Finding You (By You #3)
Read Finding You (By You #3) Online
Authors: Kelly Harper
Finding You
A
By You
Novel
by
Kelly Harper
FINDING YOU copyright 2014 by Kelly Harper
FINDING YOU is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author, Kelly Harper
For more information about Kelly Harper, please follow her on twitter
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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your favorite online retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents
Because sometimes love can save your life.
"
Ms. Miller? Ms. Miller, are you there?
"
The sound of her name snapped Sarah's thoughts to attention. Her elbow nearly slid off the desk and she fumbled the iPad in her hands, only barely catching it before it crashed to the ground. A soft snicker echoed through the class as they all watched her try to compose herself.
"I'm sorry, what was the question?" she said.
Get it together. You're making a fool of yourself.
"Nice of you to join us," Professor Dilson said, an unamused smile stitched to his face. "We are all hoping you can tell us what your midterm is about?"
"Oh, of course," she said. She started clicking through the apps on her iPad, frantically trying to remember which she used when she'd started writing it. Of course, the one time she had to start daydreaming, was when her teacher was going around the class asking for stuff.
"Can you at least tell us the title?" he asked. He snatched the glasses off his face and used the end of his shirt to clean them. "Perhaps you'd rather we come back around to you?"
She wasn't going to be winning any brownie points for her organizational skills. The weight of all of the eyes on her reminded her of those times back home, in the river, when the current was so strong it would sweet you away before you could grab a hold of anything.
The river--that's it!
"The title is
The Rushing Green
," she said, looking up from the tablet.
Dilson set the glasses back on his nose and gave her a stern look.
"And what is
The Rushing Green
about?" he asked.
"It's about my hometown--Green Falls. About what it's like spending the summers on the river."
The professor cocked an eyebrow at her and scratched at his chin, leaving her nerves on edge.
"As I'm sure you'll recall, Ms. Miller, you're in a
creative
writing class. The point of the midterm isn't to write an autobiography."
Even more snickers went through the class, encouraged by the condescension in his tone.
"Right, of course," she said. Her cheeks were burning pink. "I just...it's not about me, it's about a girl named Estelle."
"Quite nice, but I'd still like to see you put perhaps a
little
more effort into something. I trust you'll be better prepared to share it with us next week?"
He raised his eyebrows at her, as though challenging her to make an even bigger fool of herself.
"Of course," she sputtered. "I'll have something new next week.
Thankfully, Dilson must have thought she'd had enough for one day, because he turned his target toward another helpless victim. Sarah wanted to sink into the deepest, darkest hole she could find. Now everyone knew, just as well as she did, that she didn't belong there. Maybe she'd been wrong to stick around after everything that had happened with Huck.
When the bell rang and class was dismissed, Sarah all but ran out of the building as fast as she could. She had to put some distance between herself and her humiliation. Her classes were done for the afternoon, and she had every intention of hiding out in her dorm room until it was time to go to sleep.
You need to get your act together or you're never going to make it.
She considered, again, that she should have just left weeks ago before classes had even started. After everything with Huck, there really wasn't any reason that she should have stayed in Houston--even her mom had tried to talk her into coming back home.
"
Sarah?
" a voice called out.
Sarah let out a startled scream as someone grabbed her shoulder from behind. When she spun around and saw who it was--saw that sexy, perfect face--her stomach curdled and tensed like she was going to get sick.
* * * * *
"Jeremy," Sarah stammered, brushing a handful of her blonde hair out of her face. "You startled me."
She could kick herself. Of course she had to be in such a hurry to get home that she didn't even realize someone was trying to talk to her. Her day didn't look like it was going to be getting better any time soon.
"I was starting to think you were ignoring me," he said, grinning.
His crystal blue eyes locked onto hers in a way that made her forget what she was thinking. He had a backpack slung over one shoulder, and the muscles in his forearm twitched as he shifted its weight around.
"Sorry, I guess I wasn't paying attention. It's been a rough morning so far."
His mouth curled in a half-smile, though she couldn't figure out for the life of her what he was always smiling about.
"That's not what I was talking about," he said, with a quick shake of his head. "It's been weeks and you never called. I was starting to think you got abducted or something."
Sarah let out a small laugh while her stomach twisted into nervous knots.
"Oh, God no. No abductions for me, thank you." She shook her head. "I was going to--it's just that everything's been so crazy, lately. Classes are keeping me busier than I thought they would."
It was a lie, but she hoped that he couldn't tell. She hadn't lost his number or anything, she'd just been focusing on herself for the past few weeks. After everything that had happened, she wasn't very interested in making friends with the opposite sex anytime soon.
Jeremy clutched a hand to his chest and winced.
"I thought we had a good thing going," he said, his face twisted in mock pain.
Sarah let out another laugh. "Stop it, you know it's not like that."
The smile returned to Jeremy's face and she couldn't help but notice how his eyes looked her up and down. But the smile didn't last long before fading away.
