Kiss To Forget (Blairwood University #2) - Anna B. Doe Page 0,87

one. “It’s been a long week, that’s all.”

Get a grip, girl.

If it were only that easy. Ever since I came back to Blairwood, I’ve had a hard time focusing on anything. Studying, classes, work, and hell, even volunteering, nothing seems to keep my attention. Before long, my mind would start to wander, and I’d be back at the beginning, lost in thoughts about the guy I had no right to be thinking of. Or do I?

It’ll be just this one time.

Until it was another.

And another.

So many I’ve lost count.

But what does that make us?

God, just listen to me. Not even a few weeks, and I’ve already become one of those girls. The ones who obsess over the guy, overthinking their every encounter to the point of giving themselves a headache.

“Mm-hmm…” Callie hums loudly, drawing my attention.

I give her a side glance and find her observing me carefully. “What?”

“Where were you last weekend?”

I force myself to continue doing my work, while everything in me stops. Did she somehow find out? What exactly does she think she knows? She can’t know that much. Not with me spending most of the time at Nixon’s family’s house.

“Just the usual. Why do you ask?” I ask carefully.

“Don’t play coy with me, chica. I’ve been to the dorm, and you weren’t there.”

Putting the final cup on the shelf, I close the dishwasher. “Maybe we just missed each other?”

“For five hours straight?”

I shrug. “Stranger things have happened.”

“Yeah, like the fact that you’ve been sneaking around, and nobody knows where you are.”

“Do I need to give you my schedule, Mom?”

She narrows her eyes at me, but continues like I haven’t said anything. “And you know who’s also done a whole lot of missing?” She doesn’t wait for me to answer. “Well, let me tell you. Nixon, that’s who.”

“Really?” I look down, trying to seem inconspicuous. I know I shouldn’t ask, not when she’s already being nosy as fuck, but I can’t help myself. I haven’t seen him or talked to him since I left his house, and I was starting to get worried. I tried to tell myself that no news is good news, and that he was just busy trying to juggle his family and school, but my heart didn’t care. I want to hear his voice. I want to know how they’re all doing, that they’re okay. All of them. “Was he around this week?”

She points her finger at me. “Something is going on, and I’ll figure it out.”

“What happened to letting people come to you once they’re ready?” I ask, putting the glass I’ve been drying on the counter with more force than necessary.

Callie huffs, completely unfazed by my little outburst. “That was before you idiots decided to take your sweet time before fessing up.”

“Look who’s talking!”

Just then, the bell over the door chimes, and customers stroll in, saving Callie from the rest of my tirade. For now, at least.

I take the group’s order and get on fixing their coffees. I’ve been working here since I came to college, and it’s become second nature to me, to the point that if you’d wake me from my sleep, and ask me to make you something, I’d be able to do it half snoozing.

I ring their order in, and off they go. I turn back to my friend sitting at the bar.

“Is there something going on between you and Nixon?”

“What? No.”

She narrows her eyes suspiciously. “That came out too fast.”

“What makes you think…”

“Do you want to dissect that night at the club? Or even better, when you oh-so-casually strolled to the dining hall together?”

“You were drunk the first time, and the second was a pure coincidence.”

“So you keep saying, but there have been way too many coincidences lately, don’t you think?”

“I think you’re being paranoid. That’s what I think.”

“And I think you’re hiding something.”

She’s not wrong. I’m hiding a whole lot of things, not limited to what she thinks she knows I’m hiding. God, this is getting more complicated by the second.

“I’m not sure why you just don’t say it. I think it’s a good thing.”

“What is a good thing?”

“You and Nixon.”

“Callie,” I groan. Inclining my head, I pinch the bridge of my nose. Díos, please, grant me patience.

“Oh, shush. You know I’m right. That guy’s had it bad for you since the very beginning.”

“So bad he wanted to rip my head off?”

“What can I say, you bring out the best in people.”

I press my lips in a tight line. “Thanks, I love you too,” I say