Hush by Jude Sierra Read Free Book Online Page A

her next.
    “I think so,” he says, opening his eyes. He turns onto his side to face the wall and moves his phone to the other ear. The phone’s getting hot, and he hates that feeling. “I don’t know.”
    “College being okay to you?”
    “Yes. I like it,” he says.
    “Chicago too big?”
    “No, it’s just right. Besides, it’s not like I’m in the city.” The near claustro­phobia from buildings and bod­ies feels good after the great open skies in Nebraska. “There’s just something—new.”
    “Oh, that sounds promising,” she says. “Tell me more.”
    “I don’t know yet,” he says. “I’m not sure what it is, I have no idea how to figure it out. I don’t know how to talk about it right now.”
    Peyton hums lightly. “Figuring something out. That’s gonna be a challenge for you.”
    “Shut up,” he says it lightly, but means it to some extent. Pey­ton is good for him; she foils some of his personality traits—as he does hers—very well. Her impulsive personality, her instinct for change and her willingness to trust her intuition and desires are all things he doesn’t have and she has long challenged him to develop.
    He’s still waiting for his traits of steady patience and careful observation to rub off on her, so he can’t fault her for pushing.
    “Well,” she says, “I’ll be settling here for a little while. I want you to call me when you need to talk. Or if you need help figuring out whatever it is.”
    Cam sighs. He knows she means it, but it’s hard to trust that she’s really staying anywhere, because Peyton moves on whims. She inevitably gets herself into some sort of trouble he or their parents have to help her out of, then falls off the map and into silence for long stretches.
    “I will,” he promises anyway, because he’s never felt a need for concealment with her. He’s not keeping secrets or evading right now, he’s just confused. If she’s where she says she’ll be when he has more words, he’ll call her.
    “I love you, Peyton.”
    “I love you too, Cam,” she says quietly before hanging up.
    * * *
    The girl Cam has been noticing lives in his dorm. How has he never noticed her before? Once he’s recorded her in his memory, he sud­denly sees her everywhere. She’s curvy and quite a bit shorter than he; she laughs easily and touches casually. He observes her with friends and learns that she’s not particularly social, but is always with the same two or three people. She wears her shiny, light brown hair both straight and in curls—he’s not sure which is natural, because both always look styled.
    “Seriously,” Nate says, shoving him lightly one day as they leave the dining hall. “You are making me crazy.”
    “Shut up.” Cam shoves back. Nate grabs his arm and starts to drag him along. “What are you—?”
    “I’m doing what you won’t,” Nate says. He walks straight up to her. Her friend seems to be in the middle of a story when they arrive, but stops mid-sentence.
    “Hi,” Nate says, dropping into one of the hard, over­stuffed chairs in the commons. “I’m Nate. This is my roommate, Cam.”
    Trapped by manners and curiosity, Cam sits too.
    “Hi, Nate. Cam,” the girl says, obviously amused. “I’m Maggie. This is Christine and Lauren.”
    A small moment of silence passes, awkward and begging for someone to navigate the graceless interruption.
    “I’ve seen you around a lot,” Cam offers, wincing when he real­izes how awkward this sounds.
    “I’ve noticed,” Maggie says with a smile. Cam resists the urge to close his eyes. Maggie turns in the chair next to him. She pitches her voice lower. “I’ve had a small bet with myself, how long it might take you to come introduce yourself.”
    Nate snorts softly.
    “And if I never did?” Cam asks.
    “I think I might have caved eventually,” she says. Then she smiles the wide, true smile he’s watched for weeks. “I’ll have to thank your friend some time. Although I do