Following You (The By You Series) (10 page)

Sarah didn't know what she would do if Huck broke up with her--she'd never even considered it a possibility. Reagan finished what was left of her drink with one huge gulp and it on the nightstand.

"You gotta talk to him. Find out what's going on in his head."

"But, I've tried that. He just clams up and gets annoyed with me."

Reagan gave her a soft look, and shook her head. "Then you've got to be ready to walk away. I don't know what it's like in Green Falls, but there are literally millions of guys in this city. I've been told that some of them are even single, attractive,
and
intelligent--but all evidence to the contrary, so far."

Sarah tried to smile at the joke, but she was too busy worrying about what she was going to do. She didn't want a million guys--she just wanted one.

Reagan watched her for a while in silence. Sarah was thankful she'd met someone that was willing to sit and listen to her problems. Even if they couldn't solve anything together, it was good to get everything off her chest.

"I feel bad for keeping you so long. I'm sure everyone's wondering where you are," Sarah said.

"You should come with me," Reagan said. "It's not going to do you any good to sit here by yourself when you could be out there having fun with us."

"I don't think I'd be much fun, right now," Sarah said. "I need to figure out what I'm going to do."

Reagan gave her a serious look. "You're not going to figure anything out tonight. Just bring one of those bottles with you and you'll be the life of the party."

It didn't take long for Sarah to make up her mind. Reagan was right. She wasn't going to figure anything out sitting in her room alone. Some drinking and having fun might be the perfect thing to distract her for the night.

Sarah leaned over and grabbed the two bottles, again. "So who should be my date to the party? The Captain or Mr. Daniels?" she asked, grinning.

"Definitely Mr. Daniels," Reagan laughed. "Tate will make sure this is a night none of us remember."

"Well, we better not keep him waiting any longer," Sarah said.

She grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels and the girls darted out of the room. A night she couldn't remember was exactly what Sarah needed.

Jeremy strolled through the aisles of the campus bookstore with no real purpose. He had told himself he needed to pick up some last minute school supplies, but really he just wanted to be out in the world. It was a beautiful day, and he was starting to get used to being out among the people again. There was only so much of being cooped up alone in his dorm room that he could take.

He found himself walking through the Art and Travel section when one book in particular caught his eye. He stared at it for a full minute, trying to convince himself to ignore it, before curiosity got the better of him. It wouldn't hurt to flip through it, just once, for old time's sake.

The Backpacker's Guide to Europe

A Guide to Getting Lost in Time

He ran his fingers over the lettering on the cover. It was like his fingers had a memory all their own, because he was instantly taken back in time. A flood of memories came to him all at once. He remembered sitting on the hood of his car with Dani while they looked at the pictures and she told him about the places she wanted to see. She was always talking about one museum or other, and he liked to tease her about it. Cracking the book open, he saw the page with the map of Europe. A dotted line snaked its way through the continent, hitting all the major cities. They had talked about following that path one day--but that was a lifetime ago.

"One day," he said out loud.

He gave it one last look, and went to put it back on the shelf--but he couldn't. Maybe he'd only seen it in the first place because he was meant to have it? He decided the idea of leaving it behind felt wrong, and he tucked it under his arm to take with him.

Jeremy wasn't sure why they even called the place a bookstore. The part that actually had any books was small and hidden in the back. The place was more like a supermarket than a bookstore. It sold everything from groceries for the dorm rooms to clothes and office supplies. Earlier, as he made his way through the clothes section, he had checked the price on some of the Franklin Bulldogs tee shirts, thinking it would be nice to have one. What he'd found had shocked and disgusted him. He didn't know why anyone would spend that much on plain, old cotton. This time, when he made his way back through the clothing section, there was something else that caught his attention--and it wasn't the shirts.

A gorgeous blonde was thumbing through a rack of Bulldogs football jerseys. She scowled every time she checked the tags on them. A pair of huge, dark sunglasses mostly hid her face, but Jeremy would have recognized Sarah anywhere.

