Halston

Another Year Later …

I’m going to call him, “Judd the Dud.”

The guy sitting across from me at the cheapest pizza place in Campus Town checks football scores on his phone, laughing and nodding to himself before firing off a text message.

I yawn, cursing Lila’s name for setting up this blind date.

Judd Johnston is the epitome of a Hollister-wearing Joe Anybody, who has lived in Illinois his entire life, has a perfectly boring family, is majoring in ‘Business’ and can’t carry on an interesting conversation to save his life.

And the worst thing about him?

He doesn’t fucking read.

Hates books.

“I’ve never been into reading,” he told me five minutes ago. “Books are just boring to me.”

“Wonder what’s taking our pizza so long?” I ask, spinning my napkin ring and resting my head in my hand. I’ve already rearranged the parmesan cheese and red pepper flake shakers, and I’ve taken a field trip to the bathroom just to get away from Judd, but it’s been twenty-minutes and we’re still sitting here, staring at each other with dead eyes.

He adjusts his visor, which must be a thing here at Greatwood. All the guys wear backward visors and boat shoes and they all have messy, long-ish hair. To the untrained eye, these guys would be cute. They’d be worth the random fling or hookup.

But my tastes have matured since Kerouac.

And none of these boys hold a flame to what I really want.

When our waitress finally delivers the goods, I wolf down three pieces before he finishes his first, and then I tell him I have a test to study for the next day.

“But it’s a Friday,” he says.

“It’s an online class.” I try to sound remorseful. “Thanks for the pizza though. See you around!”

Before he has a chance to contest my early termination of this God-awful date, I’m already out the door, practically jogging toward the bus stop to catch the next one. When I get back to the off-campus apartment I share with Lila, she’s curled up on the sofa with her newest flavor-of-the-month watching some cheesy reality show on the DVR.

Springing up, she’s all smiles, resting her hands on the small of her back as she follows me to my room.

I kick off my heels, yank out my earrings, and strip down, changing into a thin white tank top and a pair of pajama shorts.

Lila’s smile fades when she checks the time on her phone. “It’s only seven o’clock.”

“Yep.”

“So it didn’t go well with Judd?” Her frown borders on a pout.

“To say the least.” I plunk myself down on my bed, shoving a pillow behind my neck. “I just want to Netflix and chill right now. By myself.”

“Lame.” She exhales, taking a seat on the edge of my desk. “What was wrong with him? Why didn’t you like him?”

Resting my forearm over my eyes, I say, “I don’t know. He was boring.”

She’s quiet for a beat. “He’s not Kerouac. That’s what you’re trying to say.”

Sitting up, I roll to my side, facing her. “Not true.”

“Bullshit.” Crossing her arms, she rolls her eyes. “Look, I know Judd isn’t Kerouac, but that’s the whole point. You need to move on. You need to see that there are other guys out there who aren’t him.”

“Regardless, he’s not my type.”

“Fine. Whatever. Don’t date Judd. Who the hell cares? Just stop comparing every guy you meet to Kerouac because there’s only one of those, and he moved on a long time ago.”

Rolling to my back, I close my eyes. I know Lila’s right.

But it doesn’t change the way I feel.

He’s the only one I want.

The only one I’ll ever want.