AVALON FUCKING TAYLOR. OF COURSE.

The one girl I didn't want it to be.

The blind rage that lanced through my heart burned like lightning. Maybe it was. Maybe somehow the heavens had sent Avalon Taylor to rectify all my wrongdoings, equipping her with lightning eyes and an electric personality. I couldn't resist her, once I got to know who she was underneath her exterior.

That's why it hurt so badly. Not because I knew her, but because she knew me. It wasn't some petty, random co-ed who watched me from afar and got totally the wrong idea into their head. I had planned to find my hater and show them who I really was, to convince them to draw the right conclusion about me: I was a good person, if a little cocky and distracted sometimes.

But Avalon knew who I really was already. She saw it all, the jokes, the arrogance, the insecurity, and she still went and wrote that burn sheet. And kept it from me. Even when I looked her in the eyes and asked for her help to find the author, she'd—

She'd lied to me.

Did she really not feel that weird pull between us? Was she just faking all the interactions we'd had, on hammocks, in classrooms, in bedrooms? What was she doing here now, with me, when there were a dozen other people downstairs that she could spend her time with instead?

"Explain," I gritted out, forcing down the raw hurt and betrayal and confusion and rejection I felt. "Please." Avalon took a deep breath, meeting my eyes squarely. No remorse. Fuck, it hurt that she didn't even seem guilty.

We were close enough that her breath skimmed across my face when she exhaled. "Jake... I didn't ever want anyone to see it. Nor did I think you'd even take it so seriously when you found it. I thought if I just kept quiet, you'd eventually let it go." Her weak chuckle hit the air, making my anger spike, "But, boy, can you hold a grudge—"

"Why write it in the first place? Why?"

If I was coming off enraged, she didn't seem afraid or even aware of it, searching my eyes methodically. It felt like she was looking for something deeper, and I hated how vulnerable and transparent her gaze made me feel. Could she see the way I felt about her? Was she going to laugh at me for falling for my hater?

"It's a con list," she said slowly.

I echoed dumbly, "A con list?"

"Yeah, like a pro-con list. Pros and cons. I..." she exhaled sharply, spitting the next words out with great trouble. "I just thought if I listed all your flaws I could—"

"You could?" I prompted impatiently. Maybe there was still hope, given the soft way she spoke to me, the fact she was still here right now. I could turn things around.

"—finally get over you."

When the implications of her words sank in, the anger in my chest died like a light switch had been flipped. Torrents of hope and anticipating flooded in instead, stirring my voice into a desperate frenzy.

"When... when were you ever under me?"

I cringed internally at the way I'd worded it, but I was so not in the frame of mind to be tactful. Avalon rolled her eyes and smacked me for the innuendo, but she nevertheless gave me a genuine, serious answer. "Since that time we talked outside Mrs. Ackerman's office. It made me see you in a different light," she admitted cautiously.

Joy ballooned in my chest. Maybe it was a good thing I didn't know what I was doing, after all.

"But then you kept working your way through the cheerleaders and being the class clown and, I thought, you really hadn't changed at all. Plus, we have nothing in common, so," she huffed in a rush. "I wanted to convince myself out of liking you. I wanted to stop feeling what I felt..." Then her eyes flickered nervously to mine, vulnerable in a way I had never seen on her before. "What I feel still. Present tense."

"Oh."

"Yeah..."

My lips pursed in confusion. "So you don't hate me?"

Avalon shook her head slowly. "The opposite."

That thing about having a caveman's sense of humour?

Perhaps it was half-correct. Not the sense of humour part — because I was funny as fuck — the caveman part. My reaction hearing Avalon Taylor admit she liked me was not civilised. I felt utter glee so strong that I wanted to rip my shirt, climb onto the roof and scream to the world that I was the person Avalon Taylor liked. Me.

Nothing to quell my triumphant mood. If someone wanted me to sing into a musical, I would have gladly burst onstage in a dress and started singing, jazz hands going a mile a minute. I wanted to climb mountains, pop champagne bottles, fucking ride off into the sunset. I felt joy like never before. I felt everything like never before.

Avalon ran a shaky hand through her hair, "I'm so sorry—"

I claimed her lips in a firm kiss before I even knew what I was doing.

One moment I was staring down at her apologetic eyes — now closer, completely within reach — and the next I couldn't help myself. She tasted like fresh fruit and spearmint, completely soft and pliant under my mouth. Oops. Bad Jake. Then the next moment I jerked away, thinking I just shot my chance with her to pieces by rushing things—

Avalon blinked. I blinked back.

Then her eyelids drooped, her irises darkening hungrily, and her head tilted up to mine the same second I went back for more. She raised onto her tiptoes as I curled an arm around her waist, keeping her warm body pressed against me.

My mind went blank.

Maybe I blacked out a little bit, considering I had been drinking. But the fuzziness in my brain didn't seem to have anything to do with alcohol, because I was simultaneously consumed by thoughts of Avalon and drifting somewhere above the clouds. All I could think about was the delicious friction between her chest and mine, her delicate scent wrapping around me, the silky strands of her hair between my fingers as I pulled her ponytail free. All her, nothing else.

When I slid my tongue into her mouth, she let out a breathy little moan that had me painfully, throbbingly hard. Her arms wrapped around my neck, tugging our mouths closer and closer as the kiss started to scorch my brain cells. Holy hell.

