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“You’re back early,” Becca said, curiosity pushing through her voice.
Nodding, Evie shut and relocked the door, then moved to her closet. She quickly changed into a tank shirt and cut-off sweats, then sank onto her bed. As luck would have it—although this time it seemed to be good luck—her almost first kiss was interrupted by a guy breaking down a door. Evie had been grateful. Devon had been taking things to the next level extremely fast, bypassing all the standard rules of dates one and two.
Becca looked up from her laptop and lifted her brows. “That fun, huh?”
“Devon is a womanizing jerk.”
Becca merely smirked as she refastened the ponytail holding back her red hair. “And you just figured that out?”
“I think I got starstruck, or something,” Evie said. “I mean, he’s such a good football player and really cute . . .” Her voice trailed off when she saw Becca rolling her eyes.
“What?” Evie said.
“Everyone knows he dates a different girl every week,” Becca said. “Be smarter, Evie.”
The words stung, but she and Becca went way back, so Evie knew they were said out of true friendship. She pulled a pillow against her chest. “I’m planning on it.”
Becca didn’t miss a thing. “What happened?” she asked, her tone concerned now.
Evie met her roommate’s gaze. “I . . . I’m not exactly sure. It was all so fast and—”
Becca was off her bed in an instant. She sat next to Evie. “What did Devon do?”
“It’s not what you’re thinking.” Evie told Becca all of it. Walking into the party, everyone’s eyes on her, going upstairs to his bedroom, how he almost kissed her, and that friend who practically pushed down the door and allowed her to leave.
Becca stared at her, wide-eyed. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah.” Evie swallowed. “Just feeling really dumb, especially because . . .” She should tell Becca; she was her best friend, after all. “I’ve never been kissed, and Devon was almost my first.”
Becca blinked, and Evie fully expected her to laugh, or to shout, “No way!” But neither of those things happened.
Instead, Becca said, “That really explains a lot.”
“What do you mean?” Evie asked.
“You never go out with a guy more than a couple of times,” Becca said. “At least not enough to get to the kissing stage.”
“Is something wrong with me?” Evie asked, leaning against the wall. “It’s like I’m crazy about a guy, but when he starts liking me, I imagine my brothers giving him the riot act. And I can’t get away fast enough.”
Becca leaned against the wall, too. “You just haven’t found the right guy yet. You know, a guy you can like beyond a crush.”
“I’m going to swear off football players.”
Becca laughed. “You’ll have no one left to date, then. You swore off basketball players when Ryan stood you up, you swore off soccer players because Braden would never pay his share of the food bill, you swore off musicians because Jim smoked, you swore off political science majors because all they do is argue, you swore off cowboys because you don’t want to live in a small town, you swore off accounting majors because they’re too boring—”
“Okay, okay,” Evie said with a groan. “I get it. There are no guys left for me.”
Becca tilted her head. “Why are you so determined to find Mr. Right at college? I mean, we’re only twenty-two and have our whole lives ahead of us.”
Evie closed her eyes, because she didn’t really want to answer the question. It was selfish of her, but this whole night had proved to her that she needed to be smarter, just like Becca had said.
“My mom wants me to return to Prosper after I graduate,” she finally said, opening her eyes. “Not just for a vacation, but to live and work. She’s already been talking to the owner of the little, tiny Prosper newspaper.” She looked down at the pillow in her lap. “I guess I thought if I was in a serious relationship, I could stay here and get a job. Then move with my fiancé, or husband, or whatever he would be.”
Becca didn’t move for a moment, then she said, “That seems like a lot of work on your part when you could just tell your mom that you don’t want to move back home.”
Becca had a point—she always had a point—but . . . “You don’t know my mom.”
“Um, I do know your mom,” Becca said. “Tell her, Evie. Going out with Devon was the bottom of the barrel, even for you.”