"Don't worry, there's no hard feelings. I know you have a boyfriend and all, I was just hoping you were still interested in being friends."
Anger flared up in her at the mention of her
boyfriend
, but she reeled it in, quickly. She should just tell Jeremy the truth--that she and Huck were done--but she didn't want him getting the wrong idea. He'd already made it clear that he was interested in her, and he might think that he had a shot now that she was single.
But he was right. They had only seen each other a few times since they'd met, but they'd had fun. He was easy to talk to, and he had a way of listening to her like he actually cared about what she had to say. Maybe making a new friend wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen?
"It's not like that--I promise."
Jeremy studied her, his eyes narrowing with consideration. His cheek twitched as his lips pinched together, and he nodded as though he'd come to some conclusion.
"Fine, you're forgiven for blowing me off." The playful grin returned to his face and he took a step closer to her, leaning down to whisper something. "But, you're going to have to make it up to me."
Sarah's eyes widened as unwanted thoughts and images flashed in her head. Jeremy leaned away again and she hoped he didn't see the burning in her cheeks.
"Make it up to you?" she said.
"That's right. But don't worry, I'm a pretty fair guy, even when my ego has been trampled..."
"I didn't trample anything--"
He held up a hand, cutting her off. "Coffee, at three." He gave her another grin, and even winked, before adding, "Just as friends, of course. Don't be late--my ego can't handle being trampled twice by the same girl."
Without warning, he turned and started walking away from her. Sarah stared after him for a second, speechless.
"Hey, wait," she yelled. "Where are we meeting?"
Jeremy turned but kept walking backwards. He tilted his chin toward her. "You have my phone number still, right? Text me and I'll let you know."
He flashed her one more grin before turning away and picking up his pace. Sarah watched him until he disappeared between a couple buildings, flustered and confused by everything that had just happened.
Did she really just agree to go on a coffee date with him? She muttered and cursed at herself while she walked back to her dorm. She wasn't sure if she was more upset at herself for agreeing to meet up with him or because she didn't tell him that she was single. Either way, the day didn't look like it was going to be getting better any time soon.
"Wait, who's Jeremy again?"
Reagan sat on top of her desk with her feet propped up on the back of her chair. She stroked her toenails with a brush, coloring them a lovely shade of purple.
Sarah leaned against Reagan's bed, watching as her friend judged the merits of each stroke of her brush. They'd met on one of their first nights after moving into the dorms, and they'd become fast friends.
"I've told you about him. He's the guy I was kind of talking to when we first moved in."
"I thought his name was Huck?" Reagan asked, without looking up.
"No, that's my cheating bastard of an ex."
"Oh, right," Reagan said, still distracted by her nail polish. But she stopped mid-stroke, and looked at Sarah. "Wait, isn't Jeremy the guy that was totally hitting on you? Didn't you shut him down real hard?"
Sarah let out a groan. Maybe Reagan had been paying more attention than she'd given her credit for.
"I was dating the already-mentioned bastard of an ex-boyfriend at the time. What was I supposed to say?"
It's not like Sarah knew at the time that Huck was cheating on her. She wondered how different things might have been if she
did
know that, at the time. Would she even still be at Franklin?
"At least it sounds like he's still interested if you're going on a date with him."
"It's not a date--it's coffee," Sarah said, harder than she intended.
Reagan considered it for a second, and then gave a decided flick of her wrist.
"Sounds like a date to me."
Sarah let out a groan.
"He doesn't even know I'm single. He even said that we're getting coffee
just as friends
."
Reagan frowned, giving her a confused look.
"Why didn't you tell him?"
"What was I supposed to say? It just didn't come up."
"You should make sure it does come up when you two are getting coffee. Who knows, maybe he's still interested?"
Sarah scowled at the idea of
needing
to tell him
anything
. Besides, it's not like she was head over heels in love with him. Why couldn't it just be a nice cup of coffee with a new friend? Why did it have to be something more than that? But the way he looked at her did make her wonder. And the easy way he smiled at her, like there wasn't anyone else around, did make her think things.
She shook herself out of it. She had to focus. She was at Franklin to go to school, not to go all boy crazy just because she was single, again.
"Guys are dumb," she said, finally.
"Now
that
is something we can agree on," Reagan laughed.
Sarah watched her for another minute, her mind still doing battle with what to make of the whole Jeremy situation, all the while growing more frustrated that she thought it was a situation in the first place.
It's just coffee. Get over it.
"Where's Tate been? I haven't seen him lately," Sarah asked, changing the subject.
Reagan rolled her eyes, but a knowing smirk tugged at the corner of her lips.
"Who knows? Probably with whatever guy he's got his little paws around this week."
Sarah let out a laugh. "Sounds like he's making the most of his college experience."
Reagan gave an emphatic nod. "I think he was actually proud when I call him a man-whore."
"Well at least he's having a good time," Sarah said.