Avalon eased away just as my lips started tingling and feeling raw, breathing heavily through her mouth. I didn't let her step too far back though, holding her against me with an arm around her waist. "Damn you," she panted, poking an accusatory finger into my chest. "See, that's what I hate. You take everything so easy and nothing fazes you and everyone can't help but fall for your dumb jock image."

"That's what I am," I shrugged. No image about it.

"That's not what you are," she growled. "You're so immature. But you're weirdly insecure about whether people like you or not. You're sensitive. You're clever. And you get obsessive, too, if anything dares not to be perfect in Jake-land. I so badly want to hate that about you," she practically screamed at me.

It didn't matter that she looked and sounded angry. Her eyes flashed with tenderness and conflict and undeniable desire. And we'd just shared a mind-blowing kiss. She could say whatever she wanted, nothing would wipe the grin off my face. "But you can't hate me?"

Avalon pouted, sliding a hand into my hair and lazily playing with the ends of it. "No."

"So that means there's a pro list, too?"

Avalon laughed dryly. "Yes. There is."

"Is good kisser on it?"

"No."

"It needs to be on there," I demanded. "Pronto."

"I don't know. I haven't seen a lot of evidence in its favour."

"Then let's change that, shall we?" I sealed my lips over hers and felt her smile against me. Heaven.

The second time we kissed, we wasted no preamble on nips and small caresses. I parted my lips against hers with an insistent pressure, dragging her tongue forward and sucking lightly on it. She yielded to me with a husky moan that shot forth from the back of her throat. The sound of her, the taste of her on the tip of my tongue; it drove me wild.

Every single plane of our bodies was aligned, leaving space for nothing but maddening friction and heat, pushing me higher and higher—

I tore away when a familiar sensation started creeping into my centre, reminding me all too much of being in a closet in sophomore year. I tipped my head cockily, "Is that enough evidence for you?"

"Hmm," Avalon hummed. "I'll allow it."

"Well, do it now then."

"Pardon?"

"Write it down," I instructed. When Avalon started to chuckle, I whined, "You really bruised my ego, Taylor. You have to patch it up by giving me the pro list. I'll keep it in my wallet for rainy days."

"Seriously?" she arched an eyebrow. My face remained petulantly determined. She sighed in defeat. "Fine, you big baby."

I retrieved a blank sheet of paper from Kay's refill pad and got her a pen. She sat down at his desk and poised her hand over it. "Go sit on the bed. I need privacy," she instructed firmly.

I rolled my eyes, but obeyed regardless. Like I said, my grin was unshakeable. I was in an extremely generous and forgiving mood because I got to call Avalon Taylor mine — at least, I hoped that was where things were heading. Due to my good spirits, I let her write for five straight minutes before the impatience to kiss her again set in.

Her hand had been moving the whole time, and she'd occasionally hum thoughtfully, "Hm..." or make distracted comments like, "No. Well..." and, "I'll let you have that..." I told myself that list would be well worth the time it took to write it, since it must have been at least a page. Imagine reading all those things she liked about me, instead of hated.

My muscles? My speed and athleticism? The fact that I was clearly the smarter twin? When Avalon shook her head and muttered, "Wait, that's not the right word..." I crept up behind her and tore the paper away.

Whatever was there would be more than enough. "Okay, what the fuck are you writing—"

She laughed loudly at me, not annoyed at all. It was when I looked at the list that I realised she'd been playing me for a fool the whole time. There was no list. Well, there kind of was, technically. It had only one item.

Everything.

My heart promptly blew a fuse. I didn't even like everything about myself. That there was someone out there who did...

"You like the list?" she asked quietly.

I nodded, swallowing the ball of pure joy and gratitude in my throat. "I love it."

I drew her out of Kay's desk chair, picked her up and set her on the edge of the desk. This way her face was closer to mine, and I wouldn't have to crane my neck down to kiss her. Avalon sighed happily against me, molding her lips to mine slowly. I felt like we had all the time in the world, teasing each other languidly and making each other pant for it.

One of my hands held her hips against me, and the other braced on the desk behind her as Avalon wrapped her legs around my waist and drew me over her, leaning back. Somewhere in the back of my head, I heard the pencil holder tip over and spill across the wood. But I was too far gone to care. Too far gone to do anything but fall—

"Jake!" an irritated voice broke us apart. Avalon smiled shyly at me and released me from between her legs, which was unfortunately the place I wanted to spend the rest of the night.

Kay continued, pounding on the door of his locked bedroom. "I love you, bro, but if you fuck a girl in my room. I will have to kill you." Avalon laughed and walked to the door, fixing her hair with a few rakes of her hand.

"I'll give my condolences to your mom, though—"

The door swung open, revealing a very agitated Kay. His stare was fixed high, aiming for where my eyes would have been, and they lowered slowly, getting wider and wider when he saw who answered his knocking. "Av?"

"Hey, Fergusson," she acknowledged coolly. "You can call off the search for Jake's hater, by the way. He found her."

Then she left the room, throwing a sexy little wink over her shoulder. I could tell that Kay wanted to interrogate me, but there was no way I was going to spend the rest of the night gossiping with my friend in his bedroom while Avalon Taylor existed in this world and wanted me.

"Tell you later," I mumbled distractedly, darting past Kay and into the hallway.

Avalon exclaimed happily when I caught her from behind, lifting her high into the air. I pressed my face into her shoulder, inhaling that gorgeous scent of hers. She commanded unconvincingly, amusement tinting her voice like yellow sunshine, "Let me go, Tanner."

I shook my head. "Never."