Текст книги "When We Met"

Автор книги: Christina Lee

Соавторы: Molly McAdams,A. L. Jackson,Tiffany King
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Текущая страница: 7 (всего у книги 22 страниц)

This time when Darryn pulled back, I lifted my hips to meet the force of his as he drove himself deep into me.

“I want to mean everything,” he said.

I wrapped my legs around his hips and gave him my all, whimpered and moaned as he wound that feeling back into the deepest, most secret place inside me.

“Everything,” I promised through my ragged pants as Darryn worked his body over mine. All those darts of energy sparked, a live charge shot straight into my heart. It spiraled down to my core, and I felt it building with every surge of his body.

“I love you,” I whispered just before he tilted his hips and took me hard. Another wave of ecstasy swallowed me whole, stealing my breath and mind.

Darryn pushed and strained, groaning loud as his body tensed, his own pleasure rolling in tremors through all his brimming strength, his muscles bunched and coiled in his release.

For a few moments, Darryn remained still, gathering his breath, before he pushed up with his hands on either side of my head, his nose an inch from mine. His eyes were almost wild as he stared down at me with a look of pure possession.

I’d become his.

My avenging angel.

The one who’d been sent not to destroy but to expose something vital that had been so difficult for me to see.

To show me it was okay to be me.

saving me
Molly McAdams

prologue

Indy

Swiping at my wet cheeks, I drove past the house I shared with three girls not far from campus during the school year, and kept going until I pulled up outside Dean’s frat house. I wasn’t supposed to be coming back to Ann Arbor for a couple more days. But Dean was already here, and, well, there was apparently nothing left for me in Chicago anymore.

My parents had made that all too clear when I’d come home from the gym this morning to find my suitcases on the driveway. A note pinned to one of them had said We can’t keep pretending everything’s okay, and the locks on the door had been changed.

Gone for an hour at the gym—and they changed the locks and packed all my stuff. They’d obviously been busy carrying out plans they’d had for who knew how long.

Through my tears and depressed-to-angry mood swings, I’d made the drive to Ann Arbor, Michigan, in only three hours, and remembered maybe five minutes of that. But none of that mattered now. As I let myself in the stale, funky-smelling frat house, I was already breathing easier knowing I was seconds away from being in Dean’s arms. He would make everything better—he always had over the last two years.

Jogging up the stairs, I worried for a second about looking like a disaster when I was about to see Dean for the first time in months, but I knew he’d already seen me at my lowest. A red, blotchy face and workout clothes weren’t going to faze him right now.

As I opened the door to his room at the end of the hall, my already shaky smile immediately fell, and I froze with one foot inside his bedroom. After the day I’d had, I wasn’t comprehending what I was seeing. I wasn’t getting the memo that I needed to do something. Like leave. Or scream. Or cry some more. Something. Anything. I just stood there staring—Dean not even noticing me through the music blasting in his room as he repeatedly drove into some girl I’d never seen before.

When everything seemed to snap back into reality, I grabbed at the docking station on the dresser near the door and launched it across the room—the music immediately stopped and was replaced by my voice.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I screamed.

The girl shrieked and shoved Dean back before trying to cover herself. “Get out of here!”

“Indy!” Dean yelled, and looked around wildly for a few seconds before coming toward me. “Indy, oh my God!”

“Don’t touch me! Don’t you dare fucking touch– You’re not even wearing a condom!” I didn’t know why that was the important issue right then, and I didn’t know why my gaze had flashed down. But that stupid, simple fact was what had the tears falling. He always wore a condom; he was obsessive about being safe.

“Get her out of here!” the girl demanded.

Dean stopped his advance for a second to snap, “Babe, shut up!”

“Babe?” I choked out, and looked away, holding my hands out in front of me to block my view of his junk just in case I turned around again. I’d seen him naked too many times to count. I knew that area of him intimately. But right now it was like a stranger was standing in front of me.

“Indy,” he crooned, his voice much closer.

“Tell me this isn’t happening. Tell me this isn’t fucking happening, Dean!”

“Just listen—”

“We were going to get married one day. You’re supposed to love me. You just told me last night that you love me. What—I don’t—what the hell happened?”

He sighed heavily. “I just . . . Why are you even here? I thought you weren’t coming back until Saturday.”

I dropped my hands and looked at him, a look of disbelief covering my face. “Obviously I’m back early! Don’t put this on me! It doesn’t matter if I’m here now, or if I’d waited until Saturday. You were just screwing someone else! How long has this been going on? And for the love of God, will you two please put some damn clothes on?”