For a second he wondered if he should go talk to her--things had been a little tense the last time he saw her. But, he knew there was no way he could see her and
not
try to talk to her. He just hoped she wasn't too pissed at him.

"You know, if I keep bumping into you like this, I'm going to start thinking you're stalking me," he said.

Sarah looked up from the clothes rack, clearly surprised to see him.

"Oh, hey," she said. "You startled me."

"Are you trying to hide from someone?" he asked.

"No, why would you think that?" she asked.

He tapped the side of his face and said, "Usually people take those off indoors."

Sarah let out an annoyed groan, but Jeremy didn't get the feeling it was directed at him. She slid the sunglasses back on her head, pulling the hair out of her face along with them.

"I'm a mess this morning, I didn't even realize they were still on," she said.

She squeezed her eyes together and rubbed her temple as she talked. When she finally looked at him, she was squinting and her eyes were glassy.

He had to bite back a laugh. "No offense, but you look like hell," he said. "Rough night?"

She let out another groan. "You could say that." She pulled a tiny compact from her purse and looked disgusted with what she saw. "Oh, God. I'm a mess. I think I was still drunk when I left my room this morning."

He let out a laugh. "Nothing like getting drunk on a Monday night. Was it happy drinking or sad drinking?"

She shrugged a shoulder. "I guess a bit of both," she said, softly.

She looked at the ground after she said it, like he'd reminded her of something she didn't want to think about. It pained him to even think about her being upset, which only made him more pissed at himself for the way he'd treated her before.

"I'm glad I ran into you, actually. I kind of wanted to talk to you about something."

She looked up at him again, her eyes not squinting quite as much as they were before.

"About what?" she said.

Having her full attention on him was unnerving. How could she make him so nervous without even doing anything?

"About what we talked about yesterday--about being friends."

"You don't have to explain yourself. You made it clear that you don't want to be just friends with me."

"It's just...it's been a while since I've met someone like you, and I got things all confused in my head. I was wrong," he said.

"What do you mean
someone like me
?"

"Someone interesting. Someone I actually have fun talking to."

She grinned. "It was pretty fun, wasn't it?" He agreed it was.

"Well, if you're still interested, I was hoping I could take you up on that
just friends
offer."

"I'd like that," she said.

"Good," he said, smiling from ear to ear. "I didn't want to have to keep dropping in on you unexpectedly until you said yes." They both let out a laugh.

"We have seen a lot of each other the last few days," she said.

"Maybe we should plan our next little meeting? We could go get some lunch at the union--just as friends."

Sarah's face blanched and she held a hand to her stomach. "I don't know if food is such a good idea, right now," she said.

"Well, since we're friends now, I guess I can share my secret hangover recipe with you. It's not something I like to eat too often, but it works like a charm."

Her eyes narrowed, suspiciously. "That sounds dangerous--it's not like sheep's tongue or cow brains, is it? I draw the line at cow brains."

Jeremy held his palms up and laughed. "Nothing like that at all. What kind of stuff are you into, anyway?"

Sarah shook her head. "I'm from the country. You might be surprised what people do out there."

"Well, this is nothing like that," he said.

Sarah considered it for a second, then nodded. "I guess I'm desperate enough to trust you. If my head doesn't stop pounding soon I might lose my mind."

"Never fear--in twenty minutes I'll have you feeling right as rain."

Sarah dropped her head and let out another one of her giggles that drove him crazy. When she looked back up, there seemed to be more life in her eyes.

"What was that about?" he asked, confused.

"My grandmother always says that--
right as rain
. I've never heard anyone else say it."

"Then, your grandmother sounds like a pretty cool lady."

Sarah grinned. "She is."

As Jeremy began to lead them out of the bookstore, Sarah tugged his arm.

"Do you need to buy that?" she asked, pointing at the book tucked under his arm.

Jeremy had completely forgotten he was still carrying it. He held it up and looked at it one more time, then he set it on the nearest rack.

"No, I think I've already read that one," he said.

