“That’s a relief. I thought you were going to say something utterly ridiculous, like, how we were going to end up together or something.” I toss my inky hair over my shoulder. Part of me wishes he did say something that ridiculous.
“Well, we are, but I didn’t want to scare you away.” He winks and my cheeks heat.
“Class, my name is Professor Ellar. Welcome to Psychology 101.”
The next hour is painful as it passes. Every time Maddox moves in his seat, a whiff of his cologne assaults my nose. This is going to be a long semester with this guy sitting beside me.
As I’m packing up my belongings, my classmate slips a piece of paper on my desk. “Here’s my number. If you want a daily dose of fun facts, feel free to text me. Or, you know, I’ll see you on Wednesday.” With a parting smile, he struts away and glances over his shoulder one last time as he goes.
I head toward my next class, part of me hoping Maddox is in my major and we have more classes together. In the first eighteen years of my life, boys were irrelevant. Family came first, school second, and extracurriculars third. Now, I spend one day in college and I’m turning into a boy-crazy floozy.
The day passes in a blur, and when I get home my mom is in the kitchen setting dinner on the table. I decided to go to a college close to home because I’m not ready to leave my safe haven quite yet.
“Hi sweetie, how was your day?”
Well, Mom, for the first time in my life, I wasn’t able to concentrate because I was too focused on a boy.
Who am I kidding? My mom would be euphoric. She probably thinks I’m a lesbian with how unobsessed with boys I am.
“It was…a lot to take in.” She nods and smiles. “I’m going to run my stuff up to my room.”
“Grab your siblings for dinner.”
Taking the steps two at a time, I drop my bag on the floor of my room. I continue down the hall, banging a fist on my brother, Lucas’s door first and my sister, Flynn’s door second. “Dinner’s ready.”
Lucas is sixteen and spends all his time in his room or bathroom doing things I don’t want to think about. Flynn is in her prime of being a spoiled, bitchy teenager at thirteen thinking she’s the hottest thing since the surface of the sun.
The three of us may look similar, but we couldn’t be more different. Where I’m the scholar, Lucas is the fearless pothead, and Flynn is the reckless rebel. She’s going to be one hell of a nightmare when she gets older, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my parents stopped having kids after her.
I join my mom at the table downstairs just as my dad walks in the house and kisses her on the cheek before taking his briefcase to his office. I hit the parental lottery when I was born. Christopher and Alice Fletcher are sickeningly in love and more supportive than imaginable.
I take my seat at the table, next to my dad’s chair, and wait for the rest of my family to join. Lucas trudges down the stairs with headphones in his ears, a permanent scowl, and a cloud of pot smoke circling him. Flynn looks like Jenny from Gossip Girl when she went batshit crazy and wore a pound of eyeliner.
“How was your first day, angel?” My dad kisses the top of my head and takes his seat beside me.
I open my mouth, but it’s not my voice that comes out. “Oh, Daddy, it was so wonderful. I spent all day in class, sucking up to my teachers and ignoring everyone my own age. I already got an A in all of my classes. It’s so good to be me!”
Although my sister’s impression of me isn’t baseless, I don’t see the humor in her sarcasm. My brother chuckles, giving himself away that he’s not listening to anything, but is pretending to so he doesn’t have to socialize.
“Flynn, don’t make fun of your sister.” My mom always plays bad cop when it comes to my baby sis. She’s a total Daddy’s girl and he can never discipline her.
“It was good. My classes seem interesting, but I’m sure they’ll be tough.” I place some roast beef and potatoes on my plate before passing the dish to my brother.
“Nothing my little girl can’t handle.” He’s right. I was valedictorian at graduation and am a political science and business major, following in his footsteps to hopefully go to law school in four years.
We eat in near silence, with the occasional small talk sprinkled throughout. We’re a Leave it to Beaver family, but we’re happy, and that’s all that matters.
After helping my mom with the dishes, I want to get a head start on the reading for the rest of my classes this week. I open up a textbook, but my mind keeps wandering back to my psych lecture and the handsome stranger sitting beside me.
I dig into my pocket and pull out the tiny scrap of paper with a scribbled phone number. Before I think better of it, I type the number into my phone and shoot off a text.
Carson: Hey, Maddox. It’s Carson from psych 101. I hope it’s okay I messaged you. I just forgot if we had any psych assignment for Wednesday.
I place my phone upside down so I can’t see him respond to me. Even my text messages are immature and virginal. He probably just hoped I’d immediately text him a picture of my boobs.
I force myself to keep reading and not stare at my iPhone, but my efforts are futile. There’s no way I’m getting anything done tonight with my mind this preoccupied.
With
