There's No Going Back

3. Lasting Impressions

"What was that chick's name again? Maybe I'll see her- you know I have to approve before anything between you two happens." Jay spoke as if trying to become one of their father's. This was a constant response when their little sister was going out anywhere with a guy.

"Yeah, thanks Dad but no," Alex replied. He had been talking about the girl without giving a name. It was almost to the point of irritation, though Jay was happy for his brother. He wasn't much of a fan of his ex girlfriend. The girl would someday be buried in a Y- shaped coffin.

"And why not?" Jay asked.

"One word- Alexis." Alex nodded his head as if that should have spoken volumes to the whole breakfast table. Both Erik and Ken looked over at Jay asking a silent question with their eyes.

"Oh, come on, man! That was two years ago and besides- she hit on me, not the other way around." Alexis Hansen had been common cause of their infrequent fights. Worse than the fact that she had tried to hit on Jay after becoming Alex's serious girlfriend, she had tried to pretend that she thought she had been kissing Alex all along. It made it difficult for her to combat the fact that she had walked into the bedroom that had a placard that said 'Jay' on it that he had carved in shop class.

"Still-" It was a hard pill to swallow, but he knew his brother hadn't done anything on purpose to piss him off. Jay would never do that- the two of them were too close. "Fine. Her name is Piper- but that's all I'm telling you!"

"Like there are hundreds of Pipers on the registry- please Alex." That was Erik who made good point. How many people named Piper were enrolled at the school? Not too many and she would probably have been the only one- at this time anyway.

"You will have to point her out to me one of these days so I can see if she is worthy of a Reznick," Jay smiled as he said it.

"Only after I make her mine," Alex stated. He realized what he had said and looked over at the other three guys in his group who all looked at him with curious gazes.

"Damn, you are so into her." Kenneth smiled a bit, wistfully. Probably thinking of a love match between him and Channing Tatum- again.

"Probably a passing phase, like his ability to jerk off four times a day once he figured out what his d**k was for," Jay stated. Alex smacked his brother in the back of the head, garnering a soft 'ow' from him.

"Well ladies, it's been lovely chatting with the sewing circle this morning but I have to head to class before you all start clucking like hens and counting your chicks." Erik got up from the table, his plate completely empty except for a half eaten slice of buttered toast.

"f**k off Erik," Jay stated before getting up from the table as well. Erik's cocky self assurance had no place at the breakfast table. It was just too f*****g early in the morning, but Erik wore his cocksure ways like a cheap suit and it irritated the hell out of the twins at times.

"Make me," Erik threw back at him before heading off to bring his tray towards the conveyor belt that led into the dish washing station.

"That asshole needs to find another place to sit in the mornings," Alex stated. "I can't take it this early before my caffeine has kicked in."

"Just imagine living with it," Ken offered up. Alex and Jay mentally cringed and immediately felt bad for Ken. He may be a bit strange at times and have a stalkerish obsession with Channing Tatum, but the poor kid could use a break from his roommate who made the words self- important seem blase and insufficient for the task.

"Where you heading off to?" asked Alex who had several hours before his first business course of the semester.

"Creative writing," he mumbled hoping Kenneth wouldn't hear.

"Sweetie- you gonna write me a love letter?" Kenneth asked him in a simpering tone of voice. Yeah, Jay wasn't feeling so sorry for the roommate right about now.

"No, I'm thinking of writing up how my first ransom letter will go once I kidnap Jennifer Lawrence's sexy ass," he mumbled again but Ken still heard.

"I always took you for a Wiley Mylie type- twerk and all," he said to him.

"Nah- her lips look too inflated," he told him. "In fact her whole face is a bit too bulbous for me."

"That tasty Hemsworth dish doesn't think so." Ken seemed to always have a comeback for him.

"Then let her fit that fat, gaping maw around his dick." He was sick of this conversation.

"Oh she has, darlin'- she has."

******

Jay was happy that though his creative writing teacher was strict on tardiness, at least she was a bit lax with what they wrote about. It was truly creative writing in its loosest form.

He was in the middle of class when he heard the door slam and a waft of some flowery perfume overtook his nasal passages.

"Sorry, sorry! I'm sorry I'm late- my last class ran over," said a sweet voice from the front of the classroom. Jay looked up and saw the back of a female with light brown hair in a long flowing dress. She dressed like a modern day hippie and he found himself wondering immediately what her major was.

The teacher gave her a piercing look and spoke softly to her for a few moments. Jay watched the interaction through his lashes and was struck dumb when the girl finally turned around to find a seat in the classroom.

The girl had light, wavy brown hair that cascaded halfway down her back and a set of piecing green eyes. Tucked in her hair was a flower you might see one adorning while dancing the tango or attending a luau. She was curvy- not slender- and had full, pink lips. They were obviously naturally full and she wore minimal makeup.

