I don’t even think about Bryan until we get back to the dorm and I’m lying on my bed listening to Ava and Trent share first-day stories. I consider texting him for all of a millisecond. I don’t hate him. Maybe I should. It’d probably be easier to get over him that way, but despite the awful way he ended things, I don’t totally blame him for taking a great opportunity. And I’m working on not blaming him for not even wanting to try to make it work. Of course, I don’t text him. Mostly because I don’t think I can handle hearing how awesome everything is on his end. Not when the most notable part of my day was watching a table of jocks devour food like they hadn’t eaten in months.
Over the next few days, I don’t have any more hockey team run-ins. Which might be in part because Ava and I stock up on noodles and have lunch in our room most days and when I do go to the dining hall, I avoid the back table. My brother’s teammates all seemed nice, but I’m not interested in continually being referred to as Adam Scott’s baby sister.
Adam texts me every day to check in and invites me over to his place to hang out. I finally give in and agree to dinner Thursday night.
“Are you going to the dorm social tonight?” Ava asks that afternoon as we’re hanging out in the room. I’m watching a new makeup tutorial, and she’s letting me practice on her. I know a lot of people like to use themselves as a model, but I’ve never been one for wearing much makeup. Putting it on other people, though, makes me insanely happy.
“Can’t. I’m having dinner with my brother. Tomorrow night? I’ve heard several fraternities are having parties.”
“Trent is coming to town this weekend. I meant to ask how you felt about him staying in the dorm? If it makes you uncomfortable, we’ll get a hotel.”
“He’s coming to visit already?”
She grins wide and the raspberry red color I’ve put on her lips looks fantastic. “Yeah, we’ve worked it out so we can visit each other almost every weekend this semester.”
I hadn’t given much thought to what we’d do when he was visiting. I grab a gloss and she parts her lips to let me coat them with a little shine. “He should stay here, of course.”
“Cool. Thank you. Trent was stressing about coming up with the money for a hotel. The only one in town that’s reasonably priced looks like it also rents by the hour.” She pulls her mouth down into a grimace. “But it’ll be fun. You’ll like him.”
“I’m excited to meet him. What are you guys going to do?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe the football game, maybe skipping it to make out.” She blushes.
I nod, suddenly imagining a weekend of trying to ignore the sex sounds coming from the other side of the room.
Adam picks me up after he’s done with classes for the day. I smile when his familiar Jeep comes into view. He stops at the curb outside of my dorm and I hop in.
“How’s the first week?” he asks as he drives toward his apartment.
“Good. I think I’m finally getting a feel for the campus. It’s sort of confusing—all the old buildings look the same. And what’s up with the floor numbering in Emerson?”
He chuckles lightly. “How long did it take you to figure out there are two second floors?”
“Long enough that I was late to class.”
“You’ll have it memorized in no time and then you’ll be laughing at the newbies getting lost.”
“You’re laughing at us?”
“Of course, we are.” He winks.
“I think I might need to find a group or join something.” I didn’t do a lot of extracurricular activities in high school. I hung out with friends, I attended sporting activities and was always happy to cheer on my school, but there wasn’t anything I cared about enough to dedicate my hours before or after school.
“Why’s that?” Adam asks as he pulls into the parking lot of the apartment complex.
“Everyone here seems to be into something except me. The girls on my hall are great and I’ve met a few people in class, but they’ve all got a clique of people interested in the same things. The girls rushing sororities, the jocks, the nerds… I swear it’s worse than high school.”
He nods. “I guess that’s true. I never thought about it before.”
“That’s because you came to college already in one of those cliques and with an instant group of friends.”
“What about your roommate?”
“Ava’s great, but she has a boyfriend at another college. I get the feeling she’ll be spending a lot of her weekends visiting him or him visiting us.” I scrunch up my nose. “He’s staying with us this weekend.”
“Did you find somewhere else to crash?”
“No. Why? It’s my room too.”
“Ginny, trust me, you need to find someone on your floor who’ll let you stay in their room this weekend. Your dorm room is tiny, and they’re going to be naked and going at it—that sounds hella uncomfortable for everyone. Unless you’re into that sort of thing.” Now he scrunches up his face. “Don’t tell me if you are. I’d like to continue to believe my baby sister is asexual.”
I snort laugh, but then everything he’s saying hits me. “You’re right. I can’t stay there.”
He nods. “There’s always someone leaving on the weekends. Ask around and see who’s heading out of town and will let you crash in their room.”
“This is a thing. Seriously?”
“I lived in a suite, so it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’d just crash on the couch in the living room.”
“Ugh. I should have been a jock. Then I would have a ready-made clique and I wouldn’t be getting kicked out of my own room.”
“You’re welcome to stay at my place.”
“I’ll figure it out.” I appreciate him, but there
