“Come on. It’ll be fun. I could use the break.” Juliet grinned. “Besides, I want to watch you prancing around your town with your new boy toy.”
“Prancing? Boy toy? You girls are insane.”
“We’re coming whether you like it or not.”
“My house isn’t that big.” We had a study that doubled as a guestroom, but that wasn’t going to house four people.
“The guys can stay at Colt’s house, or we could get a hotel.”
“A hotel? Do you realize how small Gasden is?”
“You have to have a hotel.”
“We do have an inn, but I promise it’s booked for Fall Fest.”
“We’ll sleep on your floor. The guys can stay with Colt. It’s set.”
“What if Colt doesn’t want them to?”
“He’s a pledge. Like he’s going to tell the pledge master and president that they can’t crash at his house?”
I sighed. “Is this really that important to you guys?”
“Yes!” they both yelled.
Cara grinned. “It’s going to be epic.”
“Gasden and epic don’t belong in the same sentence.” With a population of 1500 on a good day, Gasden boasted all of four traffic lights.
Juliet flipped some hair off her shoulder. “You are completely exaggerating about your town being small. I bet we’ll get there and it’s going to be the size of Bethesda.”
I laughed dryly. “Yeah, not quite. I’ll call my mom. If she says yes, then you guys can stay. The guys will have to talk to Colt.”
“I’ll handle that.” Cara picked up her phone. She didn’t need to tell me she was about to text Aaron.
“Wait. I can’t let them ambush Colt. I’ll call him.”
I grabbed my phone and called.
“Hey, pumpkin.” He still insisted on calling me that, but it was getting less annoying for some reason.
“Hey. Don’t hate me for this.”
“Uh oh. What is it?”
“My roommates invited themselves and the guys to Fall Fest.”
“And I’d hate you for that because…?”
“I think the guys are going to insist on staying with you. My parents won’t let them all stay at my house.”
“That’s not a problem. You know we have plenty of room.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’ll tell Aaron and Reed when I see them. Just promise me one thing?”
“Yeah?”
“We’ll still get some time together. I really want us to have some quality time away from campus.”
“My bet is they’ll get scared and run away the first night.” I looked right at the girls.
Juliet threw a pillow at me. “Not a chance. You make it sound like you don’t have running water.”
“You mean you guys had modern plumbing in your houses?”
“Oh, stop.” Cara laughed.
“Can I see you later?” Colt pulled my attention back.
“Maybe.” I tried to hold in a smile. I didn’t need to give my roommates any other ammo. They didn’t need to know just how much I wanted to see him. After giving them a hard time for months, I was due for payback.
“Only maybe? Didn’t my performance last night qualify me for an automatic yes?”
I tried to hide the blush I knew was crossing my face. “I’ll call you later.”
“Oh, go have sex with your boyfriend.” Juliet pushed my shoulder.
“Hey.”
“Hey, what? You’ve given me a hard time about Reed for months.”
“Tell Juliet she’s the best. I’ll be by in twenty.” Colton obviously heard her.
“And where are we going?”
“Our spot. I’ll even bring the ice cream.”
Colton knew the way to my heart. The mingling of his lips and Miss Lawson’s ice cream was irresistible. “Sounds great. See you soon.” I hung up.
“So cute,” Juliet said in this sugary sweet voice.
“Aren’t you guys supposed to be at the Kappa house?”
“Sorry, honey, but we pay dues here too.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I couldn’t stop smiling. Colton and ice cream may just have been my favorite combination.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Riding in cars puts me to sleep. There’s nothing I can do to stop it. Colton had happily accepted my keys and agreed to drive my truck back to town for Fall Fest. Aaron drove the others, and we caravanned the three hour drive. I tried to stay awake and enjoy some uninterrupted quality time with Colton, but my eyes drooped closed a few minutes in. By the time I woke up, we were already nearly back in town.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” Colton smiled at me when I finally opened my eyes.
I rubbed my eyes, noticing that the sun had started to set. “I’m so sorry. I really tried to stay awake.”
“It’s fine. You needed sleep. How late were you up studying for your econ test last night?”
“Until two.” Unfortunately, all the studying didn’t seem to help. I’d be lucky if I got a “B” on the exam. I couldn’t afford a “B” in econ. I was going to have to start pushing it harder.
“That’s what I figured. You seemed pretty nervous.”
“I was. I had no idea intermediate micro econ would be so hard. I can’t even imagine what advanced would be like.”
“Do you have to take advanced for your business major?”
“No. I’ll be done with econ after this. Thank goodness.”
“Nice. I think I’m stopping with intro. I can think of a million more interesting things to study.”
“Have you decided on a major yet? Still leaning towards English?” Colt seemed to change his mind about it all the time.
“Yeah, I think so, but I’m not going to officially declare it until next year.” He turned off at the all too familiar exit.
I took a deep breath. Going home filled me with such mixed emotions.
“Stay calm, pumpkin. It’s just Gasden.”
“Gasden with four friends from school.” We passed the lone gas station. They still didn’t accept credit cards at the pump.
“Are you sure that’s what has you nervous? It’s not coming home with us as an item for the first time?” He looked in the rearview mirror, probably making sure Aaron was following.
“Why? Are you nervous about that?” I stared out at the crowded parking lot of the diner. By the looks of the place, half the town was there.