Chapter 6
Morgan
I wake up Wednesday morning to the sound of rain pelting the side of the house. Great. Getting around campus today is going to be awesome. On the plus side, it should cool things down for a bit.
I roll out of bed and head down stairs to my room. Rebecca and Jen’s door is open and I peek in to say hello. Jen looks up and starts laughing before I can get out a syllable.
“What now?” I groan.
“Nothing,” she says. “We’re still laughing about Monday’s fiasco. It may be the highlight of all four school years, Morgan. And that includes getting caught skinny dipping in the pool after hours last year. Oh, and getting campus security to give us beer they’d confiscated.”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, well, I’d like to challenge you to top it. Please.” They both find my statement hilarious and I growl.
“Oh, come on. If it had happened to one of us you’d be cracking up,” Jen insists.
“I know. It’s just, well, it happened in a class that’s going to kick my ass. And it was freaking Nate Stevenson, y’all. Boy Wonder himself.”
“More like Thor Wonder,” Rebecca chimes in.
“All the better!” Jen exclaims, like it’s a good thing. “He’s sex incarnate. And smart. And nice. He’s the trifecta of man meat. I suggest you have a sample.”
I snort. “As if he’s interested, especially after my display of coolness yesterday. I doubt he wants to hang with me.”
Jen and Rebecca share a look.
“What?” I demand.
“Dude,” Jen says, “He asked you to lunch. He wants to hang. Probably inside your Monday panties.”
Rebecca smacks Jen on the leg. “Asking someone to lunch does not imply that you have the hots for that person. Evan asked me to lunch yesterday.”
“Yeah, and you totally have the hots for him,” Jen jokes.
“Perhaps, but that doesn’t mean he has the hots for me. Besides, he’s taken.”
I scrunch my nose. “So is Nate. He has a hometown girlfriend.”
“Who cares?” asks Jen. “Don’t even pretend that you wouldn’t take it if it was offered. Hello? Tri-fucking-fecta.”
“Oh, my gawd, Jen. You’re a terrible person. I love you, but you are a bad, bad girl,” I say.
She winks at me, as though it were a complement. Of course, she takes as such.
“I also, technically, still have a boyfriend.”
Jen throws her pen at me and I dodge it. These two have problems with throwing things. And smacking people. It’s rubbing off on me, but it has improved my reflexes.
“No, you don’t. You’ve broken up with him in your mind a thousand times. It’s just a matter of saying it aloud now. And you stopped screwing him, like, five months ago. It’s not a relationship.”
Jen has a point. But I’d still feel guilty fooling around with someone else if I haven’t officially ended it with Alex.
Then again, we are in college and isn’t that what college is for? They’ve both insisted a dozen times that this is a safe place to do dumb things. And I would very much like to do some dumb things with Nate.
Jen really is a bad influence on me, but it’s kind of endearing. Apparently, I’m an awful person, as well.
“Look, you don’t have to entertain offers from Thor, should you get any,” Rebecca is animated as she speaks, “but you for sure need to break up with horse boy.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’ll do it. Eventually.”
They both give me the stink eye. It’s my cue to leave.
“Ladies, it was lovely chatting, but I have to get my ass to Wang’s class.”
They both crack up and start making jokes about my professor’s name. I probably shouldn’t have used ass and Wang in the same sentence.
***
I hold the top of my raincoat closed by my neck as I hustle to class. The rain is coming in sideways and getting my shirt wet. My shoes and socks are soaked, making my feet feel heavy. I’m sure I’ll trip over something any moment now. That’s my life.
I run up the side stairs of Harrelson and rip the door open, trying to get out of the rain. Instead of slamming closed as I step into the building, it hits a body. Oops. I didn’t check to see if anyone was behind me.
“Thanks for holding the door, friend.”
I turn and see Nate fiddling with his umbrella. It’s an odd site, seeing a large man in a fight with such a small object. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen a male student walk around with an umbrella. Ever.
“Aw, did your delicate skin get wet?”
Nate cocks his head at me and I smile.
“Kidding. Sorry about that. I didn’t realize you were behind me.”
“No worries. I can take it.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can.” What am I saying? It sounds so dirty.
Nate’s smile grows as he puts the umbrella in one of the holders by the door. I love that the honor system is alive and well here at Persimmon. It will still be sitting there when we get out of class.
“What time do you want to eat today?” he asks as we start walking.
“What?”
“Lunch? Let’s have lunch today.”
Why is he so adamant about dining together? I don’t know why I’m questioning it. It’s not an uncommon practice to share meals with the opposite sex.
Half of my lunches my first year here were with guy friends. Sometimes one-on-one, and they meant nothing. I feel like this is … something.
