Melanie all but swooned as we walked away from the table, and I fought hard not to roll my eyes. “I take it you two know each other?” I asked, nodding back to where she was still staring at him.
He shrugged. “You could say that.”
And the urge won over.
I let my eyes roll, and Jamie laughed, hard and solid, the sound booming. Then, he stopped, eyed me, and opened his arms wide. “Come here.”
“Ew,” I said quickly, shaking my head and walking forward. “You’re sweatier than two rats fucking in a gym sock.”
“Oh come on,” he teased from behind me. “It’s just a little perspiration.” And then, I was off my feet and in the air, back pressed against the damp fabric covering his chest as he spun me around. I squealed, laughing and flailing until he put me down.
“Whyareyou so sweaty? And why are you here?”
“I just finished playing basketball out at the courts. And I go to school here. Which, I guess that makes two of us now,” he added, holding up the envelope from Campus Housing. I snatched it from his grip and flipped through the contents, holding out my hand for him to drop my keys into as my mind raced.
“I didn’t know you went here.”
“Sure,” he said. “It’s okay that you’re stalking me, B. Maybe I kind of like it.”
“You wish,” I replied, nose still in the papers. “Seriously though, you were supposed to be at UC. What happened?” My fingers filtered through the folder as I waited for him to respond. There was information about my Resident Assistant and various activities planned for the semester as well as safety protocols. I was one of the few freshmen lucky enough to land a dorm room where I had my own room, but shared a kitchen and bathroom space with three other girls. I’d met one of them at orientation earlier that summer, but the others I’d only looked up on social media, so I was anxious to meet them.
“Remember my uncle I told you about? The one who had connections at a university in California?” I nodded, and he grinned, opening his arms to gesture to the campus around us. “You’re looking at the same university my dad and uncle graduated from, both with their degrees in Accounting. At first, my application was waitlisted, but my uncle knows a few of the guys on the Admissions Board, and he worked some magic.”
“And now here you are,” I said, peeking up at him.
His grin widened. “Here I am.”
I shook my head, dropping my eyes to the housing packet again while my stomach did backflips. Jamie Shaw went to the same college as me. I didn’t know whether to feel lucky or cursed, and the ache in my chest wasn’t helping me decide. I’d avoided him since that night on the beach, letting him go, letting theideaof him go. He was Jenna’s, and then he was gone — end of story.
Except now, it wasn’t.
“So, you made it to California after all.”
I looked up then, catching Jamie’s amused eyes with my own. “I guess I did.”
Though so much had changed about Jamie, one thing that hadn’t was the way he stared at me — that expectant way, like he knew something I’d yet to figure out. I shifted under his gaze, suddenly hot, and was just about to ask how he liked it at Alder when I was picked up from behind for the second time.
Mid-air, I knew exactly who it was who had me pressed against them as they spun me around, and it almost killed me that for the past ten minutes since I’d run into Jamie, I hadn’t thought about that person once.
Because you see, I didn’t expect to see Jamie at Alder, but Iwasexpecting to run into someone that day.
My boyfriend.
“Oh my God, I almost forgot how beautiful you are,” Ethan said when he dropped me back to the ground. He immediately dipped me back, pressing his lips hard to mine as a blush crept up on my cheeks. He stood me back up, hands framing my face, before Jamie cleared his throat.
Ethan perked up at that, tucking me into his side and smiling wide at Jamie. “And I see you met my roommate!”
I blanched at that, my eyes wide while Jamie’s were shielded beneath bent brows.
“Jamie is your roommate?” I squeaked.
“Yeah,” he answered, pointing his finger between the two of us. “Y’all know each other?”
Jamie’s eyes hadn’t left mine, but they’d changed, grown cooler in tone somehow. “We went to high school together,” he clipped.
I swallowed, studying Jamie’s face, wondering why he suddenly looked ready to kill something. “Yeah. He dated my best friend back in the day.”
“Huh!” Ethan mused, grin still in place. “What a small world!”
