were really… good with the exception of email and phone. At least once a week, I’d get a call from an UNKNOWN CALLER. I deleted the messages and the emails without opening them. There were at least fifteen unread emails from my cousin. One of these days I was going to read them, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that or call my parents.
They hadn’t called me, so I didn’t see the point.
By the beginning of October, I was happier than I’d been in so long. The scent of autumn, something I missed while living in Texas, was in the air, long sleeves could be worn without looking like a freak, and cramming for mid-terms during lunch included M&Ms and Skittles.
“Can someone please tell me where Croatia is on this map?” Jacob groaned. “Like is there a song I can come up with that will somehow remind me of this?”
“Hungary, Slovenia, Bosnia,” I said, pointing at the blank map of Europe. “And then there is Serbia.”
Jacob glared at me. “Fucking overachieving bitch.”
I popped a red Skittle in my mouth. “Sorry.”
“Can you imagine a song with those names?” Brit dipped her fries in mayo.
“That is so gross,” Jacob muttered.
She shrugged. “It’s yummy.”
“Actually, I’m going to nerd out on you, so prepare.” I picked up a M&M and held it in front of Jacob. His eyes widened like a puppy about to get a treat. “With the exception of Hungary, all of the countries next to Croatia end with an a. They all sound alike. Think of it that way.”
His eyes narrowed. “That didn’t help.”
I sighed. “You want a song?”
“Yes.” He stood up at our table, in the middle of the Ram’s Den, and shouted. “Yes! I want a song!”
“Wow.”
He raised his hands as several students turned in their seats. “What? What?” He turned back to me. “Was that a little too much?”
“Yes,” I said. “Most def.”
Brit put her forehead on her textbook. “Seriously,” she groaned. “I can’t believe he’s making us map Europe on our mid-term. I thought I’d left that shit behind in high school.”
“Give me a song, nerd,” Jacob demanded.
“Oh, my God, you’re ridiculous.” Shaking my head, I placed my hands on the table. “Okay. Here you go. Hungary to the upper left, upper left, Serbia to the lower left, lower left. Bosnia on the bottom, on the bottom. Slovenia to the top, to the top. And where’s Croatia?”
“Where? Where?” Jacob sung.
“It’s next to the Adriatic Sea, across from Italy!”
Jacob popped up straight. “Again! Again!”
I went through the song twice more while Brit gaped at the both of us. By the time, Jacob whipped out his pen and started scribbling countries across the map, my face was the shade of a tomato, but I was giggling like a hyena.
And he got the map right, with the exception of putting France where the United Kingdom was supposed to be but I think he was just testing me on that one, because seriously.
I tossed a M&M at his mouth. It bounced off his lower lip. On the replay, I got the M&M in his mouth. He swallowed and shot forward, lowering his face next to mine. “Guess what?”
“What?” I leaned back.
He blinked two times. “Here comes your boyfriend.”
Looking over my shoulder, I spotted Cam entering the Den with not one girl but a girl on either side of him, gazing up at him like he was the last eligible, hot guy on campus. I rolled my eyes at Jacob. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
“Gurl, you got competition.” Jacob folded his arms on the table. “That’s Sally and Susan—beta, delta, boogie-sigma-chi-latte- VPs.”
Brit’s brows lowered. “That’s not even close to a sorority name.”
“Whatever.”
“It’s not a competition, because it’s not like that between us.” Slowly, surely, I looked over my shoulder. The trio had stopped by the couches. Cam was paying attention to whatever the two girls were saying to him. One of the girls, the blonde, had her hand on his chest and was moving it in tiny circles. My eyes narrowed. Was she giving him a breast exam? I turned back to Jacob.
He raised his brows.
“They can have him,” I said, throwing three Skittles in my mouth.
“I don’t get you two,” Brit said, closing her book. Study time was over. “You guys see each other practically every day, right?”
I nodded.
“He comes over every Sunday and makes you breakfast, right?” she added.
Jacob flipped me off. “I hate you for that.”
“Yeah, he does, but it’s not like that.” Thank God I never told them about him asking me out because I’d never hear the end of it then. “Look, we’re friends. That’s all.”
“Are you gay?” Jacob demanded.
“What?”
“Look, I’m the last person to judge your sexual preference. I mean, come on.” He jerked his thumbs back at him. “So are you gay?”
“No,” I said. “I’m not gay.”
“I’m not either, but I’d go gay for you.” Brit smiled.
“Thanks.” I giggled. “I’d go gay for you too.”
“How cute,” Jacob said. “Not the point. That fine, mother fucking specimen of a man is all up in you—oh my God, he’s ditched the ra-ra’s and is coming over.”
My stomach knotted and I prayed to God, Shiva, and Zeus that Jacob didn’t say anything that would make me want to kill him later.
“Damn,” Jacob said, shaking his head. “He makes jeans look like they were molded to fit his—hey, Cameron! How’s it going?”
I closed my eyes.
“Hey, Jacob. Brittany.” Cam dropped into the seat beside me and nudged my arm. “Avery.”
“Hey,” I murmured, acutely aware of Jacob and Brittany staring at us. I closed my text and shoved it in my bag. “What are you up to?”
“Oh, you know, mischief and mayhem,” he replied.
“That so reminds me of Harry Potter,” Brit said, sighing. “I need a re-read.”
We all turned to her.
Two bright spots appeared in her cheeks as she tossed her blonde hair back. “What? I’m not ashamed to admit that random things remind me of Harry Potter.”
“That guy over there reminds me of Snape,” Cam said, jerking his chin to the table behind us. “So I understand.”
The guy with the jet-black hair did kind of look like Snape.
“Anyway, what are you guys doing?” Cam shifted and his leg rested against mine. I swallowed. “Playing with M&Ms and Skittles?”
“Yes, that and we’re studying for our History mid-term next week. We have to map out Europe,” Jacob explained.
“Ouch.” Cam knocked me with his leg.
I knocked his leg back.
“But Avery, wonderful, Avery…” Jacob glanced at me, his grin spreading, and my eyes were narrowing. “She’s been helping us study.”
“That