“You need to leave,” the girl said, sneering.

“I’m his girlfriend!” I screeched, my voice echoing off the walls as I shot a glare at her that I wished could kill.

“Look,” Dean said softly, and moved forward to grip my arms. “I was going to wait until you got back to talk to you, I just couldn’t upset you while you were having to deal with your parents. It’s just—”

“No,” I pled. “No, don’t do this.”

“It’s just not working out, Indy. I love you, but I’m not in love with you anymore.”

My sobs finally broke free from my chest, and when Dean tried to pull me into his arms, I pushed away from him. “Why would you say the things you’ve said to me? Just a few nights ago you brought up getting engaged. Why? You can’t—you can’t tell me you’re not in love with me anymore!”

“Jesus Christ,” the girl complained. “He was trying to make things easy on you then, and he’s trying to let you down easy now. Dean was feeding you that bullshit while his cock was in my mouth. The talk about getting engaged? Sweetheart, it’s already happened, just not to you.” She held up her left hand, and my head jerked back.

“What?” I couldn’t breathe. All the air had been sucked from the room. This wasn’t happening. This whole day was a prank, or a nightmare. Something. I looked at Dean, but he was staring past me with a blank expression.

“Do you think this was just something over the summer?” she continued. “This has been going on almost as long as the two of you have. I didn’t mind letting you think you had him, because I knew he’d be mine in the end.”

“You’re lying,” I breathed. “Dean.” His name fell like a plea from my lips. I needed him to tell me this was all a lie. But he still wouldn’t look at me.

“Why wouldn’t I be sure of us? After all, you already confirmed something else. He’s never worn a condom with me. Doesn’t sound like it was the same with you. And seeing as you didn’t seem to have a clue about me, but I knew all about you . . . it wasn’t hard to figure.”

She wrapped the sheet around her body as she stood from the bed and pointed toward the door. “Now you need to go. It’s finally our time. The days of having to listen to Dean bitch about how useless, needy, and frustrating you are are behind us.”

I bent forward, grabbing at my stomach when it felt like the air had been knocked from me. I looked up to Dean, once again hoping he would deny what was happening—what she was saying. But there was nothing on his face that hinted otherwise.

“All he’s been doing for the last two years is putting up with the mess that is your life. He’s done, and I’m done letting you pretend you have him. His ring is on my finger, and his last name will be mine. His baby is in my body. And you have no more claim on him, or right to be here. Leave.”

My head snapped to the left to look at her, and my eyes dropped to her hidden torso. There was no indication that she was pregnant—but after everything else, I had no reason not to believe her. My life was a mess. I was always wondering why a guy like Dean would stay with me after everything I’d been through. I had considered myself lucky.

I’d been wrong.

He’d just been biding his time.

chapter one

Indy

Two and a half months later

I was frozen somewhere between getting out of the chair and standing– my empty cup of coffee in one hand, my purse hanging uselessly in the other. My mouth and eyes were wide with horror as I stared at them from across the warm coffee shop. They hadn’t seen me yet, and I hoped like hell they wouldn’t. But I couldn’t seem to stop staring, just like every time I saw them together. Only this time she had a very obvious baby belly. It had jutted out considerably in the couple of weeks since I’d last seen her. Vanessa, as I’d come to learn—and loathe. Dean had his hands on her belly, his lips pressed to her neck; her diamond was shining subtly in the dim lighting of the shop like it was mocking me or something.

They looked ridiculously happy. And that probably killed me as much as it did to see him caressing her stomach. I glanced up at his handsome, smiling face and once again wished I’d actually broken his nose when I punched him that day in his room. Given him a reminder of what he’d done to me every time he looked in the mirror. But no broken nose. No nothing on that stupid, perfect face.

I sat roughly back in my chair and quickly put on my large sunglasses. Like that would help. Like they wouldn’t see my hair and know it was me. Who else had hair as naturally red as mine?

“Indy.” Misha, one of my housemates, wiggled her fingers in front of my face before her body blocked my view of them. “What are you doing? Do you feel okay?”

“No,” I panted. “I need to get out of here.”

“What’s wrong?” she asked a little louder, concern lacing her words. “What can I do?”

“Just shh! Don’t draw attention to us,” I whispered, and her dark eyes widened.

