Total pages in book: 65
Estimated words: 59489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 297(@200wpm)___ 238(@250wpm)___ 198(@300wpm)
When I finished my breakfast, I dropped off the plate and waved to Stella before heading to my first class. My backpack slung over one arm, I crossed campus and saw little spots where sharp memories of embracing Kristen bubbled up. A place where we’d sat for a picnic. A place where we’d kissed because the courtyard was empty, and we were locking up her office before leaving. A place where we exchanged notes as we passed each other, and I ran back to my next class to read them.
I still had them folded up tightly in my wallet.
One class bled into another, and before long I was eating lunch and preparing to go study in the library just beside the commons. I found myself sitting by one of the fast-food places, an unappetizing looking burger and fries on the table in front of me and realizing that I knew I had been to classes today, I just couldn’t remember anything about them. I might as well have just stared at a wall all day for how much good it had done me.
I tried to shake it off, caffeinating myself with a sugary soda and shoving fries dipped in barbeque sauce down my throat.
Eating quickly, I packed up the rest of my things and headed for the library next door. At least I could get something accomplished today if I could get some of my studying done. I had index cards, my laptop, several pens, and one of the last remaining physical books in the college for the course. I planned on getting it all in my head before I left with a simple memorization technique and then going home to work in the field all day while quizzing myself. I had a feeling it would work.
But on the way to the library, my brain went right back to Kristen. It stayed there as I sat down and methodically pulled out all my things and sat them on the desk around me. By all rights, I should have been set up and ready to go, but I just couldn’t stop thinking about her. I had to see her. Soon.
Maybe I could take a trip up there as a surprise. I could even do it today. It wasn’t like I had classes the next day, since that was my day off, and a five-hour or so drive wasn’t too bad. I could do that rather quickly, go spend the night with her, then come home in time to finish studying for the test. Maybe she could even help me study, using the ‘assign terms to parts of my body’ technique she had used once before when neither of us wanted to get out of bed or put on clothes, but I had a test in the morning. It had worked extremely well, even though I’d had a hard-on the entire test.
That was it then. I was going to go see her. I was going to drop in as a surprise, and by the time dinner rolled around, we would be sitting in a restaurant near campus up there.
I closed the book and was about to reach for the laptop when the door opened, and my eyes went to it. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and for a moment, I could only blink.
14
KRISTEN
The look on Camden's face when he first saw me was everything I'd hoped for as I was driving back home. I didn't know for sure how he was going to react to me coming back, so I'd decided not to tell him about it. I wanted the opportunity to explain the whole thing to him face to face rather than telling him about it over the phone.
Once everything was settled with the coordinator at Van Hope, everything moved even more quickly than when I’d first gotten the new position. We had to piece everything together from scratch, building the vision I had in my head without much to go on but the idea.
But it happened. Everything was falling into place, and I was home. There was a ton of work ahead, and I knew it was going to be hard, but I was ready for it. I was finally feeling the excitement that was lacking from starting at the university. I'd had to find the path for myself, cutting it through the dense obstacles of what was already established when necessary. Rather than being intimidated by all that was still ahead of me, I was looking forward to it. I wanted to see what I could do and the difference it would make.
As excited as I was about this new venture, and about being near Camden again, I knew there was the possibility our reunion wasn't going to go the way I’d hoped. I was still holding on to the feeling that he hadn't been so concerned about me leaving and knew there was the chance he could either not care much that I was back or even be uncomfortable with it. The time apart was short, but it could have given him the chance to see he didn't really want a relationship with me.