Labor of Love by Rachel Hawthorne Read Free Book Online Page A

to protect me.
    I kept thinking I had to be insane for not holding on to this guy with both hands. I probably could have called Ms. Wynder and . . . what? Our first night here and we couldn’t meet up for the rendezvous because we were partying too hard? I was pretty sure that wouldn’t go over well.
    After we found everyone, we headed for Jackson Square. Tank and Jenna were in the lead again, holding hands. Amber was with Sean, talking. Brady and I trailed behind.
    â€œLook, about that kiss—” Brady began.
    â€œDon’t worry about it. It was no big deal.”
    â€œOuch!”
    I grimaced. That had really come off sounding bad. I wanted to be cool about it, but I didn’t know how. I mean, Drew and I had dated about a month before he ever got up the courage to kiss me. I think it had been his first kiss, too, and it had been, well, awkward. Eventually, we were kissing like pros. I’m not sure pro what. Are there pro kissers?
    â€œI just meant that I know it was the craziness of Bourbon Street that made us kiss,” I said.
    â€œYou think?”
    â€œOh yeah. I mean, we just met. It can’t be more than that.”
    â€œI guess.”
    â€œI mean, this wasn’t even a date or anything. It was just hanging out.”
    â€œOkay. Yeah.”
    I couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or relieved.
    When we got near the gate, I saw the other three girls Ms. Wynder had dropped off earlier. They went to my school, too, but I didn’t know them very well.
    â€œThere’s our group,” I told Brady.
    I turned around, walking backward. “Thanks again.”
    A familiar minivan pulled up to the curb. Amber, Jenna, and I started running for it.
    Â 
    We were all eerily quiet in the minivan after Ms. Wynder asked how our day was and we all responded “Great.” As though a one-word answer would suffice when it most certainly didn’t.
    It had been one of the most up-and-down days of my life. I’d run through the entire gamut of emotions. I was exhausted. And wondering about the psychic’s prediction. Was Brady the guy? Had I seen him for the last time? Was my last memory of him going to be watching him fade into the shadows of the night?
    Once we got to our dorm room, we all let out collective sighs and started preparing for bed. Even though it seemed like something needed to be said, none of us was saying anything.
    I plugged in the pump and pressed the button to inflate the AeroBed that I’d be sleeping on. Each dorm room had only two beds. I had the choice of an air mattress or a roommate I didn’t know—Amber and Jenna had already agreed to bunk together before I realized that I wouldn’t be doing a summer tour of Texas water parks with Drew. Yeah, that had been our plan. To be together as much as possible. Slipping and sliding the summer away. It had sure sounded like fun at the time.
    Since my life seemed to be a series of adjustments lately, I hadn’t wanted to adjust to living with a stranger, so I’d decided to go the air mattress route.
    Besides, the summer would be a lot more fun if we were all together. Every night would be a sleepover.
    Amber sat on the edge of her bed. “Okay, guys, I need y’all to promise that you’ll never tell Chad what I did tonight.”
    Crouching on the floor by the mattress, I twisted around. “What did you do?”
    â€œWhere were you ? I hung out with another guy!” Her voice went up a bit; it had an almost-panicked sound to it.
    I know after my prom night experience, I probably should have been all over her case, but Amber was innocent. She hadn’t done anything wrong, which I felt a need to point out. “Yeah, but you—what? Listened to music?”
    She nodded and looked miserable.
    â€œIt’s not like you were all over him, or sneaking around.”
    â€œStill, he’s a guy.”
    â€œBut you can have guy friends.”
    â€œJust