I had left the party early, and she was convinced that I needed to confront Max, but the truth was that as much as my ego was wounded, confronting him would only lead to making our relationship even more tense, which wasn’t something I needed right now.

“Oh, come on, Evie,” she rolled her eyes. “You know you like him.”

I decided to ignore that comment, grabbing my towel and shower caddy and heading for the door without a response. By the time I returned from my shower, Quinn had already left to meet with her group for their first term project and I sighed guiltily, making a mental note to apologize to her later for being snippy.

Going to breakfast alone meant that I had time to study for the quiz. Trevor had been correct in his assessment that I didn’t really pay attention in class and now, my attempt to figure out Max as a person was gonna cause me to blow my first grade.

“Why the furrowed brow?”

Speak of the devil.

I glanced up to find Max standing beside my booth, holding a plate stacked with pancakes in one hand and a glass full of orange juice in the other, an easy smile stretching his lips. If he was having any sort of emotional turmoil over what had happened at the party, it wasn’t showing.

So I decided to mirror his attitude. If he wasn’t going to blink, neither was I.

“I completely forgot to study for our Econ quiz,” I admitted, drumming my fingers against my notebook. “Are you ready?”

“It shouldn’t be too bad,” he shrugged, slipping into the booth across from me, despite me not inviting him to do so. Once his plate and glass were set down, he shrugged off the straps of his backpack and picked up his knife and fork. “You left my party early.”

He stated it plainly, an observation rather than a question, so I replied the same way. “I had too much to drink and wasn’t feeling so hot.”

Lifting his gaze to meet mine, his knife and fork stopping, he spoke softly. “You could’ve said goodbye.”

The tone of his voice almost sounded hurt, and maybe my confusion as to why he would be upset was why I said what I did next. “You looked busy.”

I hadn’t meant to bring up the other girl, because frankly, it wasn’t really any of my business and I had no right to be upset about it, but now that I’d let him know that I’d seen him with her, I had no choice but to remain strong.

His gaze shot up to meet mine, his eyes momentarily flooded with what looked like concern before clearing into their normal sky blue, though his tone remained serious. “So you saw…”

“Max, it’s fine,” I shook my head, reaching for my coffee cup. “You don’t owe me an explanation. We’re not…we’re just not.”

That wasn’t a particularly clear response, but he seemed to understand my meaning and if I didn’t know any better, I would think he looked a bit disheartened. His lips parted to reply, but the last thing I needed right now was for him to say something charming and leave me flustered all over again, so I sighed in relief when I spotted Trevor searching for his best friend.

Grinning widely, I lifted a hand and waved him over, scooting over on my side of the booth and patting the empty seat next to me as he approached. “Hey, come sit with us. You can help me study for this quiz.”

“I could have helped you study, if you’d asked.” Max furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as Trevor set down his plate and slipped into the seat beside me.

“I’m asking Trevor,” I shrugged, flipping through my notebook to where my notes began. “Since he was the one who reminded me of the quiz, I figure he should have the honors.”

Max’s expression went blank. “So you guys have been talking…”

I could tell that Trevor knew exactly what I was doing, especially since he’d told me earlier this morning that he knew when he was being used, but just like the first time we met, he covered for me. “Yeah, apparently we go for jogs at the same time.”

“Oh,” Max said, his voice coming out barely above a whisper before he cleared his throat and smiled widely. “Well, isn’t that just adorable. I’m gonna head to class a little early and get in some last minute studying. I’ll see you guys there.”

We both nodded, raising a hand in a wave as Max shrugged on his backpack and grabbed his plate and glass and headed towards the dish return. I exhaled deeply once he was out of sight, shooting Trevor a small smile. “Thanks.”

“For what?” he lifted one eyebrow, picking up his fork and stabbing at a potato.

“You keep backing up my stories.”

Shrugging, he shoved the potato into his mouth, chewed, and swallowed before replying. “It’s not like I’m lying to him; everything I say is true, it’s just out of context. I can’t help how he perceives the information.”

“I guess,” I said slowly, a little suspicious. “But you’re his best friend. Shouldn’t you be on his side?”

Trevor laughed as he took a sip from a glass of water. “It’s not really about sides. I mean, you’re right, he is my best friend and I’d gladly take a bullet for him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy watching the two of you interact.”

“Why?”

“It’s entertaining,” he grinned, reiterating Quinn’s thoughts on the matter. “Max always knows exactly what he’s doing, but with you, he’s constantly bewildered. Which is some feat, let me tell you, because he can sense bullshitters a mile away. He knows when people genuinely want to get to know him or when they just want to associate with him because of who he is.”

“Who he is?” I asked, tilting my head to the side and wondering if this was my chance to dig a little deeper into what Trevor knew about the Stafford family.

“His family is loaded and well connected,” he replied in a rush, attempting to give off the vibe that he had no idea what they did, but I could tell he was hiding something by the fact that he couldn’t stop swirling his water glass and shifting in his seat. Still, he obviously didn’t trust me enough to give me any more details, so I decided that I’d have to spend more time with him if I was going to find out anything concrete. “The point is that Max’s not the type of person who’s gonna put up with you if he doesn’t think you’re being real with him, so the fact that you have him so confused means he hasn’t figured you out.”

That was definitely a good thing because the fact that I seemed unable to form complete sentences around him should have blown my cover the first time we met.

“That being said,” he continued before I could respond. “Like you said, he is my best friend. I might enjoy watching you confuse the hell out of him, but I’m not gonna let you break his heart. So be careful. Games might be fun to play, but when everything is said and done, there’s always a loser, and if it ever does come down to sides, I will be on his.”

Lifting the corners of my lips into a small smile, I reached out to gently squeeze his upper arm. “You’re a good friend, Trevor.”

“I know,” he laughed, setting his glass down on the table.

Figuring that was the most I was going to get from him at the moment, I changed the subject. “I really could use help with this Econ class, though. What do you think? Wanna tutor me?”

His lips kinked into a smirk. “Sure, why not. Let me guess, you wanna do it at my house, just in case Max happens to be home.”

Seeing as that wasn’t entirely inaccurate and I needed the in to the house anyway, I couldn’t protest and, instead, settled for rolling my eyes and laughing. “Glad we’re on the same page.”