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Cam dropped his egg on the plate and sat back. ‘Shit. I’m sorry. That was an asshole thing for me to say.’
I waved it off, but it stung.
He watched me through thick lashes. ‘Hard to believe, though, that you weren’t. You can be funny and nice when you’re not insulting me, and you’re a pretty girl. Actually, you’re really hot.’
‘Uh … thanks.’ I squirmed, holding my glass close.
‘I’m serious. You said your parents were strict. They didn’t let you hang out in high school?’ When I nodded, he finished off the egg he’d dropped. ‘I still can’t imagine you not being popular in high school. You rock the trifecta—smart, funny, and hot.’
‘I wasn’t. Okay?’ I set my glass down and moved on to tugging at a loose string on the hem of my shorts. ‘I was, like, the very opposite of popular.’
Cam started peeling another egg. I wondered how many he’d eat. ‘I am sorry, Avery. That … that sucks. High school is a big deal.’
‘Yeah, it is.’ I wetted my lips nervously. ‘You had a lot of friends?’
He nodded.
‘Still talk to them?’
‘Some of them. Ollie and I went to high school together, but he spent his first two years at WVU and transferred down here, and I see a few around campus and back home.’
Wrapping my arms around my legs to keep from fidgeting, I rested my chin on my knees. ‘Have any brothers or sisters?’
‘A sister,’ he replied, picking up the last egg—the fourth one. A genuine smile appeared. ‘She’s younger than me. Just turned eighteen. She graduates this year.’
‘You guys close?’ I couldn’t imagine having a brother like Cam.
‘Yeah, we’re close.’ A dark look crossed his face and vanished quickly, but it left me wondering if they really were that close. ‘She means a lot to me. How about you? A big brother I have to worry about visiting and kicking my ass for being here?’
‘No. I’m an only child. Have a cousin who’s older, but I doubt he’d do that.’
‘Ah, good.’ Devouring that egg, he sat back and patted his stomach. ‘Where you from?’
I pressed my lips together, trying to decide if I should lie or not.
‘Okay.’ He dropped his arm off the back of the metal chair. ‘You obviously know where I’m from if you’ve heard of my extracurricular activities in high school, but I’ll just confirm it. I’m from the Fort Hill area. Never heard of that? Well, most people haven’t. It’s near Morgantown. Why didn’t I go to WVU? Everyone wants to know that.’ He shrugged. ‘Just wanted to get away, but be somewhat close to my family. And, yes, I was … very busy in high school.’
‘You’re not anymore?’ I asked, not really expecting him to answer, because it wasn’t my business, but, hey, if I could keep him talking, I didn’t have to say anything.
And I was … interested in learning more, because Cam, he was fascinating in a way. He was like every überpopular, sexy guy in high school, but he wasn’t a dick. That alone made him worthy of a scientific study. Also, it was better than sitting around alone and thinking about harassing phone calls and e-mails.
‘Depends on who you ask.’ He laughed then. ‘Yeah, I don’t know. When I was a freshman—those first couple of months, being around all the older girls? I probably put more effort into them than I did my classes.’
I grinned, easily able to picture that. ‘But not now?’
He shook his head. ‘So where are you from?’
Okay. Obviously what changed his ex-player status was something he didn’t want to talk about. Visions of pregnancy scares danced in my head. ‘I’m from Texas.’
‘Texas?’ He leaned forward. ‘Really? You don’t have an accent.’
‘I wasn’t born in Texas. My family was originally from Ohio. We moved to Texas when I was eleven and I never picked up any accent.’
‘Texas to West Virginia? That’s a hell of a difference.’
Unfolding my legs, I stood and picked up my plate and his bowl. ‘Well, I lived in the strip mall hell part of Texas, but besides that, it’s kind of the same here.’
‘I should clean up.’ He started to stand. ‘I made the mess.’
‘No.’ I backed away with his bowl. ‘You cooked. I clean.’