As most of the seats were taken up, she was forced to sit behind Jay in the only open seat. When the registrar had warned of full capacity in most classes, he wasn't blowing smoke up your ass. If anyone else decided to join or audit the class, it was to be standing room only.

Jay was halfway through a poem he had been composing when she sat down and he found himself distracted after that. He was almost certain she was the same girl he had seen in the English orientation that he had tried to follow from the lecture hall.

"Hey," a soft voice called and Jay immediately turned around to the voice. "What are we supposed to be doing?"

"It's just free writing right now. Anything you want- poem, short story, an editorial on the socialism in American. You name it, you can write it."

"Hmmm- okay. Thanks!" she said quietly. She spoke to Jay like they had met before but he knew they hadn't. He would have damn well remembered that. She was.... stunning.

For the next 30 minutes of the class the teacher walked around the front of the classroom as if she were the proctor at the SAT's. She finally called attention to the class by clearing her throat.

"Now, if you will please discontinue your writing," she requested. "It doesn't matter if you have or have not finished. You will sit in groups of two and read and discuss your work."

Jay felt a light tap on his shoulder.

"Want to be partners? I don't know anyone here?" She looked at him hopefully. She had Jay again doubting if they had ever spoken to each other, but unless he had walked and talked in his sleep somehow, he was still sure he hadn't spoken or even met this girl before.

"Sure, what is your name?" She c****d her head at him like she didn't understand the question.

Piper stared at him for a moment in complete awe that he didn't remember her. It was one thing if they hadn't chatted for a while the day before, but they had not only talked but exchanged phone numbers. She thought he had to be kidding her.

"Madison," she said after a moment. She used her middle name to try to trip him up. She figured he would call her bluff, but instead he just nodded as if she had told the truth. He had to be f*****g with her. It was the only thing that made any sense. "And yours?"

"Jamison- but you can call me Jay."

She decided to let it go and read the beginnings of a story she had thought up. She had simply taken the legends of the stories about the Nightmarchers in Hawaii and expanded upon it. Not having gotten far into the story when she was forced to stop, she read what she could before discussing the piece.

They then went on to Jay's poem and she was actually quite impressed. It was... good. Really good actually. It was surprising that he could paint and write. She wondered what his major was and decided to ask.

"What is you major... Jay?" She was having a hard time calling him by that name. She new he was Alex, but she decided to play along- for now.

"Business- my brother and I are trying to help my parents run the business," he told her. They had already finished discussing and were enjoying the free time to talk. "They want to retire early and give over the running of their resorts to us."

"Where are these resorts?" Pipe asked.

"Lake Tahoe, there's one in Florida, Las Vegas and L.A." He shook his head a bit. "They started out with just the one in South Lake Tahoe where we live and expanded outwards from there. Las Vegas, L.A. then Florida- Miami to be precise."

"Will you have to travel a lot to the difference resorts?" she inquired.

"Loads most likely, which is why it's good that both my brother and I will be handling the business in tandem. I couldn't imagine if there was only one of us to do all that work."

"Your Mom and Dad must be busy people then." He gave her an odd look as if he didn't know what to say. Yes- his mom and DADS were all very busy people but it's not something you just put out there when first meeting someone. Yeah, by the way I have two dads. She'd probably run for the hills or faint.

"They are," he sufficed to say. "We have five kids in the family. Me, my brother, my younger sister and two other brothers that are 13 year old twins. They're hellions. Do you have any siblings?"

Piper had a weird sense of deja vu and was almost irritated with having to repeat herself from yesterday. But, maybe he honestly didn't remember. Or he was still trying to play her. If so, well she'd play along- for now.

They talked for a little while more until class was dismissed. After collecting all the papers, the professor handed out their syllabus as they walked through the doors to exit.

"Hey Madison!" Jay called to her as she was heading out the door. Honestly? Enough was enough.

"Yes?" She asked this almost faux- sweetly.

"I- I wanted to give you my number and get yours," he said with a small, shy smile. It would have been cute if she wasn't so irritated with him.

"Uhm, sure- let me see your phone," she said, sure we would find it saved somewhere in the contacts section so she could call his bluff. She was surprised when it wasn't there. Maybe he had lost it or had forgotten to save it.

"Great." He said that with such sincerity, Piper had doubts about him. Was he some sort of split personality?

"I'll text you later and you can save it in your contacts," he told her. "I have to get going to my next class. I can't believe the class is so close to this one. I'll have to run to make it across campus. See ya, Madison!"

With that, Jay was as good as his word. He ran down the hall and towards the front doors of the building leaving Piper wondering just what in the Hell was wrong with the boy.