She barely glanced over her shoulder before her entire body went rigid. “Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh.’ Let’s go. We need to go. Like right now.”

“Back door.” She nodded in the direction behind me, and I stood and turned at the same time, keeping my head down as I did.

“Indy!”

“Balls,” I whispered harshly, and turned back around to see a guy approaching me—and just past him Vanessa and Dean were staring at me with wide eyes.

“Hey,” the guy said. “I didn’t even see you in here until you stood up. Are you going to the party?”

Do I know this guy? “Uh, what party?”

He gave me a look, amusement dancing in his eyes. “At your neighbors’ house.”

Apparently I do. Unfortunately this wasn’t uncommon lately. After running out of Dean’s frat house at the end of August, I’d called Misha to see if she was on her way back to Ann Arbor, only to find she hadn’t planned on coming back after what had happened between her and Hunter last year. But I hadn’t been about to let her hide away, and I’d needed my friend to cry to, and stand tall with me this year. She’d stood tall, and I was so proud of her . . . Me, not so much. Misha ended up meeting Darryn, a new guy next door, and I’d just tried to lose myself during every party.

Everyone thought I was showing my wild side and finally letting loose since I wasn’t with Dean anymore, but they couldn’t have been more wrong. I wanted to forget Dean, I wanted to forget everything about him and our time together—so I drank until I did just that. The downside of that was times like this. I didn’t remember those nights, which meant I sure as hell didn’t remember the people I’d met or interacted with.

“Most likely . . . ?” I responded awkwardly. “Are you going to stalk me if I do?”

A grin tugged at his lips as he stepped closer. “Don’t you want me to?” he asked huskily, and his arm wrapped around my waist just before his lips fell on mine.

My eyebrows rose, and my eyes widened. Before I could gather myself enough to push him away, he was stepping back. “Wha—”

“I’ll see you tonight,” he said confidently. Turning, he walked back a few tables and sat down where there were a couple of people studying.

I gaped after him for long seconds before turning to leave with Misha, only to find Dean and Vanessa still staring at me. Vanessa with a satisfied smirk, Dean with a raised eyebrow and an annoyed look on his face.

I needed to get out of there before I did something stupid like cry. I needed to get to that party so I could try to have fun as I drank away memories of Dean as I had done every weekend since I’d walked in on him and Vanessa.

“I don’t know what the hell just happened,” I hissed as Misha and I walked out the back door of the coffee shop.

“What do you mean?” She looked over at me with her dark eyes, her expression telling me she really had no clue what I meant.

“That”—I pointed behind us—“in there, that guy. I don’t know him, and I don’t know why he ki—”

She laughed in that soft, quiet way of hers and shook her head—her dark curls bouncing around her face. “Oh, I’m pretty sure you know him, Indy. Quite well, in fact.”

My face fell as we got in her car. “Oh no, no.”

“Oh yes, yes.”

“I’ve slept with him?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I just saw Dean and Vanessa and her stupid, pregnant stomach. And a guy I don’t know—or remember—kissed me. And Dean was there. And—I need a drink. Or five,” I groaned, and slumped down in the passenger seat.

Misha sighed. “That’s usually how the night starts out when you end up sleeping with him or someone else—and then you never seem to remember it.”

I sat back up quickly. “Someone else?” I nearly shouted. “Where are you and Darryn when this is happening? Why don’t you stop me from sleeping with guys I won’t remember the next morning? And why are you just telling me all this now?”

“It’s not like we don’t try, and based on how drunk you get and the things you say, you don’t want anyone telling you about what you do when you’re drunk,” she whispered, her tone indicating she was done with this conversation, and judging from it, I wondered just how many times they’d tried to stop me from myself when I drank.

* * *

Six hours later I’d successfully put Dean and Vanessa out of my mind, had lost twice and won once at beer pong, had beat three frat guys at downing six shots the fastest, and had eaten half a loaf of warm, fresh garlic bread.

Wait. What the hell?

“Who gave me bread?” I yelled, and looked around at everyone before tearing off another piece of the soft disgustingness and shoving it in my mouth.

Despite not knowing where it came from, I kept the foil-covered loaf firmly in my grip. I was going to gain five pounds off this alone, and I didn’t care at all right now. Someone started moving against me, and I automatically began moving to the music—half loaf and beer still in hand.

A deep chuckle vibrated against my neck. “What’s that you got there, Indy?”

My eyebrows rose, and my eyes opened sluggishly. “Hmm?”