I guess I don’t get why he’s interested in spending any amount of time or energy on me. Maybe he is looking for a hook-up. My body’s totally on board with that, but I’m probably looking too far into things.
“Um, I can eat around noon.”
“Va bene!”
I laugh. “I don’t speak whatever that is.”
“Italiano.”
Italian? Now he’s gone and done it. Nothing turns me on like the thought of travelling abroad. I’m all excited inside.
“Oh! I love Italy. In fact, I’m going on the Winter Term Art History trip.”
He pauses at the door to 113 and looks at me. “Seriously?”
“Yep. Florence. It’s pretty much the reason I chose Persimmon. I believe it’s Dr. Fishel leading this one. I cannot wait,” I say dreamily as I glide into the room.
“Yes, I think he’s done the last two. I’ve heard great things about it.”
“Me, too.”
I walk to the seat I sat in Monday and unpack my things. I can feel Nate’s eyes on me, but I don’t look up. After Monday’s ordeal, I think it best if I ignore him until class ends.
Thankfully, Dr. Wang enters and immediately starts going over our assigned reading. He only lectures and gives notes for about ten minutes before he starts a class discussion. I listen attentively and write down most of Wang’s responses to class comments.
I’m also careful to only chime in when I’m confident in my answer. I’m not normally so backwards in class, but with Nate sitting across the room, I’m cautious.
I want him to think I’m smart. Well, more likely, I don’t want him to think I’m dumb. There’s a lot of area in between the two.
After class, he reminds me that we’ll meet at the campus center at noon. I give him a thumbs-up—because I’m lame like that—and chastise myself all the way to my next class. As I sit in my senior seminar, I calculate the days until I’m on a plane.
We depart two days after Christmas, on December 27th. That’s 123 days from now. I already have my passport and humongous travel backpack. It will be cold, since it will be January, but I’ve already figured out what to take so that I pack light. I’ve had three years to figure it out.
I’m still thinking about it when I reach the campus center at noon. I hang my backpack on one of the racks outside the dining room and see Nate standing by the door. It gives me a little shot of adrenaline when his blue eyes meet mine and he smiles.
“Hey. How was class?” he asks.
“Boring. I don’t get why we are forced to take these seminars. Nobody does well in an all-lecture environment.”
He hands the cashier his card after I do and shrugs. “I don’t know. I enjoy listening. It lets you turn off your mind and just absorb for once. It’s kind of a nice break, not being expected to have the right answer all the time.”
“You get called on a lot, don’t you?” It’s not a secret that he’s the top student in our graduating class. Professors probably lean on him to keep things going.
“You have no idea. But it’s fine.”
We get our trays of food and Nate leads me to a two-person table by the windows. It’s where he usually sits when I see him in here.
“Why do you always sit here?”
He points to the vent above the table. “It has good air flow. I get hot easily and I don’t like being uncomfortable.”
“You really are a delicate little flower, aren’t you, Nate?”
He laughs and picks up his sandwich. “Yeah, well, let’s just keep that between us.”
We eat and make small talk for a few minutes. Some professors walk in and I notice Dr. Fishel is in the middle of the group. It puts my mind back on Florence.
“I hope they’ll have the first meeting soon.”
“For what?” he asks.
I nod at Fishel and say, “For the trip. I’d like some details so I can plan how I’m going to get to and from the airport. I assume we’re flying out of Indy or Cincy, but it could easily be Louisville. I’ll have to figure that out. I’d also like some idea on how much money I need to take.”
“Don’t you want to know who else is going?”
I lift one shoulder. “I guess. I mean, I’m going no matter what. I’ll make the most of it with whomever is with me. If they all suck, I’m okay on my own. Or maybe I’ll find some hot, older Italian man in an Armani suit and spend the month with him.”
I’m only half joking about that last part. I’ve got a thing for hot men in suits.
Nate wipes his mouth with his napkin then leans back in his chair, eying me. I squirm, wondering if I have something on my face.
“Sunday at 4:00,” he finally says, breaking the brief but odd silence.
“What’s Sunday at 4:00?”
“The meeting.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because I’m going.”
He holds my stare for a second and then starts eating again. Holy crapoli. Nate Stevenson is going to Florence? I can’t decide if I really love that idea or if I really hate it. I close my mouth when I realize it’s been hanging open.
With his eyes still on his plate, he says, “FYI, December 27th is a Sunday, so plan your underthings accordingly.”
I bark out a laugh and shake my head. I like his teasing. It’s funny instead of the mean-spirited kind like Alex’s jabs. But, since I’m not a pushover, I can’t let it slide.
“You are one Grade-A dick, Nate.”
He smiles and keeps eating.
Nate
Her Southern drawl is too much. She just called me a dee-ick. I’m going to goad her everyday so I can hear how she pronounces other four-letter words.