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He didn’t answer that, but he did start backing up. ‘If you change your mind, I’ll be up for a while.’
‘I’m not going to. Good night, Cam.’
His eyes widened only a fraction of inch, but his grin slipped into a full smile, and my stomach sort of flopped, because his smile was wow. ‘See you tomorrow.’
‘Tomorrow?’
‘Astronomy class? Or are you skipping again?’
My cheeks heated all over again. God, I had almost forgotten about running away in front of him like a total idiot. ‘No.’ I sighed. ‘I’ll be there.’
‘Great.’ He started backing up again. ‘Good night, Avery.’
Ducking behind the door, I closed it and then locked it. I swore I heard him chuckle, but I had to be crazy.
I stood there a few moments and then I whipped around and raced back to my bedroom. Diving under the covers, I rolled onto my stomach and shoved my face into a pillow.
Sleep. Just go to sleep.
Cam lived across the hall?
You need to get up early. Go to sleep.
How in the world was that possible? He was everywhere I went.
Go to sleep.
And why did he have a pet tortoise? And did he seriously name it after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles? Because that was kind of funny.
Morning’s going to come soon.
Does he only wear a shirt during class? Oh my God, he seriously lived across the hall. Jacob was going to flip … and probably move in. That would be fun. I really liked Jacob, but I had a feeling he’d borrow my clothes.
Go the fuck to sleep.
I couldn’t believe the hot dude I ran into and then ran away from lived across the hall. I don’t even know why I cared. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t interested in guys, or girls, but he was extraordinarily hot … and kind of funny … and kind of charming.
No. No. No. Stop thinking about him, because it’s pointless and hopeless, so go to sleep.
Did I eat all that salad? Man, those cookies sound good right about now.
‘Ugh!’ I groaned into the pillow.
This crap went on for about an hour before I gave up and threw myself out of bed. Out in the living room, I didn’t hear any music or noise coming from Cam’s apartment. He was probably sleeping soundly while I was up obsessing over cookies and chicken tenders and ripped stomachs.
Stomping into the extra bedroom that had become more of a library/office, I powered on my laptop and brought up my e-mail. There was one unread e-mail in my in-box, from my cousin. I deleted that without even opening it. On the left toolbar, I saw I had a few unread e-mails in my junk folder. Bored out of my mind, I clicked on the link and scanned the prescription drug offers, the ‘I have money in a foreign account’ e-mails, and the notice that Bath & Body Works was having a sale. My eyes narrowed on the subject line of the one e-mail, which had come in at around eleven the previous night.
It read AVERY MORGANSTEN and was from an e-mail address I didn’t recognize.
Well, that was strange, because my e-mail wasn’t set up under my real name, so it would be unlikely that it was a phishing scam. Only my parents and cousin had my e-mail address because, even though they had my telephone number, I’d rather have them contact me that way instead of calling. No one else had it.
My finger hovered over the mouse pad. Unease rose as knots formed in my stomach. Tucking my legs against my chest, I told myself not to open it, to just delete it—but I clicked because I had to. It was like looking at a bad car accident alongside the road. You knew you shouldn’t, but you did.
I immediately wished I hadn’t. The knots in my stomach tightened and a lump formed in the back of my throat. Nauseous, I pushed away from the desk and slammed the laptop shut. Standing in the middle of the room, I sucked in a deep breath and curled my hands into fists.
It was just two lines.
That was all.
Two lines erased thousands of miles.
Two lines ruined my entire night.
Two lines found me all the way in a little college town in West Virginia.
You’re nothing but a liar, Avery Morgansten. You’ll get yours in the end.
Chapter 4 (#u686c50ba-6ae7-5fe7-9ea1-07e1f898d73d)
I dragged myself into astronomy class ten minutes early and picked what I believed to be an inconspicuous seat in the middle of the amphitheater-style classroom. A few other students were already there, sitting up front. Yawning, I scooted down in my seat and rubbed my eyes. The gallon of coffee I drank this morning hadn’t done a thing for me, given that I only got an hour of sleep.