The person behind me tapped my bread, and I snatched it away from him, holding it close to my chest. “It’s my present. It’s delicious and soft and melts in my mouth, and you can’t have any.”

He pressed his body closer to mine, his hands gripping my hips. “You know what else melts in your mouth,” he said suggestively.

“M&M’s?” I asked with false naivety before laughing loudly and turning to look at him. “I don’t know you, either,” I mused, a smile on my face. “But I do know you, don’t I?”

The handsome guy nodded. “We definitely know each other, Indy.” His body was still moving to the music—as was mine—and his head dipped to kiss behind my ear.

I pushed at his chest, and giggled. Why am I giggling? I’m not a giggler. Am I? Garlic bread plus hot guy plus drinking equals the giggles. Oh God, drinking makes me do math problems. “No.” I drew out the word. “I promised Misha I’d be a good girl.”

A grin tugged at his lips. “You weren’t last week.”

“Last week, huh?” I tilted forward as I studied his eyes, and clapped my bread and cup together. “You’re really hot. Go, me.”

He huffed out a laugh, his expression morphing into something other than the heated look he’d been giving me. He looked confused and kind of shocked. I didn’t blame him—I’d already been mauled by the guy from the coffee shop about an hour ago, and now there was this guy in front of me. I was beginning to wonder how many more guys I’d run into tonight who I’d been hooking up with over the past couple of months. Even through the haze of my drunken mind, I was disgusted with myself.

I wasn’t this girl, never had been. I’d lost my virginity to Dean and had planned on being with him forever. Multiple partners weren’t my thing. Drunken hookups weren’t my thing. Actually . . . getting drunk at all wasn’t my thing.

And now I was frowning.

“Uh, am I missing something?” he asked, and I frowned harder as I wished I remembered him. He really was cute.

I could have gotten his name, I could have walked with him back to my room next door . . . but I didn’t want to fuel this side of me he thought he knew.

I held up my beer and half loaf and smiled. “Cheers.” Turning, I walked away from unknown guy number two and stumbled my way to the hall on the first floor to find the bathroom.

It shouldn’t be that hard. This house was built exactly like ours, and I’d spent enough time in this house that I knew it as well as I knew my own. But the walls were spinning sideways and tilting forward, and my bread was starting to smell like bananas, so . . . yeah, difficulty level in finding the bathroom was at an all-time high.

After one miss, I hit a door that was locked and smacked the hand holding the loaf against the door. “Hurry,” I whined, as I kept smacking my hand against the door.

It was official. I turned into a three-year-old when I was drunk. Note to self before I drank again: I’m an annoying drunk.

“Bathroom!” I whined again, and went to take a sip of my beer, but my cup was suddenly empty. “Lame. So much lame in that cup.”

The door swung open, revealing a flushed couple, and I grinned widely at them. “Hope you used protection,” I sang as I stepped into the bathroom and they hurried out. I’m sure tomorrow I would be grossed out that I used a restroom after people just got done doing unmentionables in it.

After leaving the bathroom with more bread in my mouth, I looked to the left and my eyes narrowed on a closed door. On my right, the music was loud, and the people at the party were even louder. But something about that door called to me.

Rolling up the top of the foil again, I went to the door, twisted the handle, and put all my weight into it, expecting it to be locked.

It wasn’t.

I stumbled in, a giggle bubbling up from my chest as I gripped the doorknob and my bread like a lifeline, trying to keep myself vertical.

“Whoa—shit,” I laughed, and straightened.

There was a sigh behind me. “Guess it’s time to go home?”

I whirled around and fell back into the wall from my too-fast movement, the familiar guy lying on the bed darted up like he could save me from over there.

“Definitely time to go home.”

“You scared the shit out of me!” I hissed.

“Really, Indy?” he said on a soft laugh, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he stood up.

My frown was back. “You know me, too?”

He sent me a patient smile. “Not really.”

“But you know my name,” I prompted.

“Yeah, well—yeah. Come on, let’s get you home.”

I pointed at him and gasped. “Casey!”

His face fell. “No.”

“Cain?”

“No.” He reached me then and put one arm behind my back. “Hold on to your bread, Indy.” And that was the only warning I had before I was in his arms and he was walking me out of the room and down the hall.

“But that was your room. You live here, right?”

“Yep.”

“Keith?”

His lips twitched as he stepped out of the house. “No.”

“You’re the quiet one. I don’t ever see you because . . . because I don’t see you. You’re never at the parties, and you don’t talk to anyone.”

