Chapter One – Wren #3
The building is mostly windows, one of the newer-built structures on campus.
Our tuition money hard at work. I’ve never been inside this particular building before, so it takes me a while to find the correct room.
There are a lot of winding halls and multiple staircases on its three levels.
I hope the narrow halls don’t get clogged up between classes, but I’d find out in a few days.
I time myself and start briskly walking to my next class. I take the nearest stairwell and exit, pushing out into the cold air. This next building I know exactly where it is; it’s near the student union. It’ll make swinging by and grabbing lunch there easy.
My eyes are down, my head bent as I round the sidewalk.
I’m too busy looking at the class number on the screen to pay attention to where I’m walking, apparently, because right as I round that corner I run into someone hard—so hard I momentarily flinch and stumble back, just barely catching myself before I fall to the ground.
“Oh, so sorry, I—” I start to apologize the same moment the person I walked into apologizes as well, “Are you all right? I didn’t see you.”
And then it hits me, who I walked into. Hint: it’s the same person I walked into last semester before classes began, only this time I didn’t cause him to scatter a bunch of papers everywhere.
Reese Scott.
Reese is the kind of guy girls dream about.
A few inches taller than six feet, his height puts my five-foot-two stature to shame.
With his well-kept, short brown hair and his clean-shaven face, he has the kind of bone structure that belongs on a marble statue from ancient Greece.
His eyes are a brilliant, vibrant blue, and I’d be lying if I said I never caught myself staring into them and wondering what it’d be like to get lost in them.
And the dimples he has? Let’s just say I’m a sucker for dimples.
What’s even better is Reese never scowls or frowns like Logan. The man is always in a good mood, it seems. He was literally my rock last semester. I don’t know what I would’ve done without him.
“Wren,” he says, his mouth pulling into a dimpled grin as he recognizes me. “You have a habit of bumping into people, don’t you?” He has a black coat on, and a leather bag strung over his shoulder. The wind tousles his brown hair a bit, giving him an almost unkempt appearance.
I try to think of something witty to say. “People, cars. You know me.”
He chuckles, and I swear the sound reverberates in my bones. Such a low chuckle, one that falls over me like honeyed sugar. I could listen to it all day. “That I do. What are you doing on campus today? Classes don’t start until next week.”
My time between buildings is going to get seriously messed up, but when I’m talking with Reese, I don’t even care. In fact, it’s easy to ignore the anxiety in me. I don’t know what that says about me.
No, wait. I think I do.
I think it means I have a teeny, tiny crush on the guy—ridiculous in every way, of course.
I mean, not only is he a professor here, but he’s also at least ten years older than me.
There’s no way someone like him isn’t in a relationship, and if he’s not, I don’t think he’d be interested in someone like me.
I’m not flashy. I’m too lazy to wear makeup every day and do my hair. You know, look good for the everyday occurrence. I’m just me, and there is nothing remarkable at all about little old me.
I don’t know how to say it without sounding lame, and I’m not a good liar, so I decide to just tell him the truth: “I’m practicing walking my schedule and finding my classrooms.” Now it’s my turn to chuckle, although mine sounds way awkward and lame. “Silly, huh?”
Reese shakes his head. “Not if it helps make you feel better.”
Having this talk end just like that is the last thing I want, so I mentally search for something to say to make him linger longer, and after a few seconds I have it. “What are you doing on campus?”
“Oh, just dropping off a few things to my office. It was a long winter break.”
I don’t know what to say to that. I’m not good at this sort of thing. Honestly, talking to people, especially guys I find attractive, is not my forte. I’ve been burned twice now by different guys, so I’m surprised I want to talk to Reese at all.
Reese, though, must have his own ideas, because what he says next catches me so off-guard, all I can do is stare at him and wonder if I heard him correctly. “Have you eaten lunch yet? Maybe we could grab something at the union? Unless you need to continue your practice walk.”
He’s asking me if I want to eat with him. Is that weird? I know I have a habit of getting too lost in my own thoughts when it comes to guys, but as his suggestion dawns on me, there’s really only one thing I can tell him.
“Sure.” I mean, I can always restart my Tuesday/Thursday route after lunch. No one in their right mind would say no to Reese.
He grins. “Great. Let’s swing by my office first.”
I join him, walking side by side with him, and as he asks me about my Christmas break, I wonder just what the odds were that, out of everyone I could’ve ran into, I ran into him.
Seriously, what are the odds?