Two little sentences.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I rested my head on my forearm. I didn’t want to think about the e-mail or the fact that I had reopened my laptop and gone into my trash folder to see what my cousin had said. His e-mail had just been one giant bitch fest on how I was letting my parents down and how his were worried sick and afraid I was going to put Mom and Dad through another episode. You need to come home, he had written. It is the right thing to do. It was the right thing for them, and while my cousin sided with my parents and, oh, about ninety-nine percent of the town, I doubted he had been behind the other e-mail.
The e-mail address was unrecognizable to me, and while there were a lot of people that it could’ve come from, I really didn’t know who it was. It couldn’t be him because even he wasn’t stupid enough to try to contact me.
Or was he?
A shudder rolled down my spine. What if it had been Blaine? What if he found out where I’d moved to? My family wouldn’t have told him. Then again, they could’ve told his parents because they were, after all, country club pals. I was going to murder them if they had. Seriously. Catch the next flight to Texas and murder them, because the whole point of coming here was to get away from—
‘Morning, sweetheart,’ came a deep voice.
I jerked my head up and twisted around. Surprised into speechlessness, I watched Cam slide into the empty seat next to me. I must have been a little slow on the uptake, because I knew I should’ve said the seat was taken or tell him to move, but all I could do was stare.
He settled back, looking at me sideways. ‘You look a little rough this morning.’
And he looked remarkably refreshed for someone who had been partying last night. Hair damp and all over the place, eyes bright. ‘Thanks.’
‘You’re welcome. Glad to see you made it to class this time.’ He paused, tilting his head back and kicking his feet up on the seat in front of us, his eyes on me. ‘Though I kind of missed the whole running-into-each-other thing. Provided a lot of excitement.’
‘I don’t miss that,’ I admitted, bending over and rummaging through my bag for my notebook. ‘That was really embarrassing.’
‘It shouldn’t have been.’
‘Easy for you to say. You’re the one who got plowed. I was doing the plowing.’
Cam’s mouth opened. Oh my God, had I really just said that? I had. Flushing to the roots of my hair, I flipped open my notebook.
‘Raphael is doing great, by the way.’
A relieved grin snuck out. ‘That’s good to hear. Did he pee on your hand?’
‘No, but it was a close call. Brought you something.’
‘Turtle pee?’
Cam laughed and shook his head as he reached into his backpack. ‘Sorry to let you down, but no.’ He pulled out papers stapled together. ‘It’s a syllabus. I know. Thrilling shit right here, but figured since you didn’t come to class on Monday, you’d need one, so I got it from the professor.’
‘Thank you.’ I took the papers from him, somewhat shocked by the act. ‘That was really thoughtful.’
‘Well, prepare yourself. I am all kinds of thoughtful this week. I brought you something else.’
As he rooted around in his backpack, I bit down on the edge of my pen and took the moment to openly gawk at him without him knowing. It really had been a long time since I had held a conversation with a member of the opposite sex who wasn’t related to me, but from all the people-watching I’d done over the years, I thought I was handling this well. Besides the plowing comment, I was sort of proud of myself.
Cam pulled out a napkin and unfolded it with long fingers. ‘Cookie for you. Cookie for me.’
Removing the pen from my mouth, I shook my head. ‘You didn’t have to do that.’
‘It’s just a cookie, sweetheart.’
I shook my head again, because it just didn’t make sense to me. Cam didn’t make sense to me. Hell, most people didn’t make sense to me.
He looked up through those impossibly long lashes and sighed. Tearing the napkin in half, he folded up one of the cookies and then dropped it in my lap. ‘I know they say you shouldn’t take candy from strangers, but it’s a cookie and not candy and technically, I’m not a stranger.’
I swallowed.
Cam took a bite of his cookie and closed his eyes. A deep sound emanated from his throat—a growl of pleasure. My heart jumped and my cheeks heated even more as I stared at him. He made the sound again, and my mouth dropped open. A row down, a girl turned in her seat, her eyes clouded over.
‘Is it really that good?’ I asked, glancing down at the cookie in my lap.
‘Oh, yeah, this is the shit. I told you that last night. Be better if I had some milk.’ He took another bite. ‘Mmm, milk.’
I dared another peek at him and he looked like he was on the verge of having an orgasm or something.
One eye opened. ‘It’s the combination of walnut and chocolate. You mix that together and it’s like an explosion of sex in your mouth, but not as messy. The only thing better would be those teeny tiny Reese’s Cups. When the dough is warm, you plop those suckers in … Anyway, you just need to try it. Take a small bite.’
