Until now.
Chapter Two
Hannah had her books spread around her as she divided her attention between the next day’s homework and the TV when her roommate Elena walked through the door. “Hey, chica. How’d the first day go at the internship?”
Hannah pulled her head out of her textbook, her eyes slowly coming to focus on Elena. “Hmm? Oh, it was fine.”
“Fine? That’s all?” Elena arched one dark eyebrow at her before she tossed her keys on the end table by the door, dropped her backpack on the floor, and took off her coat, tossing it on top of her backpack. She came all the way into the living room and flopped down in the chair, taking the pencil out of her black hair that held it in a bun and shaking it out over her shoulders. Putting her feet up on the end table, she leveled a look at Hannah. “You’ve been talking about this nonstop since classes started up again. Actually, you started talking about it around Thanksgiving when you found out you got it. And now all you have to say about your first day is ‘fine’?”
Resigning herself to a potentially unpleasant conversation, Hannah closed her book so she could give Elena her attention. She’d been hung up on Matt for way too long, and Elena had listened to more than her share of Hannah’s constant need to discuss why he didn’t keep in touch. So bringing him up would make Elena … stabby. That’s what she’d said at the end of their freshman year and Hannah still hadn’t bumped into Matt on campus, that Hannah talked about Matt too much and it made her stabby.
But Hannah had been gushing bout this internship at every opportunity since Thanksgiving. Just like she’d obsessively talked about seeing Matt again for far too long before eventually giving up on that idea. Ha. If only she’d known. Closing her eyes, she forced out the words, already cringing as she expected her best friend’s deserved response. “I saw Matt.”
But Elena didn’t seem to pick up on who she meant right away. Her brows pulled together, wrinkles forming in the golden brown skin of her forehead. “Matt? Matt who?”
Opening her eyes, Hanna gave her friend a pointed look, waiting for realization to dawn.
Elena’s expression cleared, her eyes going wide. “Matt Matt? Your Matt? From that summer? Are you fucking kidding me?”
With a harsh exhale, Hannah nodded. “Yes. Matt. From that summer. And no, I’m not fucking kidding you.”
A smirk crossed Elena’s face. “Did you finally grow a pair and look him up or something? I thought you’d decided to move on and forget about him. How did this happen?”
“No, I didn’t look him up. I moved on a long time ago.” Hannah threw her hands in the air. “It’s not like I’ve been sitting around here pining after some guy I met three years ago.” Not really. Maybe a little. Not pining exactly. More like … sometimes recalling that summer with fondness. And sort of wondering what ever happened to him. And thinking that none of the guys she’d dated since really measured up.
“Fine, okay,” Elena conceded, but in a tone of voice that said she didn’t really agree. “But didn’t you break up with everyone you’ve been with since then pretty much because they weren’t Matt?”
“No.” Yes. Well, that wasn’t always the reason. Or not the whole reason, at least. “I broke up with Derek because he was too controlling.” She waved a hand. “And the guys before that, well, whatever. It had nothing to do with Matt.” It definitely did, but she wouldn’t admit it. “Things just don’t work out sometimes.” Because none of those guys made her feel a fraction of what she felt that summer with Matt. “It’s not like I’m looking to get married already or something.” Yeah. That was it. And she wasn’t holding out hope for Matt exactly. Just the way he’d made her feel. Cherished. Beautiful. Sexy. Amazing.
“Mhmm.” Elena’s face told Hannah she didn’t buy it. She held up one manicured finger. “The first guy you dated after Matt got his ass dumped for not being Matt.” That finger pointed at Hannah’s face. “Don’t argue, you know it’s true. After that, you’re right, you did give the guys a fair chance. And I’m not saying you should be married to any of them. God knows Derek wasn’t my favorite person either, I didn’t like how he weaseled his way into everything you did and then tried to tell you how to do it, whether he knew a damn thing or not.” She waved a hand in dismissal. “But that’s not the point. The point is, Matt set the standard for you, and no one else has measured up.”
“Whatever.” Hannah huffed out a breath, ready to move on from this conversation. For someone who didn’t want to hear about Matt anymore, Elena sure was hanging onto this. Yes, Hannah was fully aware that she’d been hung up on Matt her senior year, hurt by the way he’d just stopped talking to her. And was it wrong to want to find the same spark, the same chemistry with someone else? But no matter how she looked,
