In Too Hard (Freshman Roommates Trilogy, Book 3) Page 20

  His hands dropped back to his sides. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he murmured and left me standing in confusion as he went to open the door.

  “We’re here to move your stuff,” came a voice from the other side of the door once Billy had opened it. From my angle I couldn’t see the man.

  “Now? This isn’t a really good time,” Billy said.

  “This is when we were scheduled to be here.”

  Billy ran his hand through his hair. “I know. Well, I forgot actually, but yeah. Can you give me a few minutes at least?”

  A pause, then, “We can do the office next to you first, but then we need to do this one. That’s all for this floor.”

  “Thanks. Yeah, okay. I just need a few minutes is all,” Billy said.

  “It’ll take us about forty-five to get the other office done, if that.” Billy was nodding and thanking the man again. “Office two-thirty-three? That’s the one you’re moving to?” the man added.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Billy said. “I know it’s two down from Corrine Patterson’s.”

  “Yep, that’s it. Okay, see you shortly,” the man said and Billy thanked him again, then closed the door. He put his hand against the wall and took a deep breath, then turned back to me.

  “What’s going on?” I asked. “They’re not here to move your stuff to New York?”

  The smile was back, but still so tentative. “No, not New York. They’re moving my stuff to my new office upstairs.”

  I still wasn’t getting it. “Seems like a stupid time to assign you to a new office, right before the end of the semester.” He shrugged. “Why don’t they just wait until you go back to New York? Less to move, if they still want the furniture and stuff upstairs.”

  He took another step to me, standing right in front of me, only an arm’s length away. I ached to be this close to him and still not be able to touch him. “Because I’m not going back to New York, Syd. I’m staying here at Bribury. I’m going to teach next year too. I’m going to stay for a while. I just agreed to an offer from the dean yesterday.”

  “Wow, you’re sure getting the deals lately,” I said. My mind was already whirring with thoughts of how I’d need to map out my classes next year so I could avoid seeing Billy around campus. I’d thought I’d just needed to get through a couple more weeks of knowing the man I loved was on my little campus, and yet so, so far away from me.

  “Yeah, I guess,” he said. “Actually, I first approached the dean about me staying on, but he was very receptive to the idea.”

  “Of course he was, you’re a great catch for Bribury,” I said. I didn’t add that he was a great catch for anybody.

  “Thanks.” He just stared down at me, not saying anything, causing an incredibly awkward silence. At least it seemed awkward to me.

  “So, okay. I guess if you don’t need me to proofread I’ll head out. Congrats on the book again. And, good luck here at Bribury…”

  “Wait, Syd.” As I walked past him he reached out and took my arm just above my hand, his touch cool on my flushed skin. “Christ, I am totally messing this up,” he said. He chuckled. “I should have written what I wanted to say.”

  I held very still, not daring to guess what he’d planned to say. But hoping. I couldn’t stop the hoping. “What did you want to say, Billy?” I said softly.

  “I’m staying because of you, Syd. Yes, I found I really loved teaching, but I could do it anywhere. You’re at Bribury. So I’m staying at Bribury.” Another deep breath from him, his exhale shaky. “And I’m going to fight like hell to get you back, Sydney O’Brien.”

  I slid my arm up, still in his hold, until our hands met and I laced my fingers with his. “That’s going to be a pretty short battle,” I said, squeezing his hand.

  He tugged me to him and I fell into his arms. His mouth was on mine and I returned his kiss, two months of pent up frustration finally bursting free.

  His arms around me, his taste, the soft breaths he took… All so sweet, all so familiar, all so…mine.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck and moved my body closer into his, feeling his already growing erection against me.

  He broke away. “Before we go further—and let me just say that we’re definitely going to be using the last forty-five minutes we’ve got with that couch very wisely—I need to tell you something.”

  “You named your main character after me. You’re staying at Bribury. And you’ve got me back in your arms. What more could you possibly have to tell me?”

