available online?”
Olivia’s face spread into a weak smile. “Oh, you know how Grayson is. Likes to put his hands on it. Touch the pages.”
“So… he’s up here often?”
“No, I wouldn’t say often,” she shook her head. “Has he not mentioned it to you? Is everything okay with you guys?”
“Of course,” I lied with a smile. “Like I said, we all have our days, and I’m a little out of it myself. I’m gonna head on to this office. See you later.”
She nodded. “Okay. Bye hon!”
I turned and walked away from Olivia, trying to keep my shoulders relaxed even though I was seething inside. Another a week and a half had passed with minimal contact between me and Grayson, though he had apologized for that stupid Saturday morning.
The thing was, I wasn’t looking for an apology. I didn’t want his meaningless words, I wanted him to do something. I wanted him to let me know he was going to be at the law library while I was on campus, I could help him research. I wanted him to send me those random messages again throughout the day. I wanted him to stop by my place in the middle of the night, wake me up, and screw me back to sleep. I wanted him to make me forget Jason Wright existed.
I wanted… something that wasn’t the relationship we’d established.
But just like that Saturday morning we’d fought, I wasn’t trying to think about that. I had other things on my mind. I had my own paper due next week, and a test, plus heavier shit that I was trying to ignore. Men weren’t in the top five list of things I needed to be thinking about. Hell, they weren’t even in the top ten, but somehow Grayson’s actions had sunk my already sullen mood even further.
As I turned the corner to get to my mother’s office, I walked right into a tall, broad body. I was moving so fast that I damn near bounced backwards, but strong arms went around me, keeping me balanced.
“Sorry,” I said, then stepped away, and was already about to continue my journey down the hall when he spoke up.
“That’s it? No insult today?”
My head popped up, and I really looked at who I’d bumped into it.
Jason.
I hadn’t seen him since last Saturday either, but he’d certainly been on my mind. I’d needed to meet with one of my professors during the time I would have normally seen him in my mother’s class, and I felt halfway insane for almost… kind of… missing him.
Although we hadn’t been in each other’s presence, I’d read his words. The class was on the romance novel that I’d recommended to my mother, and the students had been tasked with giving their preliminary thoughts, at the halfway point of the book. Not a full paper, not even a critique, not about the technical aspects, not really. Just their casual thoughts.
“Honestly? I think these two are silly. I’ll admit that I don’t read a ton of romance novels, but does this dynamic ever work? According to his description of her, Vivienne is smart, sexy, successful, and amazing in bed according to these sex scenes. What man wouldn’t want to make her his? Well, this idiotic one in this book, Carter. I’m a little past halfway, and she just dropped the “what am I to you?” bomb on him, and I swear I wanted to smack this dude for his reaction. If he wasn’t into her like that, okay, I would get it. But that’s not the case. He loves this girl, but instead of admitting that, and explaining whatever (most likely bullshit) reason he has to not be with her, he broke her heart. It’s not cool. Not at all.”
I was supposed to be commenting on these. I was supposed to be asking questions, pulling more from them based on their thoughts, compiling a list that my mother would use to discuss love, romance, and dysfunctional family dynamics in literature. The next book on their list was literary fiction, with a heavy romance element. The one after that was more focused on families. They’d be contrasting the difference between how different elements were
Alys Arden
Claude Lalumiere
Chris Bradford
Capri Montgomery
A. J. Jacobs
John Pearson
J.C. Burke
Charlie Brooker
Kristina Ludwig
Laura Buzo