Accepted by Coleen Lahr Read Free Book Online Page B

class this morning, but you rushed out."
    Okay, so maybe I had been avoiding him a teensy bit. It was really hard, especially after seeing him shirtless the other night, to remember that I couldn’t like him like that. I’d tossed and turned the rest of the night on Tuesday, just trying — unsuccessfully — to get the image of him in just his sweatpants out of my head.
    Deciding that I shouldn’t want him and not wanting him are two very different things.
    "It was good. I have three classes. All in the morning." I could barely answer. All of a sudden, I was picturing him shirtless again, and I was having trouble keeping my train of thought.
    "Another thing we have in common."
    I looked at him, confused. Had I missed something?
    "What is?" I could feel a smile playing on my lips when I asked. It was the "another thing" part that had me smiling.
    "Morning class," he chuckled. "The rest of your little crew despises mornings." He gestured toward Amber, Randi and Becca.
    "Ah, yes. I noticed that."
    "Yep, it’s pretty much just you and me." He smiled, nodding.
    I was still smiling back.
    "I was hoping to see you," he continued.
    I looked at him, confused again.
    "Then you should have stopped by?" I hadn’t meant it to come out like a question, but I couldn’t help it.
    "I meant in class." He laughed.
    I felt like I was taking an oral quiz in a class that I was completely unprepared for.
    "You did."
    "Yesterday." He kept laughing and rolled his eyes.
    Enough.
    "Okay, you’ve lost me. We have class together on Tuesday and Thursday, yesterday was Wednesday. You saw me in class…today." I said the last sentence very slowly, enunciating every syllable, just in case he didn’t understand. "I thought you said you didn’t drink."
    He laughed harder.
    "I meant yesterday, Ashley. I have Genetics Wednesday mornings. I was hoping you did too … I don’t drink, and if I sound like an idiot…" He looked down at his hands, resting in his lap and bumped me again with his shoulder, "Sometimes, you distract me."
    I turned to look at him, surprised. His face was just inches from mine. He turned and looked me in the eyes, and in that moment, I wanted many things, the most outrageous being to lean in that few inches and touch my lips to his. The most honest being to tell him that he distracts me, too.
    But I went with the safest.
    I waited a second to make sure I was composed and smiled at him. "I took genetics last year at my old school. That would have been really fun, though." I gestured back and forth between us. "Being in another class together, that is. I can help you, if you need it. I love genetics. It’s probably my best subject." I looked away from him and waited for him to respond. It took a minute.
    "Yeah, it would have been fun," he said quickly and quietly, but his voice sounded different to me. "I’ll let you know if I need any help."
    I looked at him. He looked back, his face perfectly calm. I smiled, and he smiled right back, but it was a different kind than I was used to. It just wasn’t right. The smile didn’t fit Colin’s calm face. It was a little bit sad, and it didn’t reach his eyes.
    "So, what classes do you have Monday, Wednesday, Friday?" He changed the subject.
    I started to answer him when Randi suddenly bounded up to us, completely trashed, and fell onto Colin.
    "Hey you," she slurred, wrapping her arms around his neck.
    He laughed and looked at her with amused affection. "Somebody’s had a little too much to drink, huh?"
    "Just a lil’ bit." She giggled as she attempted to gesture how much with her thumb and index finger. "I wanna go home." She pouted. "Will you walk me home, Haney?" She gave him a look that even I could barely resist.
    Drunk or not, Randi was good.
    And, sure enough, he didn’t resist.
    Colin chuckled. "Sure. Come on." He stood up, pulling Randi with him. As he turned to leave, he looked at me one last time. "Are you…?" Colin trailed off.
    I shook my head. "No, no, go. I’ll