Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 370(@200wpm)___ 296(@250wpm)___ 246(@300wpm)
“Ugh,” Maddy said. “I quit. Completely. How the hell am I supposed to study for this MCAT when all I want to do is roll around in the grass? Or take a nap? Or stare at paint drying? Whatever the heck I can do that isn’t reading through this.” She lifted the huge study guide that must have been the size of her head. She dropped it on the ground.
I half expected it would create an earthquake.
We sat outside on the bright green lawn outside the science building. I was done with classes for the day, so Maddy met up with me to study. Except we never really studied much whenever we got together. I was almost grateful I had only met Maddy this semester. If I met her freshman year, we would have likely failed out of multiple classes.
“Want some coffee?” I asked, stretching my arms and yawning. “’Cause I do.”
“Sure. Get me one with an extra shot of espresso. Two extra shots.”
I stood and walked around the carpet of green grass, following the path that led to Bean Necessities, one of the coffee carts around campus that had some of the best damn drinks I’d ever tasted. Especially their vanilla bean. That shit was out of this world.
“Hey, Austin,” I said, greeting the barista. We were already on a first-name basis. “How’s it going?”
“Alright,” he said, his cheeks getting slightly red to match his hair. He had a dusting of freckles and an incredibly shy demeanor. I liked him.
“What ya reading lately?” I pointed at his Kindle on the cart. Austin always had it with him. I wasn’t a huge reader, but I could appreciate someone who had the ability to get lost in a book. I could do the same with plays and scripts, but when it came to reading fiction, my brain tended to drift.
“Flowers of the Diamond Sun. A high fantasy romance novel. Just came out a few days ago. Good stuff.”
“Do they all get high in it?”
Austin laughed at that. “No, not yet, at least. High fantasy means it’s set in another world than ours. With castles and dragons and witches and stuff. The romance comes with the smut.”
That got a belly laugh out of me. “Sounds good. Maybe I’ll pick it up later.”
“You should. Let me know what you think about it.”
I promised I would before ordering the coffee. I walked back to our spot on the lawn, the sun beaming bright and warming my hands almost as much as the coffee. Maddy took hers in both hands with a grateful dip of her head and started to sip. I sat across from her, closing my notebook and leaning back.
My show was tonight. I had one last rehearsal in an hour, and then it’d be opening night. I should have been going over some last-minute things, but all I could do was keep thinking about Ryan and what happened between us the other day. The dam had broken, my basement completely flooded, my heart shot through with Cupid’s arrow.
It meant trouble.
“You missed some drama at the beach cleanup the other day.”
“Oh?” I asked. “What happened?”
“Well, Everly, the TA, was there, and so was Professor Sinclair. Something happened between them, I think. There was some secret touching or something. I’m not a hundred percent sure on the deets, but whatever happened spooked the professor because he had a pretty sudden exit.”
“Ooookay, that really doesn’t tell me anything.”
“I didn’t say I knew all the tea,” Maddy said with a shrug. “I just think something’s going on.”
“Did you guys pick up a lot of trash?”
“About twenty-five bags’ worth.”
“Good,” I said, sipping the coffee. There were notes of vanilla and lavender, with a dash of cinnamon. Shit was heaven in a cup.
“I think I want to set something up there. A protest to try and stop the drilling project… Why didn’t you come? Were you fooling around with your new boy toy slash roomie?”
“No, he was at practice.”
“Ah, so if he wasn’t, you two would be fooling around?” She crossed her arms, covering the FU letters on her purple-and-gold shirt.
“…Maybe.”
“Mhmm,” Maddy said. “We’re circling back to that, but first, what do you think about a Beacon’s Bay protest on the beach?”
My stomach twisted like a pretzel. “I’m not good with open bodies of water. I can maybe help you organize it, but I don’t think I can show up.” Even talking about it started making my palms sweat, my chest tighten.
I sucked in a deep breath. I tried to focus on the firm and solid ground underneath my feet. Therapy had given me the tools to deal with the pain of losing my dad and the survivor’s guilt that came with it, but I still wasn’t fully healed from it.
“You okay? You’re a little pale there.”
“I’m…” The world started to spin. I tasted salt water in my mouth. Could hear lightning clapping in the far distance. Up and down. Up and down. The salt burned my eyes. Or was that the tears?