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I’m one of the first students in the class. I choose my seat to the far left of the room in the second row, so I’m still following my dad’s rules—just barely if I’m being honest with myself.
I’m digging through my bag for my ChapStick when I hear a voice that sends chills down my spine.
“Is this freshman year all over again?” Beau says as he slides into the seat next to me.
I glance up to meet his eyes and have to open my mouth to let out a breath so I don’t let him see how much just having him near me affects me.
I grin as I say, “Hi.”
“Hi.” He winks and faces the front of the room, leaving me to internally freak out.
I managed to avoid any drama last semester, and I finally felt like all the drama of the past was behind us. That doesn’t mean that I still don’t think about Beau.
I’ve convinced myself that it’s just a thing in my head. It’s like the old saying,You always want what you can’t have. I keep telling myself that the grass is not greener on the other side and I just need to move on.
But somehow, my mind always goes back to him.
I think it’s because he’s this thing that I kind of had, but not really. I had a taste, and I’ve finally come to the conclusion that I’ll always have that what-if aspect in the back of my mind when it comes to him.
The class begins, and as part of the first-day festivities, our teacher asks us to get into partnered groups. As soon as the teacher sayspartner, Beau reaches out to me, grabbing my desk and pulling me slightly toward him. My desk scrapes against the floor, making everyone turn our way.
My face flushes since everyone’s attention is on us. Thankfully, our teacher brings the attention back to her as she finishes describing the assignment—talk about our winter break and come up with a little speech that incorporates both of our vacations seamlessly.
I feel my palms start to sweat as I wait for the teacher to finish, knowing I’ll be talking to Beau and Beau alone for the next twenty minutes with no way to get out of it.
“Okay, break into your groups, and when you’re done, choose who will present your story,” our teacher says.
Beau gets up to slide his desk next to me.
Where most people move their desks to face each other, Beau doesn’t. He slides so he’s inches away from me on my side and leans back in his chair, turning his head to the side nonchalantly.
“So, tell me about your vacation,” he says, and my insides instantly turn to goo.
He stares at me, and when I notice he’s waiting for me to respond, I blurt out, “Nothing.” Then, I realize how weird I just sounded, so I try to save face and ask, “How about you?”
He lazily sits back even further in his chair, and my God, he looks sexy as hell doing so. “I went back to California for a week.”
“That sounds like fun. Do you still have family there?”
“Yeah, my dad,” he says flippantly, and I feel stupid that I didn’t already know this fact.
I didn’t realize just how little I knew about him. I totally forgot he had moved here from California, and I’m trying to think if I ever knew his dad didn’t live here.
Do I even really know this guy?
“How often do you get to see him?” I ask.
He shrugs. “Holidays. Over the summer. That’s about it.”
“Do you miss him?”
He thinks about it. “Do I miss him? Yeah. Do I miss California? No. So, it kinda goes both ways. He lives in a small-ass town up north. There’s not much football there, so we both knew moving here would be better for my chances of going anywhere. Especially after he learned about your dad.” He grins, then continues, “But I like it better here.”
“I’ve never been to California,” I say, turning to face him better.
“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be.”
“Seriously?”
