AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Oz and I look at each other, and as fucked up as this has all been, I shake my head and tell him, “I ain’t even mad, Oz.”
He scoops up some fried potatoes “Nothing wrong with a little healthy competition.”
“Both of you need to keep in mind that Riley’s my roommate. Hurt her, you’ll answer to me.” Cody lifts his fork and points it at each of us.
* * *
“I called that wrong,but it makes sense,” I say as I read over the email telling us we’ve been assigned Lyndon B. Johnson.
“How so?” Gina asks.
“He signed the Immigration and Nationality Act.”
“Who knew Theo Rivera was such a nerd?” Riley says and signs.
She laughs. “What else do you know about him?”
“He signed in at Liberty Island.”
“How the hell do you know that?” Riley asks.
“Dad always wanted to take us there, and travel wasn’t really an option. Too expensive to travel with six kids, and Texas to New York is one hell of a road trip.”
“When you go pro, you can fly them all there,” Riley says, looking at her tablet. Then she looks up at me. “You better not be one of those rich guys who forgets where he came from.”
Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Right?” she damn-near demands.
“Yeah.” I nod.
“That doesn’t sound too convincing.” She laughs.
“Dad …” I shake my head. “That was once the plan. He passed away.”
“Oh my God, I’m sorry. I didn’t …” She shakes her head. “I’m … Should we ask to change presidents? I think she would understand if—”
“No, of course not. We’re good.” I cut her off.
“I can have the whole thing done in like three days, and you don’t—”
“Riley, seriously, it’s fine.”
“Okay.”
“I’m serious. I’m good.”
When she looks like she may cry, I force a laugh.
“You’ve got an exciting week ahead of you—enjoy it. Group starts Monday.”
* * *
Lying in bed,I smile as I look through the pictures. Not gonna lie, I may be more excited about recruitment week than the sorority girls on campus. Why? Because they’re busy as fuck, and there’s no way in hell between that and gymnastics does Riley have time to be playing grab ass with Oz, who happens to have an away game in Illinois. They leave Friday morning and don’t get back until late Sunday afternoon. A whole weekend to … do fuck not because I left it in her damn hands, and I have no excuse to see her, because we don’t have class together again until Monday.
I’m a fucking idiot.
My phone alert goes off, and I see a picture of my parents on the screen with a FaceTime request. I curl up to seated position and answer, “Hey, Mami.”
