Done Hiding as Your Backup Plaything I'm Shining Golden as a Queen - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

After move-in, I settled into my four-person dorm. A month of Welcome Week activities, orientation mixers, and "mandatory fun" icebreakers meant we all got pretty comfortable with each other.
The night before classes officially started, there was a "Minnesota Students" mixer for anyone from our home state.
It was at this trendy gastropub downtown. Ubers were surging like crazy at 8 PM, and the buses were packed with other freshmen heading to similar events, so by the time I finally made it, things were already in full swing.
Yetta Collins was my orientation "mentor"—we'd gone to the same high school back in Minneapolis. My homeroom teacher had connected us on Snapchat when I got my UCLA acceptance, so we'd been virtual friends for a month before finally meeting in person during move-in weekend.
"Liana, over here!"
Yetta stood up, enthusiastically waving me over to their table.
The private room was decent-sized, with six large round tables already crowded with fellow Minnesotans.
I slid into the empty seat next to Yetta, and the guy across from me immediately perked up like he'd spotted a rare Pokémon. "Whoa, who's this? How did I not know we had such a stunning new freshman from Minnesota?"
Yetta rolled her eyes. "Because Liana doesn't post thirst traps on Instagram every five minutes. She actually has depth."
I half-listened to their conversation while my eyes methodically scanned the room, my pulse quickening with each face that wasn't his.
After a thorough sweep confirmed Jax wasn't there, my shoulders relaxed involuntarily as I sank back in my chair, both relieved and oddly disappointed.
"So, freshman, I'm Jake. And you are...?"
"Liana Frost."
"Cool name. How do you spell that?"
"L-I-A-N-A. Like Liana vine in a forest, Frost like the winter."
"Poetic. I like it."
I offered a polite smile without encouraging further conversation.
"Hey, when is Jax supposed to get here?" a girl at the next table suddenly asked, and my heart did that stupid little stutter it always did at his name.
I held my breath, trying my absolute hardest to look completely uninterested while straining to hear the answer.
"Should be soon," a male voice replied. "Just texted him. Says he's on his way."
"Perfect."
About halfway through the dinner, right as I was starting to think he wasn't coming after all, the door to the private room swung open.
Most people turned to look, so my head-swivel didn't seem too obvious, though I felt like a sunflower automatically turning toward the sun.
Jax walked in wearing a simple black t-shirt and jeans, somehow making the basic outfit look like it should be on a billboard.
He looked exactly the same as the last time I'd seen him, maybe even better. Unfairly, impossibly attractive.
"Jax, over here!" A guy at the next table raised his hand.
Jax's eyes swept the room, following the voice. I couldn't tell if he saw me, but I suddenly felt paralyzed, like I'd forgotten how to act normal.
He walked over, and just when I thought he'd join the next table, he slid into the empty seat right beside me, close enough that I could smell his cologne—something expensive and subtle.
The room went briefly silent, or maybe that was just the blood rushing in my ears.
I stared at him, completely thrown off my game.
He raised an eyebrow. "Forgot who I am already, Frost?"
"No, I—I recognize you," I stammered, hating how easily he could unravel my carefully constructed composure.
"Wait, you two know each other?" Yetta asked with that look people get when they sense gossip.
Jax didn't answer her directly. Instead, he looked at me with those dark eyes. "Do we know each other, Liana?"
I hesitated for two seconds, my brain firing in a thousand directions. "Yes."
"That sounded like you were confirming your own name at airport security," he drawled lazily.
"It wasn't meant to sound uncertain," I quickly replied, trying to regain my footing.
Jax just smiled that half-smile that should be illegal, grabbing a craft beer from the table. He popped it open with one smooth movement, his middle finger sliding through the tab like he'd done it a thousand times.
After taking a long swig, his Adam's apple working visibly, he lowered the can and caught my gaze with a sidelong glance that felt like a physical touch.
I froze for a second, caught staring like some lovesick freshman (which, technically, I was).
Jax raised an eyebrow questioningly, the slightest hint of amusement in his expression.
Flustered but determined to seem casual, I asked, "Is the beer any good?"
"It's decent," Jax paused. "First time?"
"Is it that obvious?" I nodded, reaching for the beer in front of me and mimicking his technique, sliding my middle finger through the tab to pop it open.
At the first sip, I couldn't help wrinkling my nose. It tasted like bitter bread water.
Jax leaned back in his chair, seemingly tuning into someone else's conversation, though I had the unsettling feeling he was still hyper-aware of me.
Without even looking, he sensed my reaction and turned back. "If you hate it, don't torture yourself."
"I don't hate it," I insisted, never one to back down from a challenge, especially one he'd witnessed.
If other people could handle beer, so could I. If other people could handle being around Jax Xavier without their insides turning to jelly, I would figure that out too.
It was just unfamiliar. Drink it enough times and I'd get used to it. See him enough times and maybe my heart would learn to behave.
He shrugged noncommittally and turned back to the other conversation, but I caught the ghost of a smile on his lips.