I didn’t dislike Jax, but the two of us were barely acquaintances. Even with her and Olivia being friends for so long, I had only hung out with her a handful of times. Jax was one of those people with averybig personality—the kind that made me nervous. You’d think I’d be used to it after growing up in a family of big personalities, but I’m pretty sure that’s also why I’d always been drawn to people who were kind of the opposite. I loved my family more than anything, but they werea lot.Spending my time with people who were more subdued was a nice escape.
Olivia took both of my hands in hers and shook my arms. “You two can live together. It’s perfect. You’ll take over my lease. It’ll be like I never left.”
I choked on a laugh. “Yeah, except that we’renothingalike. Living with me will be nothing like living with you.”Jax will hate it.
Olivia squeezed my hands. “Exactly. You’ll be a much better roommate than I ever was. You’re much cleaner and you actually know how to mind your own business.”
“I don’t…” I shook my head. “If Jax agrees to it, I’m in.”
There. The perfect solution. Jax wasnevergoing to agree to living with me. Clearly, she would want a roommate who was more similar to Olivia - someone willing to go out to a bar on a whim in the middle of the week. Someone whose idea of fun wasn’t reading after a long day of work.
“That’s awesome.” Olivia dropped my hands and held hers in front of her mouth, as if she needed help to amplify her voice. “Yo, Jax! Get over here!”
I watched as Jax said something to my brother before patting his arm and walking away from him and over toward us. Jax’s blonde wavy hair, which currently had rainbow coloring on the bottom layer, fluttered in the wind as she walked, and it seemed like the sun shone off of her smile with how wide it was. If Jax was a girl on the street, rather than someone I’d known through my sister for years, the sight would have made me take a second look. Heck, I might not have been able to look away at all. It was no secret that Jax was hot. Anyone with eyes could see that.
“What’s up?” Jax looked from Olivia to my moms. “Mom and Mama Miller-Cooper, I need you to know that you’re the most gorgeous brides I’ve ever seen. The ceremony was perfect. I can only hope I find a love like yours someday.”
“Thank you, Jax. That’s very sweet of you to say.” My mom smiled at Jax before smiling over at my mama with all of the love in the world. “We’ve definitely been lucky.”
As a hopeless romantic, all my life I had dreamed of the day I would marry my soulmate. As a realist who had her heart shattered by the person she thought was her soulmate, I realized that most likely wasn’t the path my life was going to take. And I was okay with that. Seriously.Totally okay.That’s what romance novels were for.
Olivia grabbed Jax’s arm and waited to speak until Jax was facing her completely. “I have to talk to you about something. It’s bad and good, so I’m going to start with the bad.”
“Okay.” Jax moved her eyes between all of us as if she was trying to get answers to my sister’s very vague introduction. “Quinton and I decided we’re both ready to move in together, which means I’m going to be leaving New York.”
“And what’s the bad news?” Jax teased.
Olivia playfully shoved Jax. “Jerk. Thegoodnews is I already found a roommate for you.”
I watched as Jax lifted one perfectly sculpted eyebrow and smirked at Olivia. “Oh yeah? Who is this roommate?”
Olivia swung her arms around in a wide circle before using both hands to point at me. “My wonderful sister.”
Jax swung her head around to look at me and her eyes stared directly into mine, unmoving and barely blinking. It was how attentive she always was when she spoke to someone, and if I was being completely honest, it was one of the things that made me so nervous around her. “No way. You’re moving to New York?”
I nodded slowly. “I believe so. I was offered a job at VisuSphere, and it appears I’m going to take it.”
“VisuSphere? Wow! I’ve heard amazing things about them. I had a friend who tried to apply for a job with their company and couldn’t even get one interview. What job were you offered?” Jax continued to stare at me intently, and it made the heat from the summer sun feel even hotter on my skin.
“It’s a data scientist position.”
Jax furrowed her eyebrows and nodded. “And what is that exactly?”
I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face in response to her question. Just thinking about this job and the massive responsibility I was about to take on was muchmore exciting than it probably should be. “So, essentially, I use analytical and statistical methods to research data so I can identify opportunities for VisuSphere to operate more efficiently. I’ll be in charge of things such as enhancing advertising efficacy, optimizing network infrastructure, and studying the behavior of those who will be using VisuSphere, which will hopefully be a wide variety of people.”
The smile on Jax’s face grew wider as well and her eyes sparkled even more than usual as she continued to stare at me. “I honestly only understood about half of that, but I could listen to you talk about it all day.”
I wasn’t sure if Jax was flirting or teasing (or a little bit of both), but either way, I could feel my face turning red from her extra attention.
Olivia stepped in before I could say anything else. “As much as we would alllovethat, we need to take shots, so we’ll have to save that for another time.” Olivia put a hand on Jax’s arm, which brought her attention away from me, causing me to feel like I could finally breathe again. “But, first, I have to know if you’re okay with Carter taking over my part of the lease whenever it makes sense for the two of us to switch places.”
Jax put her hands on her hips as she stared at my sister with the same amount of attention she had just been giving me. “So, you’re telling me that I have to give up living with my best friend,”Yep. Here it comes. Definite no. Thank god.“To live with her super hot sister instead?” Jax shrugged as she broke into a smirk. “Works for me.”
Wait. What?
I was still trying to comprehend what Jax had just said when she turned to look at me again. “As long as you’re cool with it.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. Luckily, my sister always had enough to say for both of us, so shespoke up before anyone could possibly notice I was floundering. “She is. I already asked her. But let’s get back to the hot sister part. It still pisses me off that you seem to think my sister is so hot, but you tell me all the time that I’m not your type. We came from the same embryo, for fuck’s sake.”