He relented, opening the foiled bread. It did smell wonderful. ‘What made you choose here?’
I washed the dishes and his little frying pan before answering that doozy. ‘I just wanted to get away, like you.’
‘Got to be hard, though.’
‘No.’ I picked up the pot he used to boil the eggs. ‘It was incredibly easy to make the decision.’
He seemed to consider that as he broke the bread in half. ‘You are an enigma, Avery Morgansten.’
I leaned against the counter, my eyes widening as he proceeded to eat half the loaf. ‘Not really. More like you are.’
‘How so?’
I gestured at him. ‘You just ate four hard-boiled eggs, you’re eating half a loaf of bread, and you have abs that look like they belong on a Bowflex ad.’
Cam looked absolutely thrilled to hear that. ‘You’ve been checking me out, haven’t you? In between your flaming insults? I feel like man candy.’
I laughed. ‘Shut up.’
‘I’m a growing boy.’
My brows rose, and Cam laughed. As he finished off the loaf, he talked a little about his parents. I made my way back to the table and sat, genuinely interested. His father ran his own law firm, and his mother was a doctor. That meant Cam came from money, not the kind that my parents rolled around in, but enough that it most likely paid his rent. He was obviously close with them too, and I envied that. Growing up, all I wanted was for my parents to want to be around me, but with the benefits, the jet setting, and all the dinners, they’d never been home. And after everything that had happened, the few instances they were there, neither of them could even look at me.
‘So you flying back to Texas for fall break or Thanksgiving?’ he asked.
I snorted. ‘Probably not.’
He cocked his head to the side. ‘Got other plans?’
I shrugged.
Cam dropped the subject, and it was close to noon by the time he left. Stopping at my front door, he turned to me, flipping the tiny skillet in one hand, banana nut bread in the other. ‘So, Avery …’
I popped my hip against the back of the couch. ‘So, Cam …’
‘Whatcha doing Tuesday night?’
‘I don’t know.’ My brows lowered. ‘Why?’
‘How about you go out with me?’
‘Cam.’ I sighed.
He leaned against the jam. ‘That’s not a no.’
‘No.’
‘Well, that’s a no.’
‘Yes, it is.’ I pushed off the couch and grabbed the door. ‘Thanks for the eggs.’
Cam backed up, lopsided grin in place. ‘How about Wednesday night?’
‘Good-bye, Cam.’ I closed the door, grinning. He was completely insufferable, but like the night before, being around him did something sort of miraculous. Maybe it was the verbal dueling, but whatever it was, I tended to act … normal. Like I used to.
Heh.
After showering, I puttered around the apartment and debated texting Jacob or Brittany to see what they were up to. Eventually, I tossed my cell on the couch and dragged my laptop out. I couldn’t avoid my e-mail forever.
In my junk folder, there were a few suspicious-looking e-mails. Two with my name as the subject. After receiving the last e-mail, I had learned my lesson, and I clicked delete with a certain amount of glee.
The e-mails, though—it was strange to get them now. While I’d been in high school, it had been one thing. I’d been surrounded by the kids, but now, after we’d all left for college? Something just wasn’t right about that. Like, did they seriously have nothing better to do? I doubted it could be Blaine, because as twisted as he was, he stayed far away from me. And the phone call? I refused to change my number. Back during the worst of it, when I’d get three to four phone calls a day, I’d gone through a series of telephone changes and they always found out the new ones anyway.
Shaking my head, I clicked on my in-box and found another e-mail from my cousin. Seriously? I was half tempted to not click on it, but I opened the stupid thing.
Avery,
I really need to talk to you ASAP. Call me whenever. It’s very important. Call me.
David
My finger hovered on the mouse pad.
Delete.
