Chapter 5
5
“A re you sure we can’t get you an apartment in Nate’s building?” Max asked for what felt like the hundredth time. He and Mom had been helping me move into my dorm room and were all kinds of unimpressed at how small the room was and the fact that the bathroom was communal for the coed floor.
I shook my head. “Thank you, but no. This is absolutely perfect for me and honestly a luxury, considering I’ve shared a bedroom with two other girls for the last three years. I have my own space”—I gestured around the small room, which barely fit the queen-sized bed Mom bought me and a small study desk—“and I’m only a two-minute walk across campus to the majority of my lectures. It’s perfect.”
Max frowned but didn’t push it again. He’d already told me all about the building where he’d purchased a four-bedroom apartment for Nate and his friends to live, way back at the start of their freshman year. To my annoyance, all four of those childish dicks were returning for master’s degrees as well, but as far as I could tell—without being obvious—we didn’t have any subject crossovers.
“She’ll be fine, Max honey,” Mom assured him, looping her arm around his waist. They’d just returned from their extended honeymoon in the Maldives and both sported an impressive tan. It made me wish I’d inherited Mom’s tannable skin, instead of Dad’s fair complexion with a tendency to burn and freckle far too easily.
Max gave a short sigh. “Strong will must be a genetic trait in the Layne lineage.”
Mom laughed and nodded. “It is. Come on, we need to finish unloading Ashley’s things before five so we can get to dinner.”
They constantly had social plans. It made me tired just listening to how many engagements they had in a week, but they seemed to love it. I let them help me with the last few boxes from the moving truck, then waved them off when they offered to help unpack. It was my space, and I wanted to take my time setting things up how I wanted them.
In fairness, I didn’t want them to see me rearrange my shit a dozen times before it felt right…but Mom knew my process.
Once they were gone, I sank to sit on the edge of my bed. There was a lot to do to get my room unpacked and put in order, but for now I just needed to catch my breath. It was all still so overwhelming to be starting my master’s at Nevaeh at all, when I’d dismissed the possibility of advanced study years ago.
After graduating Valley State, I’d taken a quick vacation with my dad in Portugal and told him all about the scholarship. He couldn’t have been more supportive, and it gave me the reassurance I needed that this was the right path.
I had to admit…the only part I was truly apprehensive about was my new stepbrother and his buddies. Nate. Fucking hell, what a dick . I’d unfortunately crossed paths with him a handful more times after the wedding but managed to escape all of them with only a few sharp words exchanged. I hated to think what being in the same university would be like, especially since it wasn’t a huge campus. They didn’t even have a Greek row—no fraternities, no sororities…hopefully that meant no stuck-up mean girls or dumb-ass pool parties.
As for Heathcliff Briggs, he could jump off the top of Mount Prosper for all I cared. What a lying, manipulative piece of shit . He knew that giving me that money made me look guilty and was all too happy to bald-faced lie about what had happened between us. He was hot and the chemistry had been amazing. But I could find that with any number of other guys.
“Knock, knock!” someone called out, whilst also knocking on my door.
I wrinkled my nose at the goofy intro, then hopped up to see who it was.
“Hello,” I greeted the girl standing in the hallway. She was supermodel stunning. Taller than me by at least half a foot, with her strawberry-blond hair tied up in a high ponytail.
“Hi, I’m Carly,” she announced, extending her hand for me to shake, “from three-twelve.” She jerked a thumb over her shoulder, indicating the door opposite mine.
“Oh cool,” I responded enthusiastically. “Neighbors! Are you postgrad too?” She looked around my age, not like the wide-eyed kids fresh out of high school I’d seen on my way in.
Carly nodded. “Sure am. Linguistics with a specialization in Ancient History.”
“That’s cool, I’m focusing on social studies but I’m going to do some classical literature electives, so we’ll probably have some classes together. Oh shit, I’m Ashley, by the way. Ashley Layne.” I gestured to myself, realizing I’d not actually given my name yet.
Carly seemed unfazed, though, peering past me to the pile of boxes on my floor, bed, and desk. “Nice to meet you. Uh, do you want some help unpacking? That will take you forever! Where are you even going to put it all?”
I laughed nervously. “Honestly? No clue. I’ll make it work, though. Thanks anyway.” But no thanks, all the same.
She shrugged. “You know where to find me if you want extra hands. I’ll check in before I head out to dinner, so you don’t fade away beneath those boxes of…what does that say? Model cars?” She quirked a brow and my cheeks heated with embarrassment. Carly didn’t laugh at me, though; she just nodded. “Cool. Catch you later, neighbor.”
Carly was true to her word, fishing me out of my jumble of clothes a couple of hours later and inviting me to have dinner with her. I accepted, because a girl had to eat and my neighbor seemed nice.
She chatted with ease as we walked across the grassy lawn to reach the central dining hall, telling me about her summer break interning at a museum in Paris. It sounded incredible and a little unbelievable, but it was just something I needed to wrap my brain around. Graduates—and students—of Nevaeh University had the keys to all the doors.