Oh, what the hell? It was just a cookie, not a crack pipe. I was being stupid. I unfolded the napkin and took a bite. The cookie practically melted in my mouth.
‘Good?’ Cam said. ‘Right?’
I took another bite and nodded.
‘Well, I have a whole ton of them at home.’ He stretched as he rolled up his napkin. ‘Just saying.’
Finishing off the cookie, I had to admit that it was a pretty damn good cookie. Wiping off my fingers, I started to roll up the napkin, but Cam reached over and took it from me. He twisted a bit in his seat, causing his knee to brush my leg.
‘Crumb,’ he said.
‘What?’
A slight grin appeared on his face and then he reached out, without the napkin, and before I knew what he was doing, he smoothed his thumb over my bottom lip. Every single muscle in my body locked up and became painfully tense. My eyes widened and the air caught in my throat. The touch was slight, barely anything, but I felt it in several parts of my body.
‘Got it.’ His grin spread.
My lip still tingled. That was all I could think about. I didn’t move, not until the door at the front of the classroom opened and the strangest man I’d ever seen rolled in. Dressed head to toe in olive-green polyester, the man had thick, curly hair that went in every which direction, peppered black and gray. His glasses were huge, resting on the tip of his nose. As he crossed the main stage, I noticed he was wearing a pair of checkered Vans … that matched his bow tie.
Cam chuckled softly. ‘Professor Drage is a very … unique man.’
‘I can see,’ I murmured.
Professor Drage had an accent I couldn’t quite place, but based on his olive skin tone, I was going with Mediterranean or Middle Eastern. He launched right into the topic—no roll call or warning. I scrambled to catch up to his introduction to the field of astronomy and units of measurement while Cam scooted even farther down in his seat and opened his notebook. His pen was making quick, short strokes over the paper, but he wasn’t taking notes.
He was drawing.
Cocking my head to the side, I tried to focus on what the hell an astronomical unit meant, which was some crazy number I couldn’t even begin to remember. Turned out to be the average distance at which the Earth orbits the sun. That was important because astronomical units were used to determine most distances in our solar system, but I found myself glancing at Cam’s notebook.
What the hell was he drawing?
‘Now, most of you kiddos don’t care about astronomical units or have never really heard of them,’ Professor Drage went on, passing the length of the stage. ‘What you are familiar with is the term “light-year.” Although, I doubt any of you really, truly understands what a light-year is.’
I was pretty sure Cam was drawing Bigfoot.
The lecture went on until Professor Drage suddenly changed gears at the end, catching me and everyone else besides Cam off guard, and started passing out star maps. ‘I know today is only Wednesday, but here is your first assignment for the weekend. Skies are supposed to be clear as a baby’s bottom on Saturday.’
‘Clear as a baby’s bottom?’ I muttered.
Cam chuckled.
‘I want you to find the Corona Borealis in the sky—the actual real, honest to goodness, night sky,’ Professor Drage explained, smiling as if he said something funny, but we all stared at him. ‘You won’t need a telescope. Use your eyes or glasses or contacts or whatever. You can view it either Friday or Saturday night, but the weather is looking sketchy on Friday, so choose wisely.’
‘Wait,’ someone from up front said. ‘How do you use this map?’
Cam handed me a map that had been passed down our row, along with several grid sheets.
Professor Drage stopped in front of the class. ‘You look at it.’
I bit back a laugh.
The student huffed. ‘I get that, but do we hold it up to the sky or something?’
‘Sure. You could do that. Or you could just look at each of the constellations, see what they look like and then use your own eyes and brains to find it in the sky.’ The professor paused. ‘Or use Google. I want all of you to start to get familiar with stargazing. You’re going to be doing a lot of that this semester and you’ll appreciate doing it now when it’s warm. So get with your partner and pick out a time. The grid will be turned back in to me on Monday. That’s all for the day. Good luck and may the force of the universe be with you today.’
Several students laughed, but my stomach dropped out of my butt.
‘Partner?’ I said, voice low as I frantically looked around the classroom. Almost everyone was turned in their seats, talking to another person. ‘When did we pick partners?’
‘On Monday,’ Cam replied, closing his notebook and shoving it into his backpack. ‘You weren’t here.’
