“I didn’t do it for you. I did it for Lex because she was happy with you.”

Drake looked down at the table before lifting his gaze to hold mine again. He cleared his throat before saying more. “Don’t think I didn’t realize the sacrifice you were making. What you were giving up by helping me out. We never talked about it then, and we don’t have to talk about it now. Just know that you earned my gratitude and respect that day. Big time.”

“Shit, Drake. I hate having talks like this.”

“Fuck, you think I like them?” he asked. “Like I said, we don’t have to say anything more.”

I leaned closer to him and lowered my voice. “No, man. I don’t want you to go around thinking that I still have feelings like that for Lex. Or that I’m settling by dating Kaylie. ‘Cause that’s not the case at all.”

“That’s good to hear, because it was damn awkward being grateful to the guy who was in love with my girlfriend,” he half-joked

“I’m sure that’s an understatement. I honestly don’t know how you were able to handle having me around Lex back then. If it were some guy friend of Kaylie’s and I was in the same situation? I don’t think I would have handled it as well as you did.”

“It’s not like I had much of a choice,” Drake replied. “You guys had been friends for fucking ever. If I had told her she couldn’t hang around with you anymore, she would have told me to fuck off. And it’s not like she had any clue how you felt about her.”

“That’s the thing, man. My dad said something to me when I was home for Christmas break that didn’t really hit me until I started dating Kaylie. Things with Lex were complicated. I was the one who introduced her to that douchebag. I was the one who partied with him our freshmen year here. Who walked into that room and found him cheating on her. And then had to tell her what happened. I felt so damn guilty about it all, and then when things went further to shit, I wanted to protect her so badly,” I tried to explain.

“I get that, Jackson. And I appreciate that you were there for her back then.”

I interrupted Drake before he could say anything else. “You’re missing the point. I got so wrapped up in the situation, and it was the first time I realized how grown up she was. That she was hot. And with all those feelings hitting me for the first time, I figured I was in love with her,” I admitted. Drake shifted in his seat, starting to look uncomfortable with where I was taking this conversation. “Chill out, man. I said ‘I figured.’ Not that I am in love with her. Because my dad was right. If I had really loved Lex like that, I would have done something about it. No way I would have waited two years, fucking around the whole time, and then stood on the sidelines and watched her fall for you without doing anything about it.”

Drake heaved a deep sigh. “That’s the part I never understood. Why you waited so long. But it’s not like I could have asked you about it back then.”

“Because I had it all fucked up in my head. And it took my relationship with Kaylie for me to realize how wrong I was back then. If the same situation happened with her, there’s no way I’d be able to stand aside without fighting to make her mine.”

“Damn, Jackson. You have no idea how much of a fucking relief it is to hear you say that,” Drake admitted.

“Does that mean you aren’t sitting over there thinking about how much you’d like to punch me in the face anymore?” I joked, relieved to have cleared the air with him since Lex would always be a part of my life and it didn’t look like he was going anywhere anytime soon.

“Maybe not right now, but I’m sure you can still be a major pain in the ass. So don’t rule it out for the future. Besides, you got to pop me one, so don’t I still owe you?”

“Dude, you can’t owe me a huge fucking favor and a punch to the face,” I said, shaking my head.

“Sure I can,” he replied before looking down at his phone, a big-ass grin spreading across his face. “Fuck.”

“What?”

“Lex just sent me a few photos.” He was scrolling through the messages he’d just received. “Looks like the girls are having a blast at The Rooster.”

Fuck! I couldn’t have just heard him right. “Hold up! Did you just say that the girls are at The Rooster tonight?”

“Yeah, dude.”

“The Rooster? As in the campus bar where my girlfriend works?”

“Don’t know of any other place that’s got the same name, so that would be a yes. Kaylie told Aubrey that she should stop by sometime during one of her Thursday-night shifts, and they decided it would be perfect for their girls night because then they could include Kaylie and Char in their fun instead of it just being the two of them or some shit like that. Chill out, man. Why are you freaking out about this?”