“I’m talking to you now.”

I tore some bread off and used it to point at him before shoving it in my mouth. “That you are,” I said around the bread. “Chris?” I guessed when we were in my house.

“No.”

“I’m on the second floor.”

“I know.”

My brow furrowed as I studied him. He wasn’t looking at me, just looking straight ahead. His black hair looked like it had been styled by running his hand through it, and his eyes looked dark from the lack of light in the house—but somehow, I don’t know how, I knew they would look like honey in the light.

By the time we got to my room, I was chewing on more bread, still studying him, and he was trying to keep his breathing steady even though his arms were shaking from having carried me so far.

“Here we are.”

“Hello, room, I’ve missed you!” I called out, and he actually laughed. My head whipped back around to look at him, my voice filled with awe. “I’ve never heard you laugh.”

“There’s a first for everything, isn’t there?”

“I guess. Can you tell me your name?”

His face fell into a serious mask as he laid me down on my bed, kneeling at the side of it. “You know my name. You just don’t want to remember it right now.”

“That’s ridiculous. Why wouldn’t I remember it if I knew it?”

“Great question, isn’t it?”

I grabbed for more bread, and he took it out of my hands. I pouted but didn’t comment on that. “You’re confusing.”

“I know,” he said on a sigh. “Get changed. I’ll go—”

Oh no. Guy number three. “Apparently drinking brings out my inner slut, and I’m sorry if we’ve had sex before, but I don’t want to and I promised Misha I wouldn’t.”

“We haven’t, and I’m not trying to have sex with you, Indy,” he whispered, his eyes burning into mine.

Then why was he here? Why did he know where my room was? He wasn’t shy like Misha. He was just quiet . . . like he’d rather not be a part of whatever everyone else was doing, and our conversations never interested him. I couldn’t remember ever speaking to him before tonight.

I inhaled a soft gasp. “You gave me the bread.” It hadn’t been a question, and I didn’t know how I knew. I didn’t even remember receiving the bread. I just remembered having it all of a sudden. But even without his confirmation, I knew without a doubt that this guy gave me the bread.

He looked away for a few seconds before sending me a brief, strained smile. “Yeah, I did.”

“Why?”

“That’s not important right now. Just get changed and get some sleep. I’ll leave water and aspirin on your nightstand, okay?”

Before I could respond, he straightened and quickly walked out of my bedroom. I heard his footsteps on the hardwood floor before the sound descended the stairs.

After kicking off my shoes, I tugged off my jeans and threw them over the side of the bed before tearing off my long-sleeved shirt and bra—leaving me in only a camisole and a pair of lacy underwear. I had my makeup on and I felt grimy and gross, but now that I was in bed I couldn’t even think of getting up to turn my light off, let alone to take a shower. I jerked at my comforter until it was covering me, and rolled over on my stomach, wrapping my arms around the pillow I rested my head on.

A minute later I heard footsteps on the stairs again. Before I knew it, the handsome boy from next door was walking into my room. He didn’t say anything as he set down a glass of water and bottle of aspirin, and it was when he straightened and turned to leave that I just knew.

“Kier?” I called before he could switch off my bedroom light.

His body stilled, and he looked over his shoulder at me, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Yeah, Indy?”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime.”

“I swear I’ll remember you tomorrow.”

The smile fell, and a sad look touched his face. “Good night.”

“Night,” I whispered when he shut off the light and walked quietly out of my room and away from me.

I fell asleep trying to commit everything about Kier to memory, and chanting over and over again that in the morning I would go to him and prove I remembered him.

* * *

Kier

“Hey, excuse me?”

I paused midstep and shut my eyes. That voice. That fucking voice that belonged to a girl who refused to remember me, refused to remember parts of her life for reasons I’d probably never understand. The girl who refused to leave my damn mind.

I ground my jaw and turned, already knowing I’d find her looking apologetic for stopping me—and there she was. Hands covering her mouth, eyebrows drawn together as she bounced on the balls of her feet once.

“I’m so sorry. I’m sure you’re busy, and I don’t really know you—I mean, we’re neighbors, but we don’t talk. And anyway, I need your help, or someone’s help,” she rambled. “I shouldn’t have bothered you.” Her cheeks filled with heat, and my lips twitched up.

“You’re not bothering me.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive, what do you need?”

