Kiss To Forget (Blairwood University #2) - Anna B. Doe Page 0,4
face. Taking a step forward, I close the distance between us.
“It’s stuck.”
Yasmin inhales sharply, and I can feel the way her body tenses, but I don’t step back. Instead, I reach forward and softly push the lock behind her ear before moving back once again, not once breaking our stare.
Yasmin sucks her lower lip between her teeth, grazing over the soft flesh before letting it pop out.
“Great,” she repeats, her voice growing huskier and doing things to me it most definitely shouldn’t. Not after the cold shower she gave me just moments earlier. “Thanks. I’ll go now. See you around.”
She nods decisively, closing the conversation. Turning on the balls of her feet, she continues on her way, not once looking back.
“See you around, Yas.”
Chapter Three
YASMIN
Knocking on the door so I don’t startle her, I peek my head inside. “Hey Cals, ready to go?”
My best friend and roommate’s head snaps up when she hears me, a smile forming on her lips. “Sure thing. Just gimme a second.”
I watch her lean in and help one of the kids, Joseph, I think, with his drawing before patting him on the shoulder and straightening up.
I met Callie on my first day at Blairwood. To say we started off on the wrong foot would be an understatement. Neither of us was particularly happy to be there for different reasons. Callie especially, since she was supposed to have her own room, but me enrolling late ended up cramping her style. We’ve come a long way since then.
“Have any plans for tonight? I figured you could come with me…”
“It’s Tuesday,” I interrupt her. My explanation is vague, but she gets it.
“O-ho. Meeting the mystery guy?” She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.
If only you knew, I think, but keep the words to myself.
“You know the drill,” I say instead. Nobody knows my Tuesday plans, not Callie, nor Chloe, our next-door neighbor and another friend of ours. They figured out I’m always missing on Tuesday evenings and dubbed them nights with my imaginary suitor or some shit like that. Who even uses the word suitor anymore? Still, I don’t bother correcting them.
“Will you ever tell us who he is?” she questions as we leave Bright Haven, waving goodbye to the kids on our way out. Bright Haven is a local community center that we both volunteer at. I tutor a few times a week while Callie leads an art class. I actually have my own past with the center since I, myself, was an attendee at the center in the New York area. So when I heard there was one open here, I decided to give it a look and sign up as a volunteer. The center saved my ass more than once when I was younger, since living with a single mom in a city like New York has never been especially easy, but we overcame it, and now I’m here, studying at one of the best colleges in the States.
“Not if I can help it,” I mutter quietly.
Pulling the keys out of my pocket, I unlock my old Ford and slide behind the wheel. From the corner of my eye, I catch Callie stiffening for a second before she coaches herself and gets in on the other side of the car.
At first I found it strange, but later on, Callie confessed that her parents died in a car accident in which she was the driver, and although the accident wasn’t her fault, she felt guilty because she is the only one who came out of it alive, although far from unscathed. She has a fair number of scars, starting with the ones covering the left side of her face, reminding her of what she’s been through. Not that she needs the reminder—that day still haunts her nightmares.
“But don’t you think it would be nice if we could double-date sometime? It would be fun.”
I roll my eyes at her. This isn’t our first rodeo. “Trust me when I say it wouldn’t.”
“How can you know?” She puffs a strand of hair that slipped her braid out of her face. “Seriously, Yas. You make me wonder, who is that guy, and why exactly are you unwilling to introduce him to us?”
“How do you even know it’s a he? Maybe it’s a she.”
She gives me a skeptical look. “Is it?”
“No, but that’s beside the point.”
“That’s exactly the point! There has to be something wrong if you’re not willing to introduce him to us.”
“Just because you’re happy and in love doesn’t mean we