Common Ground (The Common Ground Trilogy Book 1) by Barry Chaison Read Free Book Online

pleasure,” I said in a daze. Slowly, we released our grip and the trance vanished.
    “So, um, Annie,” he said, slowly turning towards her as our gaze lingered for an extra second, “I lost your email address. Do you have a number where I can call you? My fraternity has a lot of parties in the beginning of the year and we’d love to have you and Zoe stop by anytime.”
    “Oh! Yeah! We’d love to!” she said. She excitedly opened her bag, looking for anything to write on.
    “You can just tell me, I have a pretty solid memory,” Liam said, glaring back at me with an uncomfortable smile.
    Annie told Liam her number, twice for good measure.
    “We’ll be in touch, and I promise to keep all drinks inside their cups this time,” he laughed as he waved goodbye to us.
    “I told you,” Annie said dreamily as she stared at him leaving.
    “Told me what?”
    “Hot.”
    “Oh, yeah, a real class act,” I replied nastily.
    “Wow, chill out. He said it was all a big misunderstanding. Just let it go.”
    “But he didn’t even apologize!” I demanded.
    “He already did yesterday! What, you want two apologies now?” she replied.
    “I don’t know Ann, there’s just something odd going on there. I’m not sure I trust him.”
    “Oh come on Zoe!” Annie moaned. “There is nothing wrong with him. He’s a hot, frat guy who just gave us an open invitation to their parties. What else do you want?”
    I stood silent for a moment as she waited for a response. I still was reeling from the intense moment we had. His gaze had punctured straight through the anger I had built up from his and Annie’s joke. He seemed to be bring something out in me that wasn’t normally there.
    “You’re right,” I exhaled slowly. “I’ll give him a chance but I still don’t trust him.”
    “Fair enough,” she said uneasily. “Let’s get home, it’s been a long day and you look exhausted.”
    **************************************
    The rest of the week went by with few very problems as we finally reached the last day of orientation. Our week had been spent mostly meeting with professors and discussing what to expect from the class. Most of my meetings had gone pretty well, but none of the professors really sparked my interest for finding a potential major. Yoga seemed to be the class that would give me the most benefit for the semester because it was supposed to help me focus on relaxation and possibly help me sleep better. Everything else sounded too bland or not challenging enough. The only meeting I hadn’t had yet was with my Religious Studies professor.
    Our meeting was scheduled for later in the morning after Perspectives class, which meant that Annie and I would have to get up early. We had spent the week developing a new schedule that would have her up early in the morning and split her free time in half between studying and partying. That Friday was the first test run for her new schedule.  Getting her up and out of bed so early appeared to be the biggest challenge I would face that day.
    “Let’s go!” I yelled, pulling Annie’s sheets off of her. “The Pit closes for breakfast in thirty minutes!”
    “Get… out…” she mumbled, tugging the pillow over her head.
    “I’ll give you one last chance,” I said coolly, not really sure what to do. When no response came from under the pillow, I decided to take drastic measures. 
    “Fine.”
    A minute later, I came back into the room and gave her one final chance. “Get up, now,” I said warningly. “This is your last chance.”
    I never thought I’d see Annie jump up so fast or hear her scream so loud. Since I had pulled her sheets off, the ice cold water in my glass had shocked her up and out of bed. It wasn’t nice, or pretty, but mission accomplished.
    “What…the…hell…” Annie stammered slowly, from somewhere beneath the damp hair that covered her face.
    “I just thought that since it was okay for Liam to get away with the same thing without