  He smiled. The smile that had been in the photo I’d printed at the library, and the smile in the picture on his desk, now packed away. The smile I’d loved for years before I ever saw it in person. The smile I would love forever.

  “I love you, Syd,” he said.

  “I love you too, Billy.” I ran my hands across his shoulders and buried them in his hair. Yep, my knuckles brushed against the bottom of his neck. Dead-on.

  He kissed me again and then broke away, placed his forehead against mine and said, “I’m a writer, I probably should have come up with something more original than just ‘I love you, Syd,’ right?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t mess with the classics.”

  Epilogue

  Syd

  It was our job to bring the pizza, so Billy and I were the last to show up at Lucas’s apartment for New Year’s Eve. Jane, Lily and I had talked about going out, but had ended up wanting to spend the evening together—all of us—where we could just hang out and eat, drink and be merry.

  We still lived together for our sophomore year, though in an off-campus apartment instead of the dorms, but with our classes, work, and…relationships, we didn’t see each other all that much, so had made a point of doing New Year’s Eve together.

  I was sure the evening would break up right after midnight, knowing each of the couples would want to be alone to truly ring in the new year together. Because our apartment was only two bedrooms (Lily and Jane shared, since they were used to each other), we’d figured it would make more sense to start at one of the guys’ apartments and then split up, instead of at our place.

  We couldn’t go to Billy’s place, being underage students who would be drinking. Which was fine with me. We could do the countdown thing and take off. Go back to his place to be alone, not having to wait for everyone to clear out like Lucas and Lily would. Although, Stick’s apartment was in the same building, just down the hall, so he and Jane wouldn’t have much of a journey home.

  I guessed the apartment we were partying in tonight used to belong to a friend of Stick’s who had been pregnant. When she got married to the baby’s father, she’d moved out and Lucas had moved in, his mother well enough to be able to take care of his little brother on her own.

  That meant that our apartment would be available later tonight, but I hadn’t offered it up to Billy when he’d picked me up. I loved staying at his place, being surrounded by his book collection (even though he mostly read on an ereader), seeing his notes all over the place, even slipping back into my old ways and organizing them for him from time to time. But it wasn’t years’ worth this time, only a day or two. And they weren’t from different scattered ideas, but all pertaining to his current work in progress.

  His apartment turned out to be not far from ours, easy walking distance. A quick walk home in the morning to shower and change, say hi to the girls (and sometimes Stick or Lucas if they’d spent the night), and then an easy walk to campus. Jane had her car with her, but seldom took it to campus since the commuter lot was almost as far away from her first class as our apartment was. Mostly she used it to visit Stick on the other side of Schoolport or when we had to get a load of food, though her sporty Corvette wasn’t a great grocery-getter.

  I spent most nights at Billy’s place, but I didn’t move in nor did I keep my clothes there, though he’d asked me to both. Just a toothbrush. I thought we both needed some boundaries. Plus, he’d been making noises about looking at a house, using some of the advance he’d rece
ived for Down in Flames. He’d put his Manhattan apartment into a long-term sublet. It seemed like he was content to stay in Schoolport and at Bribury for the foreseeable future.

  A decision I was obviously behind. At least for the next three years, then we’d see where we were at. I was certain we would still be together, and would be for a long time, but I wanted to see what opportunities existed for me after school.

  Billy had disclosed our relationship to the dean of his department and to Bribury HR when they’d negotiated his long-term employment. They hadn’t been thrilled to know he was dating a student, but they did appreciate his candor, and the fact that he and I hadn’t started dating until I was out of his class. As I was no longer his employee, they agreed to, in essence, look the other way where we were concerned.

  The reality was, news of his record-breaking deal had just hit the papers when they’d offered him a chance to stay. It was a huge feather in Bribury’s cap to have such a renowned author on staff. I thought he could have demanded free sexual access to the entire incoming freshman class and they probably would have said yes.

  But he hadn’t asked for it. He’d asked only for access to me.

