“Thanks for reminding me why I never want to join a frat, ever. Having to put up with your bullshit antics day in and day out…” I trail off. Fallon just grins.
“I have a proposition for you, Ry.”
“And that would be?”
“I bought a new car and want to test it out on the track to see what she can do. You in?” I think this is Fallon’s third new car this year. I can’t complain much seeing as I’m the lucky guy he asks to test drive them on the track. Why he doesn’t do it himself remains a mystery to me.
“What car did you buy?”
Fallon pops a stick of gum in his mouth. “A totally kickass Radical RXC.”
“Hell yeah! I’m in. When?”
“I thought you’d want to pop her track cherry. This weekend good?”
“Yeah. Send me a text. I’ll be there.” We get to the student center and walk in. Fallon spots a group of girls and veers away to chat them up. Just like in high school, he’s as much of a manwhore in college.
I head to the back of the store where the textbooks are located and search for the one I need for Marketing Analysis and Development. I’m looking at the price and debating whether I should find the book used online or see if there’s a digital version when someone’s laughter catches my ear. The hairs on my skin stand up. I look around me. I hear the sound again and my body follows it like I’m a fish caught on the fisherman’s line being reeled in and there’s nothing I can do to escape its pull.
I see Preston, a guy I know from one of my classes last year. He spots me heading his way. Sweat breaks out all along my forehead, my palms go clammy, my heart begins to pound out of my chest, a sick feeling swirls in my gut. I feel like I am about to pass out or explode into a million jagged pieces, my body can’t decide which. My vision blurs and I use the back of my hands to wipe them. Am I crying? Am I even breathing? My legs have stopped moving but I feel like I’m flying. It’s a strange sensation. I blink a few times to clear my vision. Each blink is like the click of a camera shutter. My brain catalogs each blink, each click, storing every image away. My ears record every hum, every noise. I swallow thickly, my mouth bone dry.
My gaze is frozen. Unmoving. Locked onto the person standing next to Preston.
My brain can only process a few words.
Holy fuck. Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.
I must have said the words out loud. The person in front of me turns around. Sage green eyes, pale blond hair tipped with rosy pink, full lips, the most beautiful face I have ever seen. A face that has haunted me for over a year. A face that I have loved for most of my life.She’s here.
“Elizabeth?”
“Yes?” Her stunning verdant eyes scrutinize me like she’s meeting me for the first time.
Preston looks from me then to her. I’m probably freaking everyone out because I’m crying and almost hyperventilating, but I don’t give a shit. She’s here.Jesus. How could the PI not know she’s right here! My phone keeps ringing nonstop now. Whoever it is can fucking wait a goddamn second.
“Elizabeth, you’re here. How in the hell are you here?”
She looks at me like my question is full of the most confusing words she has ever heard. “I’m sorry, do I know you?”
What the hell? “Baby, it’s me. Ryder.” My hands are shaking so bad with the desire to snatch her into my arms and never let go, but something’s wrong. Something’s not right. My phone rings again.
Her eyes travel over my body and back up to my face.
“Do you know Elizabeth?” Preston asks me, clearly confused about what’s happening.
I ignore him, all my attention focused on Elizabeth. “Where have you been all this time? Why didn’t you contact us? What the hell’s going on?” My voice rises in frustration because she’s acting like I’m a stranger.
“Elizabeth, do you know Ryder?”
She clutches at her chest which is rapidly moving in and out now. “I...I don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know. Of course you fucking know me. We’ve known each other since we were nine years old.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispers up at me, eyes wide and panicked. “I don’t remember.”
“Elizabeth, what the fuck is going on?” This time I do reach for her and she stumbles back into Preston who catches her by the shoulders.
“Holy shit! Elizabeth?” Fallon shouts, rushing up from behind me. I completely forgot he came in the student center with me.
