Keeping Casey (Keeping Him #1) - Amy Aislin Page 0,69

of Ethan’s phone alarm had scared the shit out of them when it’d gone off before seven. Roman and Cody had risen with them, going so far as to make them breakfast before Casey had snuck back up to the bedroom to strip the bed and toss the sheets in the washing machine, as instructed.

Roman and Cody hadn’t said anything, but they’d smirked at him and Ethan as they’d walked them to the door. Ethan had ducked his head with a shy smile, but Casey had smirked right back, feeling smug and settled and happier than he ever remembered feeling.

Hours later, he was still smug and settled and happy.

Tired too, though. He’d driven the entire way back to Glen Hill with his window cracked open an inch, letting the cold wind help keep him awake. Next to him, Ethan had done the reading for his late morning class. Behind him, Theo bobbed his head to whatever came through his earbuds. And Brant slept, head tucked between the headrest and the door, mouth wide open.

Snorting a short laugh, Casey shook himself out of his reminiscing and focused on his laptop. Last night had been spectacular, a slice out of life where he’d forgotten his troubles, his worries, his schoolwork. He was back to real life now, though, with all of the assignments that came with it.

Satisfaction thrummed through him as he hit Submit for the second time today. Jasper stood behind him, one hand on the back of Casey’s desk chair.

“That’s it?” he asked. “You just send the website link through the online portal and you’re officially done with the project?”

“Yup.” Casey cracked his knuckles. “A week early too.” Closing the laptop, he stood to stretch out his back. “Thanks for your help with it. I wouldn’t have known how to set up a website without you.”

“It was pretty easy, though, right?” Jasper asked, going back to his own desk. “Once I showed you the basics?”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have known where to start. I owe you one, man.”

“Nah.” Waving a hand over his shoulder, Jasper went back to his own work. “All good. Happy to help. Hope you get a good grade on it.”

“Considering my main source is the archeologist himself, we’d better.”

That had been fun, sitting in Professor Wainwright’s office earlier this week and talking to him about his career. Casey had ended up with so much material that he’d beefed up the other sections too. Professor Wainwright had so much knowledge and experience that Casey hadn’t been able to help himself.

He’d also asked the professor for help in tracking down the history of the coin around his neck.

“I’m afraid that’s quite impossible,” he’d said. “Perhaps if it was a rare coin, but the one you’ve got was quite common. Forgive the cliché, but finding its history would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

Casey had been bummed at first, until he’d realized that its history didn’t really matter. Without Dad around to share it with, discovering where the coin had come from, how, and who had owned it wouldn’t be nearly as satisfactory. And that was something Casey was just going to have to learn to live with.

The clacking of keys as Jasper typed away at his desk mixed with the sound of students walking to and from the elevator outside their open door. Casey grabbed his phone from his nightstand and typed out a quick message to Ethan.

Group project: done. Archeology field placement application: submitted. Can we still do interview practice this weekend?

The selection process for the interview shortlist wouldn’t be complete until the end of the month, and interviews wouldn’t happen until December, but it didn’t hurt to prepare. Plus, he’d submitted the application a week before the deadline, so maybe he’d be called to interview early. If he made the shortlist. Which he would.

It felt good to have submitted the project and the application a week ahead of time. Now he didn’t have to think about it anymore, and he wouldn’t have to worry about potential technical difficulties on the deadline.

Organization for the win.

He didn’t expect a message back from Ethan—if he wasn’t still at his study group, he’d be getting ready for tonight’s game—so he tossed his phone on the bed, where there was still an indent in the pillow from the power nap Ethan had taken between his class and study group session.

Ethan had looked good. Last week when he’d shown up to crash for an hour, he’d looked stressed