He placed his hands on my waist and pulled me toward him, looking down at me, his features finally softening. “What has you so pouty?”
“I’m not pouty.”
He gave me a small smile, not believing me. “Isla, I know you’re unhappy about something. What is it?”
I let my hands rest against his chest, feeling the comfort and familiarity between us. “I was just hoping to spend some time with you today. Alone.”
“Mmm. Alone. I like the sound of that. Is your bedroom all set up now?” he asked, sounding excited. “Maybe I can come over later today and we could make good use of that bed.”
Ugh. That sentence was probably supposed to make me excited and tingly all over, but it didn’t. I wasn’t in the right mood to be entertaining that idea.
“Yeah, maybe,” I said half-heartedly.
Josh swung his arm up and around my shoulders, guiding me down the hall. “Don’t be like that. I promise I’ll make it up to you.”
I only nodded, but that seemed to appease him. He quickly changed topics and started talking about the soccer team. I half listened as I let him lead me out of the building and through the quad.
The campus was beautiful, I’d give it that, with its red brick charm, big trees, and old-fashioned architecture. People milled around the quad, enjoying the warm day. Couples sat close together pretending to study. Others sat alone with headphones on, blocking out the world around them.
I wasn’t sure where we were going and was about to ask Josh when I realized he was still talking and I hadn’t heard a word he’d said.
“And that Maverick kid is more of a pain in the ass this year than he was last year,” he said, shaking his head.
I’d heard a lot about Maverick. He was a year younger than us, and last year he’d been a new freshman on the team, trying to prove he was better than everyone else. Or at least that’s what Josh had told me. I’d never met the guy before.
“Anyway, you’ll meet me at the dining hall at noon?” he asked, looking down at me.
I pushed out a smile. “I’ll be there.”
He brushed his hand under my chin. “That’s my girl.” He glanced down at his watch. “Oh, I’d better get in there.” He gestured toward the building in front of us. “Otherwise, I’m going to be late.”
He went to leave, but I hurried to stop him. “Wait.” Pulling out my phone with my schedule on it, I asked, “Where is the Sorensen Building at? My next class is there.”
He motioned his arm out in the direction behind me. “That’s like on the other side of campus from here.”
My shoulders slumped. Of course it was.
“Even if you hurry, you’ll probably still be late.” He gave me a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see ya at noon.” Turning, he ran up the stairs and went through the wide double doors.
I took a deep breath and turned around, still not knowing where I was going. I’d never been great with directions.
Pulling up the campus map again on my phone, I hurried to navigate my way to my next class. Josh was right—it was in the complete opposite direction from where he’d taken me. He was also right about me being late. Thankfully, I was able to slip into a seat in the back, and the professor didn’t say anything to me.
I was only in my second class on my first day, and somehow it had already felt like the longest day ever. The only semi-good part of my day had been bumping into that Slate guy.
I mean, not good in the sense that I had run into him so hard it had felt like hitting a brick wall and landing flat on my butt, which, sitting in this hard seat now, I could tell I was bruised. But good in the sense that it had been nice to talk to someone, even if it was embarrassing how we’d met and that he was supposedly the campus man-slut.
Deciding to move here to be closer to Josh had been a hard decision, but after trying the long-distance thing and both of us being sick of not living by each other, we’d decided that me transferring to Waterford was the best thing for our relationship.
Josh and I had gotten together our junior year of high school and been together ever since. We had gotten into different colleges but had no desire to break up, so a long-distance relationship had been our only option. The last two years had been difficult for us, with both of us missing each other. We’d tried to make the most of the time we had off during the school year and summer, but it wasn’t the same as going to the same school. So when Josh mentioned me transferring to be closer to him, it had made sense at the time, especially since he was at Waterford to play soccer and I could technically get my degree from any university.
Now here I was far from my friends and family, wondering if I’d made the right move. Josh was different here. Or maybeIwas different here. Possibly both. This wasn’t high school, and it wasn’t our small hometown, Riverdell.
With how busy Josh was with soccer, I’d barely had a chance to see him these past few days, and I hadn’t had any luck in meeting anyone else yet.
I had hoped to stay in the dorms and be closer to campus to be around more people, but they were all full. I ended up getting a room in a two-bedroom apartment with a girl named Harper. She had her own life here and her own group of friends and didn’t seem to have any interest in getting to know me. She wasn’t rude to me, but she acted like she wanted to pretend I wasn’t there. So maybe that was rude. Ugh. It just made me miss my friends back at my old college even more.
That’s why even the small conversation with Slate, albeit somewhat awkward, was the only highlight since moving here. He’d been the first person to really acknowledge me. And okay, fine, he may have been nice to look at as well.