Chapter 8 (#u686c50ba-6ae7-5fe7-9ea1-07e1f898d73d)
Over the next couple of weeks and as summer finally loosened its grip, a sort of odd routine started to occur. Monday through Friday, I got up and went to class. With each passing day, I started to look forward to astronomy. Not so much because I never knew what Professor Drage was going to say or what he would wear. A few days ago, he’d been rocking a pair of acid-wash jeans and a tie-dyed shirt. I think I focused on that more than anything else. But crazy-pants professor aside, it was a certain class partner who made the fifty minutes pretty damn entertaining.
Between Cam’s side comments during Drage’s lecture and his surprisingly accurate knowledge of solar systems, running away from astronomy on the first day had really ended up paying off in the long run. With Cam as my partner and seatmate, there was no way I would fail the class.
I spent lunch three days a week with Jacob and Brittany and even went to one of the football games with them. Parties were still a no go, something that neither could really understand, but they didn’t abandon me. Twice a week, they hung out at my place. Not a lot of studying got done, but I wasn’t complaining. I liked it when they came over. Okay, ‘like’ wasn’t a strong enough word. They were great, and it had been way too long since I had friends like them who didn’t seem to care when I acted like a spaz, which was quite a bit.
At least twice a week, I turned Cam down.
Twice. A. Week.
It got to the point where I sort of looked forward to how he was going to slide it into conversation. The boy was relentless, but it was more of a running joke between us than anything else. At least in my opinion.
I also started to look forward to Sundays.
Each Sunday morning since the very first, Cam showed up at my door at some ungodly hour with eggs and something he’d baked. The second Sunday, it was blueberry muffins. The third Sunday it was pumpkin bread—from a box, he’d admitted. The four and the fifth Sunday, it was strawberry cake and then brownies.
Brownies in the morning were the shit.
Things were really … good with the exception of e-mail and phone. At least once a week, I’d get a call from an UNKNOWN CALLER. I deleted the messages and the e-mails without opening them. There were at least fifteen unread e-mails from my cousin. One of these days I was going to read them, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that or call my parents.
They hadn’t called me, so I didn’t see the point.
By the beginning of October, I was happier than I’d been in so long. The scent of autumn, something I’d missed while living in Texas, was in the air; I could wear long sleeves without looking like a freak; and cramming for midterms during lunch included M&Ms and Skittles.
‘Can someone please tell me where Croatia is on this map?’ Jacob groaned. ‘Like, is there a song I can come up with that will somehow remind me of this?’
‘Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia,’ I said, pointing at the blank map of Europe. ‘And then there is Serbia.’
Jacob glared at me. ‘Fucking overachieving bitch.’
I popped a red Skittle in my mouth. ‘Sorry.’
‘Can you imagine a song with those names?’ Brit dipped her fries in mayo.
‘That is so gross,’ Jacob muttered.
She shrugged. ‘It’s yummy.’
‘Actually, I’m going to nerd out on you, so prepare.’ I picked up an M&M and held it in front of Jacob. His eyes widened, like he was a puppy about to get a treat. ‘With the exception of Hungary, all the countries next to Croatia end with an a. They all sound alike. Think of it that way.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘That didn’t help.’
I sighed. ‘You want a song?’
‘Yes.’ He stood up at our table, in the middle of the Ram’s Den, and shouted. ‘Yes! I want a song!’
‘Wow.’
He raised his hands as several students turned in their seats. ‘What? What?’ He turned back to me. ‘Was that a little too much?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Most def.’
Brit put her forehead on her textbook. ‘Seriously,’ she groaned. ‘I can’t believe he’s making us map Europe on our midterm. I thought I’d left that shit behind in high school.’
‘Give me a song, nerd,’ Jacob demanded.
‘Oh, my God, you’re ridiculous.’ Shaking my head, I placed my hands on the table. ‘Okay. Here you go. Hungary to the upper left, upper left, Serbia to the lower left, lower left. Bosnia on the bottom, on the bottom. Slovenia to the top, to the top. And where’s Croatia?’
‘Where? Where?’ Jacob sang.