  And I honestly think he was prepared to walk if they’d said no.

  I’d been worried that teaching as a profession (rather than a just year-long experiment) would cut into Billy’s writing now that he was back on track. But that wasn’t the case at all.

  “About time, I’m starving,” Jane said, taking the pizzas from Billy’s arms and setting them on the kitchen table. “Booze is on the counter, beer’s in the fridge,” she said.

  “Beer?” I asked Billy. When he nodded, I handed him my coat to put with his while I grabbed two beers from Lucas’s refrigerator. By the contents of said fridge, I’d say Lily spent a lot of time here with him and it was stocked with all her favorites.

  Billy handed our coats to Lucas, who took them down the hall and into a room. Stick and Billy did the handshake thing. They’d met several times and got along fine, but Billy had certainly not become the third musketeer to Stick and Lucas. Not with his full schedule of classes and writing. And me.

  We ate and drank and talked, with the television tuned to Times Square as background noise. At one point I caught Billy watching the show and he turned to me with a smile, both of us remembering last year at this time when he’d sat on the terrace of his parents’ apartment and we could hear the city behind us as we FaceTimed.

  As we neared midnight, I saw Jane nudging Stick and him giving her a face. Not exactly new behavior for the two of them. “If you don’t, I will,” Jane hissed at Stick. “Fine,” he said back to her.

  She left the room and went down the hall, coming back with her backpack in her hands. She pulled out a book and brought it over to where Billy and I sat. I recognized the cover art for Down in Flames right away. The newly added “#1 New York Times Bestseller” printed large at the top.

  “Here,” she said, pushing the book at Billy. “I got this for Stick for Christmas. Will you sign it?”

  “Uh…yeah, sure, of course,” Billy said, somewhat flustered. Jane pulled a Sharpie out of her bag and handed it to him. “Just…to you, Stick?”

  As Stick was nodding, Jane said, “Sign it to Patrick.”

  “Christ, Jane,” Stick said under his breath.

  Jane only gave him her lethal smile and pointed to the book. “Patrick,” she said again to Billy.

  Not willing to get in the middle of it, Billy quickly signed the book and handed it back to Jane. She put it back in her bag, thanked Billy and put her bag in the corner of the room, next to some kids’ toy that must have belonged to Lucas’s little brother.

  “Thanks for thinking of the book as a gift for Stick,” Billy said to Jane as she grabbed another slice of pizza.

  “Sure thing. I don’t think he’s read it yet, though. I told him Down in Flames was about some nutso pyro who burned everything to the ground, just so Stick would start it, but he caught on pretty quickly.”

  “Ha. Ha,” Stick said, glaring at her.

  “Well, uh, thanks anyways,” Billy said.

  “You’re welcome,” she said. “Besides…it’s not the only gift I gave him.” She looked over her shoulder at Stick who quickly lost the glare, his whole face softening as he returned Jane’s grin.

  “As always, Fun with Stick and Jane,” Lucas said. He and Lily shared a look like indulgent parents of misbehaving children. Then their look turned heated, intimate, and I looked away.

  Midnight came and we did the countdown and kisses, keeping it clean. Mostly clean. There were some roaming hands and shuddered breaths in the room, but we all kept it to a minimum.

  “Okay,” Stick said once the kissing was over. Or, over…for now. “Let’s get going,” he said to Jane. To Lucas and Lily he added, “Thanks for everything. I’ll come over tomorrow and help clean up. Or at least to eat cold pizza.”

  “Not too early,” Lucas said.

  We all started to rise, when Lily gave a little chirp. “Oh! Oh, wait. I totally forgot. I wanted to do this right before midnight. Hang on, don’t leave yet.” She walked down the hall and into what I assumed was Lucas’s bedroom.

  Jane and I gave each other questioning glances, but it was obvious neither of us knew what Lily was up to. Until she came back into view carrying what looked like envelopes.

