Chapter 6
Evie
“What do you think happened?” Tessa asks for at least the fifth time since the game ended.
She’s not the only one. I’ve heard people talking about how the quarterback lost it tonight, and his own teammates tackled him.
I may not know everything about football, but I do know your own teammates aren’t supposed to tackle you.
The whole thing was just kind of bizarre, but I don’t pretend to understand guys.
“Well, at least they won,” I point out.
“They did,” Stephanie agrees. We step inside our dorm and make our way up the steps.
“Thanks for talking me into going; I had a good time.”
Tessa puts her arm through mine. “I’m so glad you came; it was such a great game!”
“Evie,” Stephanie says in a sing-song voice from behind me. “Looks like you have somebody waiting for you.”
I look towards my room and take in the male standing next to my door.
It always takes me by surprise when I see a male in our dorm.
I mean I know they’re allowed, but it’s still weird to see them in an all-girls' dorm. “He’s probably not here for me,” I say.
Stephanie snorts out a weird laugh, and Tessa shakes her head.
“Right. I’m sure he’s here for one of us,” Stephanie says.
“Yeah,” I heartily agree, but I’m not really sure I believe that either.
The thing is, Jace has been around an awful lot lately.
I thought at first it was because he had a crush on Sam, but he’s shown up when she hasn’t been around too.
He’s walked me to my classes a few times and joined Sam and I for dinner more than a few times.
He honestly confuses me, but I don’t have time to dwell on it.
I have my classes to think about; that’s the reason I’m here.
I’m not here to date. His dark eyes lock on mine when we get close, and I try to ignore the butterflies in my stomach.
“Where were you?”
I blink in surprise. “Uh, I was at the football game.” His eyes narrow a moment, giving me pause. But then they’re back to normal so fast, I wonder if I imagined it.
“Why?”
I stare at him. “Why what?”
He stands up straight and walks over to me. I don’t cower but stare up at him. “Why did you go to the game?”
“Because we asked her to,” Stephanie says, and I catch the hint of snark in her voice.
Jace must too, because his face relaxes. “Sorry. I just couldn’t find you anywhere and was worried about you.”
I try not to whiplash at his sudden change of mood. “I’m sorry you were looking for me. Did we have something scheduled or something?” I’m still kind of confused.
“No.” He reaches out and tugs on a piece of my hair.
“I just wanted to hang with my girl on Friday night.” I try not to visibly react to his words.
His girl? I don’t really know how these things work; I’ve never had a boyfriend before.
I’m not really sure that I have one now, and I’m even more uncertain I want one.
I turn to my friends, unsure what to do. “Thanks for coming to the game,” Tessa says quickly, leaning in for a side hug. “We’ll catch you later.” Stephanie side-eyes me a moment and then gives me a quick hug before disappearing into her room with Tessa.
“Did you want to come in?” I ask Jace. I don’t really like having him in my room. It’s the rule-keeping side of me. I know he’s allowed, but it still feels like I'm breaking the rules.
He smiles down at me. “I’d love to.” I open the door, and he follows me inside. I drop my phone and wallet on my desk and then spend a minute tidying up, even though it’s already pretty neat. “Hey.” I turn to face Jace and find him closer than I thought he was. “Do I make you nervous?”
“No,” I say quickly and then backtrack. “Yes.”
He smirks. “I don’t mean to, and I didn’t mean to come across harsh in the hallway. It’s just that you’re usually in your room studying at night. When I didn’t find you here, I texted you. You never answered, and you didn’t show up here; I just got worried. That's all.”
I pick up the phone from my desk. Sure enough, there are three texts from Jace. My heart softens. “I’m sorry, Jace. I didn’t see any of these.”
“It’s okay; I knew you weren’t ignoring me.
” His words rub me the wrong way, but I remind myself that it’s the end of the school week.
I’m just tired and responding to everything.
It was my second full week of classes this week, and it’s been crazy!
I’m not actually sure how I’m going to stay afloat this semester.
It’s all so much, but I’m glad I have the weekend to try to catch up and get my head above water.
I plan to chain myself to my desk tonight and tomorrow until I get a handle on every single syllabus.
I’m not leaving my room until I have every test date, paper, and project due date written in my planner for the semester.
I look up at Jace. “I should probably warn you; I’m chaining myself to my desk tonight and tomorrow. I have so much work to do.”
“It’s only the second week. You can’t possibly have that much work yet.”
“I do, and it’s going to be a long weekend. Plus, I have to work at the coffee shop tomorrow, so I probably won’t see you much.” True to her word, Sam was able to get me a job at the coffee shop on campus. I’m so thankful. I started a few days ago and really enjoy it.
“Well, I’ll find you anyway.”
I don’t argue with him; I don’t have the energy to anyway. “Okay.” I yawn. “I’ve got to start studying.”
“Is that my cue to leave?” he asks with a smirk.
“Yes.”
“All right,” he caves, thankfully. “I’ll see you tomorrow.