Sarah shrugged and the two of them left the bookstore together. He didn't need the old book, anymore. He'd been down that road and knew exactly where it went.

It was time to stop living with his old memories, and time to start making new ones.

"
This
is your secret hangover cure?" Sarah asked, disbelieving.

"Hey! In five minutes you'll be thanking me," Jeremy said.

"They do smell good, I guess," she said.

Sarah stared at the Jack In The Box curly fries for a long time before she finally picked one up. Jeremy had been shocked when he took her there and she said she'd never had Jack In The Box--her family was all about Whataburger. When she finally took a bite of the fry, it tasted like the best thing she'd ever put in her mouth. Before she knew what she was doing, she'd scarfed down four or five of the corkscrewed pieces of heaven.

Jeremy watched her with an
I Told You So
smile on his face. She really was feeling better, already, but she doubted it had anything to do with the fries.

"Fine, you win," she said.

Jeremy laughed and held up a hand. "When it comes to curly fries, we're
all
winners."

Sarah let out a little laugh--something she seemed to do a lot of when Jeremy was around.

"I'm glad we're doing this," she said. "I really do like hanging out with you."

He nodded. "Me, too."

The two locked eyes and she couldn't help but smile, despite the throbbing in her head.

Just then, her iPhone started buzzing in her pocket. When she pulled it out, a sense of dread overcame her. A picture of Huck popped up on the screen--it was the first time he'd tried to talk to her since she'd run out on him the night before.

"Sorry, I have to take this," she said, standing up. She walked a few steps away before she answered--something about talking to Huck in front of Jeremy didn't feel right.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Hey," Huck said. His voice was low and soft.

Sarah didn't say anything. She was still pissed at the way he treated her last night, and she wasn't going to pretend like everything was fine.

"What are you up to?" he asked.

"Just grabbing lunch," she said.

"By yourself?" he asked.

Sarah hesitated for a second as she looked at Jeremy.

"Yeah." She felt bad about the lie as soon as she said it--but it felt like the lesser of two evils.

There was a silence on the other end of the line for a few moments. Sarah had to all but clamp her mouth shut so she didn't say anything. He'd called her, and he was going to have to do the talking.

"Can we meet up somewhere and talk?" he asked. "I really fucked up last night and I just want to see you."

Sarah let out a held breath and actually let herself smile a little.

"Yeah. Talking sounds like a good idea."

"Want to meet me at the fountain in front of the Admin building? Twenty minutes?"

"See you then," she said, and they hung up.

Jeremy was watching her when she got back to the table.

"The boyfriend?" he asked.

She nodded. "We got in a little fight last night. We're going to get together and talk about it."

Jeremy flashed a tight-lipped smile, but it looked fake.

"Talking is important," he said. "Sounds like you really like him."

"We've been best friends since we were kids. I think we're just having a hard time adjusting to being somewhere so new and different."

"I'm sure you two will figure it out."

"I'm sure we will."

It felt odd talking to Jeremy about Huck that way, and she didn't know why. She didn't have anything to feel bad about--but she did, anyway.

"I should get going, I gotta walk back to campus to meet Huck," she said. "Thanks for sharing your secret cure with me--I'm feeling better already."

"Here--" Jeremy pulled a pen from his pocket and scribbled something on one of the Jack In The Box napkins. When he slid it to her, she saw a phone number written on it. "Call me whenever--if you want to talk, or anything."

Sarah smiled and promised she would. When she left the Jack In The Box to walk back to campus, she noticed that her head didn't hurt at all, anymore. It was a beautiful day, and for the first time since she'd arrived in Houston, things were starting to look up.

The fountain in front of the Admin building was one of the oldest parts of campus. The building itself was one of the first built, back in the early 1900s, when the school opened. Jets of water shot from the outer ring of the fountain toward the middle, where a circular, stone basin rose ten feet into the air. Water flowed out of the basin and Sarah thought the sound it made when it splashed into the fountain below was soothing. Stone benches were built straight into the outer edge of the fountain so visitors could sit and look out over the grassy mall.