Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 439(@200wpm)___ 351(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
I sigh, grabbing the lanyard with my keys before leaving the room.
“Oh my!” She laughs, following. “It does.”
“I’m running to my car!” I stomp out of our common area and towards the main door that leads into the hallway.
“What are you hiding?” She’s still following me.
I snap my body around. “I saw him, okay?”
Her mouth drops. “When? Where? What-”
“We went to dinner,” I interrupt. “It was… intense. He has my number and hasn’t called. It’s been a week.”
Her mouth is still gaping. “Well then,” she shakes her head, smiling, moving aside so I can pass. “You might want to grab a toothbrush and a change of clothes while you’re at it.”
“Screw you,” I roll my eyes.
“That’s my girl,” she leans against the doorway, and this is why Ren and I are friends. She knows everything, yet doesn’t ask anything.
I’m not even fully out of the building when my phone rings.
“Oh my god, Ren I’ll be right back!” I answer without looking at the caller ID.
“Who’s Ren?”
Oh. My. God. I’d know that voice anywhere. I move the phone away from my ear to look at the screen.
“My roommate.” I smile. “Hi.”
“Hi,” Josh laughs. “Is Ren your boyfriend?”
“Ren is short for Renata. She and I met first semester in Italy. I told you about her-”
“Ah, yes,” he remembers. “Renata from Prague. Where you both threw stones off of the Charles Bridge and bonded over married men.”
“You remember,” I commend him.
“I never forget anything you say,” he sighs, crackling the phone.
“That’s because I’m so captivating,” I joke.
“That you are,” I sense his smile, and the line goes quiet.
“So what can I do for you, Mr. Harrington?” My voice booms as he laughs at my formality.
“I was wondering if it would be too weird for you to meet at school for lunch tomorrow?” He clears his throat. “Purely friendly, of course.”
“Oh,” I hope he can’t hear the disappointment in my voice. “I’m back in Boston.”
“Oh,” I can hear his.
“Yeah, spring semester starts tomorrow. Can you hold on a second?” I unlock my car and grab the comforter, spotting the duffel bag with my essentials behind the passenger seat, but I need two hands to get it. “Actually, can I call you right back?”
“We can talk some other time if now isn’t good,” he sighs. “I really just wanted to ask about tomorrow.”
“No, now is good. I’ll call you back in ten minutes,” I promise before hanging up.
I return to my room with my armful of things, buzzing.
“God, you are so moody,” Ren sighs.
“He called!” I squeal.
“Who called?” She looks at my quizzically before catching up to where we are in the story. “The teacher?”
“Yes!” I dump the items onto my bed and unzip the duffel.
“I thought we hate the teacher?” She leans against my doorway.
“We do,” I sigh. “I think.”
“You think?” She walks over. “Luci, you made me promise that if you ever became this delusional - but for your sake I’ll call it confused - that I would knock some sense into you.”
“It complicated.” I ignore her as I start unpacking.
“Uncomplicated it for me.” She walks into my room and sits in my desk chair. “Because as far as I’m concerned, he’s married scum who has far too much of a hold on you and your emotions.”
“You sort of sound like my sister,” I laugh.
“Well,” she crosses her arms, leaning back into the chair. “She seemed very cool the few times I’ve met her.”
“Ugh! My sister,” I roll my eyes. “The one who has apparently been talking to said teacher behind my back.”
“Whoa!” Ren makes a face.
“Yeah, evidently, he’s been pining for me,” I cross my arms.
“The bastard!” She shouts. “What about his family?” She makes another disgruntled face.
“He’s divorced now,” I sigh. “He said they basically never got back together. Or they did for a short while, but it didn’t work. I’m not sure. And the kid apparently was never his.”
“No way,” she grabs popcorn from my dresser.
“I wouldn’t eat that,” I warn her. “That’s been there since way before break.”
“I have to eat something! This is like a soap.”
“You’re so weird,” I roll my eyes.
“So… he’s divorced now for real?”
“Yes.”
“And the kid was never his, or so he says?” Ren confirms, not fully believing it herself either.
“He tried to show me the paperwork,” I shrug. “But I didn’t look.”
“Are you crazy?” She snaps. “I would have looked. We can’t trust this guy!”
“Why would he hand over fake information?”
“Because maybe he knows you wouldn’t look!” I can tell she’s concocting some sort of evil plan in her head, of how he meant for this to go down exactly the way it did. Leave it to her theater brain to do just that.
“That’s weird,” I tell her. “He wouldn’t do that.” I don’t know why I’m defending him.
“You only say that because you’re in love with him,” she points out, and my anger explodes.