“Um, my car”—she hooked her thumb over her shoulder, and then turned to look at it—“is dead. I need someone to jump it so I can get to class. I only have one today, but I have an exam that I can’t afford to miss.”

I grimaced. “I don’t have cables.” Lie. “But I’ll give you a ride. I’m heading to campus and will only be there for an hour or so. I’ll drive you back.”

She chewed on her bottom lip for a second. “I don’t want to inconvenience you.”

“You’re not, come on.” Not waiting for her, I turned and walked over to my SUV, and was actually surprised when I’d started it and she was sliding into the passenger seat. I hadn’t expected her to come that easily.

“Kyle, right?” she asked, her face excited as she waited for my answer.

My lips tilted up again. “No.”

“Oh God. I’m sorry.”

My eyes bounced over her face for a few seconds, taking in the redness there from the cold air outside, and her embarrassment. It was adorable on her. She ran a hand through her waist-length red hair, and her green eyes darted back to mine as she pulled the sleeves of her sweatshirt over her fingers.

“Kier,” I offered.

Recognition flashed in her bright eyes. “Right! I know I’ve heard that. You’d think I’d remember an awesome name like that.”

You’d think you’d remember a lot, I thought. I wanted to tell her she’d promised me four days ago that she would remember me, but there was no point. She promised me that almost every Saturday night. So I didn’t respond, just pulled out onto the street and concentrated on driving.

“Um, my name’s Indy,” she said when I was looking for a parking spot. Her voice was so unsure, and I knew she thought she was bothering me again. One glance at her red cheeks confirmed it.

For a redhead, she didn’t have a lot of what you’d expect to find. She had tan skin and no freckles. But goddamn, could this girl blush when she wasn’t drinking.

“I know.”

“You do?” Her eyebrows drew together.

After I pulled into a space, I turned to look at her and winked. “It’s hard to forget an awesome name like that.”

She blushed harder, and I couldn’t help it. I laughed.

Her green eyes went wide. “Oh my God. I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh.”

Of course you haven’t, I thought sarcastically. Taking my keys out of the ignition, I raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, there’s a first for everything, isn’t there?”

“Yeah, I guess there is.” She gave me a strange look and huffed a soft laugh. “I just had the weirdest sense of déjà vu. Have you ever had that?”

“Every week,” I muttered. “What do you say we go get this bullshit test out of the way?”

“Tell me about—wait. We?”

“Yeah. We. We have the same class, Indy.”

Her face fell. “Where have I been?”

I got out of the SUV and shook my head. “I ask myself that all the time.”

She rushed around the back to join me, her face pinched together in confusion. “Wait, how did I not know this?”

I shrugged and started walking with her at my side. It felt weird. Instinctively I wanted to pull her up into my arms and carry her, but this was different. She wasn’t wasted, she wasn’t about to forget this conversation, and she wasn’t trying to feed me bread. This was normal—just her. For the first time in the year since the girls moved into the house next to us, she was trying to have a conversation with me—sober.

“It’s a big class. It’s not hard to miss someone.”

“But we’re neighbors,” she argued, and then muttered to herself, “Well, I guess this goes back to the whole us-never-talking thing.”

“I’m talking to you now.”

She looked up at me with a smile on her face, her green eyes narrowed like she was trying to figure me out. “That you are.”

We walked in silence the rest of the way to the lecture hall, but every minute or so I’d catch her looking at me out of the corner of my eye—that same curious expression on her beautiful face.

Grabbing the door, I opened it and held it for her as she walked in, but she paused in the doorway. She stared straight ahead for a few seconds before turning to look at me, her mouth open like she was going to say something. But instead she closed her mouth without speaking and her eyebrows bunched together again.

With a slight shake of her head, she exhaled audibly and shrugged. “Good luck, Kier.”

“You, too.”

I watched her turn and walk into the room, walking toward the middle where she usually sat with a group of girls. I went to my normal spot in the back left corner and sank into my seat as I pulled out my phone, waiting for when the professor would come in.

My thumb paused on the screen of my phone when a bag was dropped a couple of chairs down, followed by a long leg stretching over the back of the row of chairs. Long red hair shielded her face as she hopped over and plopped down into the seat next to mine. Brushing her hair away from her face, she glanced at me, a small smile playing at her lips before she stared straight ahead.

She didn’t say anything, and neither did I. Because not only had the professor just walked in and already begun passing out Scantrons, but there was nothing to say in that moment. I fought back my own smile.

Indy was coming to me sober.