AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Waiting for this year to end.
Waiting for Callie to come back.
Waiting for my life to start over.
I was sitting on my desk—the best place to get a view of the campus from my room. A massive building loomed directly across me, its coarse stone blocks were hewn unevenly, their craggy faces pitted and scarred by tools.
That’s where the guys slept.
From here I could also see John Anderson’s room, and if I squinted my eyes through the foggy darkness, I imagined I could see Callie through the window.
She wasn’t supposed to be in the guys’ dorms, but when did Callie ever care about the rules?
I sighed, wishing I felt that kind of freedom. Instead I was suffocated by my need to be “good.” I was too imperfect, otherwise. Being flawless didn’t come naturally to a girl like me.
I watched John's room carefully, ignoring my vibrating phone—like I had all day.
If Callie didn’t leave soon, I was going to call John’s roommate and make him kick her out. Blackmail him, if necessary—I knew all about his hidden pot stash.
My phone vibrated again, the third time in the past fifteen minutes. Sighing, I took it out, scrolling up to re-read the ones from earlier.
You know I think you're special, why don't you show me something special too?
Just a few. I swear I’ll keep it a secret.
Then, when I hadn’t answered, you don’t even have to show your face. It’ll just be a little fun.
I scrolled to his new ones.
You were the one who said you wanted to explore your sexuality.
I can help you, show you what to do.
Then, just now, you okay? You don’t have to if you don’t want.
Actually, I wasn’t okay.
I was nervous showing him nudes. I’d never done anything like that before.
The truth was, I was afraid of meeting Garrett face-to-face. Because—what if he didn’t like me? What if seeing me in person was totally different than how he’d built me up in his mind?
He’d texted me out of the blue. Said that he knew dad and that dad had talked about me a lot.
Said he saw my picture at our house. That I was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.
He’d had to look me up.
We’d been texting ever since.
But what if…what if he was actually using me to get to my dad? My dad had a lot of things—power, prestige, money. A lot of people wanted to be close to that kind of thing.
When it came down to it, I couldn’t get over the fact that this guy actually liked me.
It was flattering, to be honest, that a twenty-five-year-old man would be so interested in someone as young as me. He was a lot more mature than the guys at my school—who cared about dumb things like who or what Jessica gossiped about.
And Garrett made me feel seen in ways I never had before. He seemed to be able to read my mind, sometimes.
A movement from John’s room interrupted my thoughts: the light switched off.
