“You’re letting me be selfish again,” I suddenly tell Kendra. Plus, I’m more than ready to steer this conversation to something else. “What’s going on in your life?”
She sounds reluctant to change the subject but after a little coaxing from me, she asks me what my plans are for Founders’ Oktoberfest, which is coming up in two weeks, before giving me the best news I’ve heard all day. “Save me a spot on your floor. I’m hitching a ride with a guy from my Spanish class, and I’ll be there all weekend long.”
“Are you kidding?” I don’t even try to hide my excitement because this is something I absolutely need. When she assures me that she’s definitely coming, I realize I’m grinning. “And now the next two weeks will officially be the longest of this entire year.”
“I know. As soon as he told me he’d be coming up to Founders for the weekend, I practically stalked the poor guy. He thinks I’m certifiably insane.” For the next few minutes, the focus of our phone call is strictly Oktoberfest until she has to go to head to an evening class. Before she hangs up, she offers me one last bit of serious advice.
“Talk to the guy. You’ll feel so much better if you do.”
Chapter Thirteen
Kendra’s wise words are still weighing heavy on me an hour and a half later when I go to dinner at a tiny sandwich shop right off campus with Nathan, his roommate from last year Harrison, and Corinne. But while Kendra’s words play in my mind, so does vivid images of Rhys himself.
Every time I close my eyes, I can picture him right in front of me, his off-black hair messy and just screaming for me to run my fingers through it as his own hands entwine in my hair. His soft lips demand everything from mine. It’s both distracting and unnerving, and it takes so much more effort to relax enough to carry on a normal conversation. Even then, my roommate is quick to point out how preoccupied I seem.
Raking my mind for something that will firmly shove my ass into the dinner table conversation and appease Corinne’s nosiness, I finally say, “Tell me about Oktoberfest.” I move my gaze from Nathan to Harrison and note the massive shit-eating grin that springs onto the former’s face. The corner of my mouth twists up. “Okay, you look way too happy about this.”
“Best weekend of the year,” Harrison promises me. “Best parties, best looking girls, best—”
“He’s been coming for Oktoberfest since he was in high school and his brother went here,” Nathan interrupts, “So it’s like Christmas for him. It was good last year—well, the parts I remember at least. Michaela’s coming in from Vegas for the weekend.”
“Nice. I can’t wait to meet her.” I take a bite of my meatball sub and wash it down with a sip of my Coke. “My friend Kendra is coming too.”
Nathan widens his blue eyes in mock surprise, and I can already guess what he’s about to say. “What’s this?” He gazes around the table in shock before leaning forward to get closer to me, and I give him an unimpressed look. “The elusive Evie Miller will be letting us meet one of her friends? I’ve got to admit, I’m kind of scared.”
Chucking my balled up straw wrapper at him, I laugh. “Whatever. And besides, I never said anything about you meeting her.”
Corinne looks up from her phone and lifts her shoulders. “You’re probably the most mysterious person I know.”
“Oh come on, is everyone going to start piling on me?” I clear my throat uneasily, and Harrison holds up his hands and shakes his head. Rubbing my tongue over my teeth, I heave a deep sigh and glance from Nathan to Corinne. “One thing. Ask me one thing and I promise I’ll answer it.”
Nathan jumps all over my invitation before Corinne has a chance to process it. “Why’d you come to Founders?” At the hesitation that must be obvious on my face, he shakes his head impatiently. “Don’t look at me like I just sprouted a damn horn. You said one question, so there it is. There are so many colleges around Bristol—why this one?”
Twisting my napkin, I tilt my head to the side. “Because I went to one of those colleges last year, and I flunked out,” I admit matter-of-factly, surprised that I don’t feel any of the shame that used to come along with owning up to the bad situation I’d created for myself.
“By the end of the first semester I lost my scholarship, and then when my final grades came through we found out that I was put on academic suspension. My parents freaked, of course, and they gave me a choice. I could sit this semester out, stay at home with them and try again next spring, or I could see if there was another school that would take me. My aunt went here and I grew up listening to her praise this place like it was Hogwarts or something, so I applied. I guess it’s bad to admit I didn’t think I’d get accepted.”
“You’re not going back to that other place next year, are you?” Nathan demands, narrowing his clear blue eyes into thin slits. “I’d miss hearing you give Rhys Delane smart ass answers in class every other day.”
Grinning in spite of the rush that goes through me at the mere mention of Rhys’ name, I start to tell him I have every intention on coming back but then Corinne mutters a curse.
With every eye at our table now directed on her, she offers me a contrite smile. “I suck at messages,” she explains, bowing her curly head. “One, that guy Rhys is gorgeous—like I-couldn’t-figure-out-what-to-say-at-first gorgeous. And two, he came by looking for you this afternoon.”
I shoot her a warning glare in hopes she’ll get the hint and finish giving me this message later, when we’re alone, but I have no such luck. “He wanted me to tell you to check your email when you get a chance. I wrote a note and put it on your laptop, just in case I forgot.”
“Thanks.” I pretend my half-eaten sandwich is the most interesting thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. I hear Nathan’s low, questioning rumble. “Don’t touch it with a ten foot pole,” I warn.
Signaling for our waitress and the check, he pulls his wallet out of his back pocket. I can tell he’s holding back a huge smile as I glare across the table at him. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it.”
I personally don’t touch the email until more than twenty-four hours later after Rhys doesn’t even make eye contact with me when we brush up against each other in passing. I’d turned around and followed him with my gaze until he disappeared from sight, instantly feeling a bitter twist in my stomach when he didn’t spare me a second glance. I spent the rest of the day struggling with the urge to go track him down, but in the end, I figured I’d wait to see if he came to me again.
When it’s obvious that he’s not going to do that, I open his email.
From: [email protected]
Date: Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 5:08 PM
Subject:
This is far from over. Far from it. If you want to figure it out before our next session, you’re more than welcome to call me.
Plus, I have your books and music. You left them when you raced off.
Even though I’ll see him tomorrow in class and I know I’ll be able to get my stuff back then, I realize I won’t be alone with him again until Friday afternoon since Professor Cameron has claimed my time on Thursday afternoon. I massage my temples. I’m not sure I can wait until Friday to clear the air with him. He’s already affecting my thought process, so the sooner I talk to him the better.
When I shut my computer and start to go through the stacks of papers on my desk in search of my Sight Singing and Dictation syllabus, Corinne glances up from where she’s lounged across her bright teal comforter working diligently on a paper.
“Lose something?” she shouts over the sound of the music streaming from her ear buds. It’s so loud that even I can hear Demi Lovato singing about skyscrapers from the opposite side of our room.