Chapter 2
Chapter Two
John
I have been away for too long.
The campus is beautiful. Memories come rushing back as I follow the winding paths past dorms and academic buildings. There’s the old science building where I wrote my first lines of code. It feels so long ago.
It’s the end of the summer, and everything reflects that — the asphalt shimmers in the sun, heat rising in visible waves.
I smile when two young women come into view. They’re holding up a sign with “Charity Car Wash” scrawled across it.
When Mark told me his daughter’s sorority was putting on a fundraiser, I wasn’t surprised. He sounded so proud when he said they were doing all the work themselves—washing cars, passing out flyers, organizing the whole thing like professionals.
I smile to myself. I wonder how she’s doing.
It’s been years since I last saw her. She was always such a good kid. Shy and studious, always buried in a book whenever I’d visit the house. Mark used to joke that she had better SAT scores than both of us combined. I believed it.
I pull into the parking lot, the glittering white asphalt nearly blinding me. I step out of the car and the heat slams into me — pavement radiating, engine ticking.
A few of the sorority girls walk over. One of them steps forward and puts out her hand.
“Hi. I’m Cassie.” She throws a look over her shoulder. “These are my friends. Now, as a representative of our sorority, and I should say, the community at large, I would just like to offer you our sincere, heartfelt, huge thanks. Your support means a lot to us.”
She holds up a bucket and a sponge.
“Now. Paper or plastic?”
Another young woman elbows her in the ribs and makes her laugh.
“What she meant to say is wax on, wax off,” she says, motioning in circles with her hands.
“No, what she’s trying to say is,” still another says as she squeezes a soapy sponge, “do you want to have your car washed?”
I don’t answer. Instead, my attention gets pulled toward someone lingering at the back of the crowd.
Her face is smooth and angelic, her long, thick blonde hair cascading over one shoulder, tangling against her neck and collarbone in the soft breeze.
She squints against the bright morning sun, her face painted in the soft, dappled rays of light beaming through the tall trees at the edge of the parking lot.
Her shirt is pulled tight across her chest and tied into a little knot at the side, showing off the slightest strip of sun-kissed skin. Her lips are thick and a little glossy, her blue eyes framed by long, fluttering lashes.
I can’t take my eyes off her. A strange sensation begins to rise inside me as our eyes meet. My chest becomes warm and the sun suddenly feels less oppressive, like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
And then…something else entirely. Something heavier. Her chest rises and falls under my gaze. I can feel it from here.
The girl in front of me huffs and marches over to the one I can’t stop staring at.
“Sarah,” she says, pushing her in my direction. “Will you please talk some sense into this gorgeous man?”
Sarah?
This can’t be—
But it is.
Holy fucking hell.
This is not the same shy, studious girl I remember.
Standing before me is the most gorgeous woman on the fucking planet.
The air shifts. Everything around me blurs — the crowd, the music, the water spraying in every direction — it all fades.
This is her? The girl who was always late coming downstairs for Sunday dinner because she was somewhere with her nose buried in a book?
For a second, I feel like I’ve taken a punch straight to the solar plexus. No air. Just heat. Pressure. Every cell in my body tuning itself to her.
“Would you like one of us to wash your car?” she says, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.
“I don’t like people touching what’s mine,” I say, holding her gaze and taking a small step forward.
“Then I’m afraid you’ve come to the wrong place,” she says.
“No,” I say. “I’m exactly where I need to be.”
She tilts her head to the side.
“You look…”
She presses her lips together, waiting—either for whatever dumb thing I’m about to say or just to fuck with me. The sunlight hits her just right, turning every golden strand of her hair into something I want to touch. There’s no version of this sentence that won’t get me in trouble.
“What?”
“You look annoyed,” she says. “Like someone just told you we’re dumping oil into a lake.”
“I’m not annoyed,” I say. “Just… surprised.”
“By what?”
You. That little smile. The knot in your shirt. The way your lips part like you’re about to say something else.
And the fact that I’ve been hard since the second you looked at me.
“I don’t know,” I finally say.
She clears her throat.
“Well, in case you were wondering,” she says, straightening up, “this whole thing is environmentally sound. Biodegradable soap, recycled water, lemon peels in the compost. The flyers are laminated so we can reuse them. We’re basically saints.”
I almost laugh.
Now this is the girl I remember.
But she’s not that girl anymore.
Her face is… unreal. Smooth, golden skin with that impossible glow—like she’s been lit from within. Full lips with a faint sheen, slightly parted like she’s always about to say something.
But it’s her eyes that hit hardest—blue, impossibly bright, framed by lashes so long they cast little shadows on her cheeks when she blinks.
“Good to know,” I say, trying to keep my voice level.
“Excuse me,” her friend cuts in, grabbing Sarah by the wrist. “We have actual paying customers to attend to.”
Vivid fantasies run through my head as I watch Sarah leave. I have my car right here. I could throw her into the passenger seat and ride off into the sunset with her.
She stops mid-step and turns around to face me.
“There’s free lemonade if you’d like to stick around,” she says, pointing toward a folding table under a tent.
Like to stick around? There’s no fucking way I’m leaving now.
My eyes stay locked on Sarah’s cute little ass as she walks across the parking lot, hair bouncing with every step, legs bare and golden in the sun.
I thought I’d swing by, say hello, write a check, and be gone in ten minutes.
Now I’m wondering if I should write a check big enough to shut this whole thing down right fucking now.