” He leans forward, and panic hits me squarely in the chest. Is he going to kiss me?
I’m not sure, but I don’t want to take the chance.
I turn my head away from him. He pauses before kissing my cheek.
“See you tomorrow.” He leaves the room without another word, and I try to catch my breath.
The door to the bathroom creaks open. “Is he gone?”
I whirl around. “Were you spying?”
“No!” Tessa says indignantly.
“Yes,” Stephanie says at the exact same time.
I shake my head and wave them in. “He’s gone, but I wasn’t lying. I do really need to study.”
“We won’t keep you,” Tessa says.
“We just wanted to check on you,” Stephanie adds.
I frown at them. “I’m good.” They exchange a glance, and I don’t know what to make of it. “What?”
“Nothing,” Tessa says quickly, too quickly.
“If you have something to say, just say it,” I say but without any heat.
“Just be careful around him,” Tessa says carefully.
“I will, but why are you saying that?”
“I just don’t trust him,” Stephanie says.
I don’t say anything at first. The truth is, I don’t really either; but maybe that’s how all relationships start. I feel bad not giving him a chance. “We haven’t really officially made this into anything.”
“Good,” Stephanie says. “Just, take your time, okay? And listen to your instincts.”
“I will. Now, I wasn’t kidding about studying.”
The door to my room opens, and Sam steps inside. That’s enough to send both girls flying back into their room. They don’t really get along with Sam. I get it. She’s intimidating until you get to know her. “How was the coffee shop?” I ask.
“Good. I didn’t have to close tonight, so that’s a plus.”
“That’s great.”
“What’d you do tonight?” She asks the question easily, but I catch something in the way she asks.
I study her face a moment. “Jace called you.” It’s not a question; I know he did. I can tell by the way she’s acting.
“He totally did. He couldn’t find you and panicked. I told him you were probably just at the library. I mean, where else could you be if you weren’t in our room? You have no social life.”
I don’t react to her words, knowing she doesn’t mean them the way they sound. “I was actually at the game.”
She stills and stares at me. “What?”
I shrug. “I went to the football game.”
“By yourself?”
Her voice is almost harsh, and I try not to resent the way she says things. “I went with friends.”
“Who?”
I frown at her. “What’s with the twenty questions? Am I not allowed to spend my Saturday night how I want and with whomever I want?”
My question seems to snap her out of it. “Sorry. Long night at the shop.” She turns away from me and takes off her shirt to change into pajamas. “I’m glad you got out. Did they win?”
“They did.” I change into my pj’s as well.
After I brush my teeth, I start getting ready for bed.
“I went with Stephanie and Tessa,” I finally say.
It’s not a secret, and I would have told her.
I just didn’t appreciate the way she was saying things in that tone of voice, like she was my mom or something.
“That’s nice.” She says the words, but I know she doesn’t really mean them.
She’s never really gotten along with our suitemates, but I chalk it up to her being a junior.
I feel like they don’t really get along with any underclassmen.
She and I get along well enough, but we kind of have to, to make it work.
“How are things going with Jace?”
I turn at her question, recognizing it for what it is—an olive branch.
That’s a subject I don’t really want to dive into tonight or for the second time tonight.
So, I keep my answer light. “I’m not really sure; I guess, we’ll just see where it goes.
” She seems satisfied with my answer and lets me be.
I climb into bed and drag out my Humanities book.
This course is going to be the death of me this semester.
I just know it. The professor stands behind his podium and just talks the entire hour.
He doesn’t go through the textbook; I'm not really sure where he pulls his information from. But we’re responsible for every word that comes out of his mouth, and there’s a lot of words that come out of his mouth.
I’m going to have to study after every class if I’m going to stay on top of this class and pull an A.
I really want to do well in classes. My mom never got to go to college, and though she doesn’t talk about it much, I know it’s always bothered her.
Instead, she got married young and then had me.
She and my dad tried for more children, but I was the only one.
Based on how things went for them, I’m glad they didn’t have more kids.
It was hard enough for me to deal with how things went with my dad.
I would have hated to have a younger brother or sister have to deal with it as well.
For me, it’s made me who I am today. I just wish my mom would have left him sooner, but I can’t blame her.
I don’t really know how hard it was for her to finally leave him.
Of course, I can say I would have sooner if it were me, but I don’t really know.
All I know is after he cheated on her for the third time, at least the ones we knew about, she finally decided to leave him.
It’s been a tough few years, but I’m proud of my mom.
She waited for two years because he refused to sign divorce papers, which is ironic because he’s the one that blew up their marriage.
..multiple times. But the law kicked in, and they’re officially divorced.
My mom is finally free of him, and we have so much more peace in our home.
The divorce finalized a year ago, but she kicked him out when I was fifteen.
Honestly, the last three years have been pretty rough, because my mom relied on my dad for everything.
It’s been a tough go, but I wouldn’t change anything.
She’s free of him, and that’s what matters.
And I wouldn’t change that for anything.