Dinner was surprisingly good for school food, and I ate until my belly hurt. Then I needed to remind myself to slow it the fuck down or I’d be sick. I’d been far from starving before arriving at Nevaeh but I’d definitely survived on ramen noodles for one too many meals for too damn long.
“Hey, I was thinking about looking for a part-time job,” I told Carly as we slowly strolled back to our dorm after dinner. “Do you know of any coffee shops or something that might be hiring?” I figured that was an easier option than searching for a masseuse position near campus.
Carly wrinkled her nose. “I don’t think so, but you could check at the Dancing Goats in the morning? That’s the only decent coffee shop on campus and they’re always packed. None of the baristas are students, though, so…I don’t know.”
Probably because none of the other students had to think about their disposable income. Although my tuition, room, and board were all provided under the scholarship, I still needed play money. New clothes, coffees, gas, social engagements—it all cost.
“Oh, you could always check with the tutoring office? They constantly need staff and they pay really well.”
My brows rose. “Seriously?”
Carly nodded enthusiastically. “For sure. Because no one wants to do it, but they need tutors so…you know, supply and demand and all that shit.”
I filed that information away to look into in the morning, and thanked Carly for her advice. When we got back to our floor, she peered inside my room and snickered.
“You’re really making progress, Layne. At this rate you might be done by Thanksgiving? Maybe?”
I groaned, eyeing the even bigger mess I’d created. “Maybe I do need help, after all.”
“Say no more, girl, I’ve got you.” She nudged me inside. “I’ll just grab my speaker so we can listen to tunes. I focus better when I have background music.”
“Same,” I admitted, but I just hadn’t found where my headphones were packed.
A few minutes later, I understood why Carly had been so eager to help. The girl was an organizing machine to the point of scary with how quickly she mapped the space and created a plan. Very admirable, that was for sure. It also gave us a ton of time to get to know each other better.
Carly was apparently a former star of the Nevaeh girls basketball team, and she enthusiastically invited me to come along and watch a game in a couple of weeks as she remained a huge fan. She was also determined as hell and didn’t even hint at quitting until my whole room was unpacked and sorted out to pristine standards…at a shocking two in the morning.
“Carly, holy shit, I can’t thank you enough. You’re a lifesaver!” I stared around at my room—my own private space—in awe. She’d worked wonders to make all my shit fit without seeming cluttered.
She just shrugged and yawned. “It’s all good. Lucky we don’t have classes until Wednesday! Actually there was something I wanted to…uh…disclose? Seeing as I figure we’re friends now?”
I arched a brow, my hands on my hips. “You’ve handled my panties, Carly. We’re definitely friends now.”
She chuckled. “Fair call. Okay so…fuck it. Uh, I slept with your brother. Once. Just one time.”
That was unexpected and confusing. “Huh?”
Her pale face had already flushed pink with embarrassment and her brow creased with worry. “Nate? We used to date. Sort of. Or I thought we did and…ugh, this is mortifying. Turns out he was cheating on his girlfriend with me and it all came out in a really nasty way toward the end of last year and long story short, I’m a little bit of a social pariah in some circles of the school. Also…I’m so sorry.”
My jaw had dropped. “What? Why are you apologizing to me? I barely know the guy and what I have seen of him, I don’t like. This…kind of just validates what a dickhead he comes across as, so if anything I’m sorry that he hurt you. What an asshole!”
Carly barked a startled laugh. “Seriously. It was six months ago, but I’m still so freaking embarrassed, and my old friends basically cut me out of their lives, so like…I totally understand if you have second thoughts about being my friend come Wednesday classes. No hard feelings.”
“Oh…I see.” I pursed my lips, acting like I was really thinking it over. “Well, my whole plan was to come to Nevaeh and secure a strong marriage to a rich friend of my new stepbrother, so I guess we can’t hang out anymore. Thanks for your help with my room, though.”
Carly’s face fell, her lips parting in a mixture of shock and disappointment, and I instantly regretted fucking with her.
“I’m kidding, you drama queen. If anything, this only makes me want to be your friend more . I can’t stand Nate and his douchebag friends, so start working on our friendship bracelets because you’re stuck with me.” I grinned, then tossed a pillow at her from my bed to lighten the mood.
She laughed, throwing it back then grabbed me in a quick hug. “Thanks, Ash. You’re pretty cool, you know that?”
“I do now,” I replied. “Now go to bed. You’re tired and emotional and I really don’t need you making me cry with all the feelings.”
She hugged me again, then left with the promise of meeting for coffee at the Dancing Goats around midday. I closed my door behind her, locking it securely before getting ready for bed.
I was exhausted but full of warm fuzzies about my new friendship. The oily, anxious feeling her confession about Nate gave me was shoved firmly out of my mind. As far as I was concerned, he didn’t exist.