  “Oh, shit,” Jane said. “Lily, we are not—”

  “Yes we are,” Lily said. It came to me just as she handed me the envelope with my name on the front.

  “Oh yeah, I forgot about this,” I said. “I can’t even remember how the sentence started.”

  “This time next year I will be…” Lily and Jane recited together.

  “Right.”

  “I’ll go first,” Lily said, ripping open her envelope and pulling out a sheet of paper, which she quickly unfolded.

  “We are not reading these out loud,” Jane said defiantly, but Lily kept going.

  “This time next year I will…” She smiled down at the paper. God, she was a beautiful girl. “Still be madly in love with Lucas Kade.”

  “Oh, gross,” Jane exclaimed.

  “Lame,” I added.

  “Boo,” from Stick.

  Billy just leaned back and spread his arms along the back of the loveseat we shared, keeping quiet.

  “Damn straight you are,” Lucas said. “And right back at you.”

  Lily leaned over and kissed him, then looked up at me. “Who’s next? Syd?”

  “Man, I can’t even remember what I put,” I said. We’d done this little exercise the night before Montrose had asked me to stay after class, so I was sure there wasn’t anything embarrassing about him on my paper. I opened it up and read, “This time next year I will…not be afraid that I don’t fit in at Bribury.”

  Silence. “Who’s lame now?” Jane finally said. “Of course you fit in at Bribury. You always did.”

  I gave a grateful look at Jane who just rolled her eyes at me. “Get a grip,” she said.

  Billy rubbed on my back. “And? Did it come true?” he asked.

  I nodded, then smiled at him. “Yes.”

  “Good,” Stick said. “Still, kind of anticlimactic. Here’s hoping you’ve got a good one, Jane.”

  “Yeah. No. I think I’ll just keep mine private, thank you very much,” Jane said.

  “Oh, come on,” Lily said. “It’s just for fun.”

  “Is it about me?” Stick said, grabbing at her envelope, which Jane held out of his reach.

  “Don’t be an idiot. We did these last year.”

  “Yeah, but we danced at your sister’s wedding before New Year’s.”

  “But we filled these out before we left for break.”

  “Oh,” Stick said, sitting back in his seat.

  “Come on, Jane, read it. We all read ours,” I said.

  She looked at me and quirked an eyebrow, then ripped open her envelope, looked at her paper and read out loud, “This time next year I wi
ll…have finally banged Montrose.” There was a tiny gasp from Lily as she looked over at me, trying to gauge my reaction. “And he’ll beg for more,” Jane finished reading and looked at me with a “happy now?” look.

  There was an awkward silence and I could see Stick clench his hands, as if making fists. I felt Billy fidget next to me, and a small “Jesus,” escaped under his breath.

  But Jane, Jane who had learned a thing or two about diplomacy this past summer on the campaign trail (where she’d helped her father win), while still staying true to herself, stood up, and walked the few steps across the small living room to where Billy and I sat.

  “Let me see yours,” she said, holding her hand out. I gave her my piece of paper. “Envelope too,” she said and I complied. She took a cursory glance at them, not even being able to read them as I’d handed them to her face down.

  “Oh, Lily,” Jane said, not looking behind her at Lily. “You beautiful, beautiful fool.” As Lily was saying “Hey!” Jane continued. “You got Syd’s and mine mixed up.” She handed me her paper and envelope, clearly labeled “Jane” on the front. “Here Syd, this one was yours. You had mine.” She turned and waltzed back to the large, overstuffed chair she shared with Stick. Sitting on his lap, she slung an arm around his shoulders. “See, just a mix-up. All is right with the world.”

  Everybody smiled and then outright laughed.

  “Yeah, that sounds a lot more like it,” Billy said as he wrapped an arm around me and pulled me close to his side. “I have definitely begged Syd for more at times.”

  We all laughed, and the party went on until the three of us girls decided to call it a night.

  And go home with the men we loved.

  Indeed, all was right with the world.

  ~*~

  Have you tried Mara Jacobs’ Worth Series?

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