Promise Me (6 page)

“So, you’re behind? That sucks.”

I shrugged, knowing there wasn’t much I could do about it. “I’ll be alright. I’ll probably take classes this summer to make up for it.”

Cullen nodded. “Jack did that last summer. He’s kind of a beast when it comes to school. The dude’s double-majoring in pre-med and business. He’s only a sophomore, and he already knows he wants to open his own medical practice someday, so he wants to have a business background or some shit. I’m doing everything I can to handle
one
major, and I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do when I graduate. I’m just hoping to get a job and make some bank so I can live comfortably and have a nice car.”

“Who’s Jack?” I questioned, because I had no clue who he was talking about, nor was I sure why he was relevant to our conversation.

Cullen looked surprised for a few seconds before he said, “He’s our other roommate. I forgot that you haven’t met him yet. He’s cool, but he’s got this girlfriend who’s always around, so between her and school, the volunteering he does, and Sigma Delt, he’s gone a lot.”

“Sigma Delt?” I questioned.

“Their fraternity,” Sara supplied. “Sigma Delta Phi.”

“Oh, got it. Sorry, I’m not that well-versed on fraternities and sororities.”

Cullen flashed me a wide smile. “No worries. I won’t hold it against you.”

“Good to know,” I said, feeling the urge to cut him off before he started flirting with me. I could feel it coming. “Listen, I have to get going. I’ve heard parking on campus can be a nightmare, and I don’t want to be late for my first day.”

“Yeah, totally,” Cullen said in understanding. “And it
can
get bad. Once you get a spot, don’t give it up during the day, or you might not get another one.”

“Good to know. Thanks.”

He nodded. “Anytime. Have a good day, ladies. Hopefully, I’ll see you later.”

“Bye Cullen,” Sara called after him as he walked toward his giant truck that seemed to be the norm for boys in the state of Texas.

Cullen turned and winked at me as he unlocked his truck, so I offered him my best attempt at a smile that was polite but that I also hoped wouldn’t lead him on.

“He is
so
cute,” Sara hissed at me. “And he totally likes you.”

“Great,” I said sarcastically as I unlocked my car.

“Oh, come on, Kate,” she said in exasperation.

“Come on, what?”

“You’re being judgmental when you have no reason to be. Cullen is beautiful and sweet, and he’s really funny.”

“I guess,” I said vaguely as I opened my driver’s side door and tossed my backpack across it to the passenger seat, not wanting to encourage her.

It wasn’t like I didn’t agree with what she was saying about Cullen. He
was
good looking, and he
was
a nice guy. And I guess he was funny at times, but that didn’t mean I was interested in him.

“So what’s the problem?” she asked, and I could tell she already knew the answer to her question. “Is it because he’s in a frat, because that is the dumbest reason I’ve ever heard for not liking someone.”

“No, that’s not it,” I said as I stood upright and faced her. “The problem is, we just moved here, and like I told you before, I’m more focused on school than I am finding a boyfriend.”

“Lame,” Sara teased me. “You need to loosen up and have some fun.”

“I have plenty of fun,” I told her, and she looked at me in disbelief.

“Reading in your room isn’t what I’d consider fun. I don’t care how good the book is.”

“I’m leaving,” I told her instead of responding to the jab she’d made more than a few times in the past week whenever I’d declined her invitation to whatever party she’d been headed to.

She grabbed my arm as I turned back toward my car. “I’m serious, Kate.”

“What are you serious about?” I asked in exasperation.

“I want you to have fun – make friends, find a hot boyfriend, fall crazy in love, party it up. I want you to have a life.”

“I
have
a life,” I challenged her, offended that she’d think otherwise.

“No, you don’t, and I know why.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, irritated with her haughtiness.

“I know you better than anyone,” she said simply. “And I know that your need to be mature and take care of everyone around you keeps you from having fun. And maybe that was important when you were trying to be a good role model for me, but you don’t have to do that anymore.”

“Don’t I?” I questioned, still thinking she could learn a few things from me when it came to priorities and good judgement.

In fact, I remembered just three days earlier when she’d stumbled home drunk at three in the morning, hanging onto a guy named Trevor who looked like he had one thing on his mind – take advantage of my very inebriated sister. I’d heard them talking outside her room – heard her telling him she was tired, and heard him not-so-subtly telling her she owed him for giving her a ride home. Sara had giggled drunkenly, and slurred something incoherent. I’d come out of my room in time to see Trevor trying to swallow her face as she sagged against him.

Trevor had gone home soon after that, without getting what he came for, and Sara had gone to bed without saying a word to me. I’d figured she was pissed at me for intervening, but the next morning she’d hugged me and thanked me for getting rid of him. She also promised she’d call me for a ride in the future if she was ever too drunk to get home on her own, like I’d been telling her to do ever since she’d started dating and going to parties.

“Yeah, okay, so I know the Trevor situation was a great example of the fact that I don’t always do the right thing, but that’s not going to happen again,” Sara promised. “In fact, I’d say nine times out of ten, I make the mature, adult decision in a given situation. And that’s because you did a great job of raising me, Kate. I know you feel like you have this obligation to take charge and be mature and stay in control, but you don’t always have to do that. I’m an adult now, and I can take care of myself. And because of that you can let go and have some fun. We are in this amazing place where we’re going to meet so many cool people. We have money and food and cute clothes. Life is
so
good, and it’s going to stay that way. Stop waiting for the other shoe to drop. It’s not going to.”

I stared at her for a few seconds, not sure what to say. She just didn’t get it. Things could go to shit in an instant, and I wasn’t going to stop worrying about that. Too many years of seeing exactly that happen had scarred me. I couldn’t just let go.

“I have to go,” I told her, because saying anything else would be fruitless. Sara didn’t get it, and I wasn’t going to be able to explain it to her. “Have a great first day, and text me if you need anything.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured me, and then she leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I could tell she wanted to say more, but she held back. I was grateful for that. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” I told her.

I got into my car with a somewhat heavy heart.

Fifteen minutes later, I was able to shake off most of what was bothering me about what my sister had said, which was good because I needed to focus on what came next – my very first class at a real university. I slid into a parking space that would garner me at least a five minute walk, but I had fifteen minutes before my class started, so I was okay with that. I was just glad to have gotten a spot, and I now fully believe what Cullen had told me. Parking on campus was definitely at a premium.

I made the walk to the auditorium my class was in with ease and was even able to look around a little as I did. The campus really was beautiful, and it was still surreal to think that I was there. It was a dream I’d had a hard time envisioning just two years earlier.

Only a few students were in the room when I got there, and after double-checking that I had the right auditorium, I went back in, chose a seat toward the back and got comfortable. I guess it wasn’t surprising that the room was mostly empty. Eight o’clock was early for most people, and had I not thrown close to half a gallon of coffee down my throat, I might have felt the same way. As it was, my coffee had kicked in, and I was practically vibrating in my seat.

I knew it was partly due to nerves, since I wasn’t sure what to expect and how different this experience would be from the breeze I’d thought community college was, but the coffee wasn’t helping anything.

As the minutes ticked by, I watched other students file in. Some of them looked younger than me, but it was honestly a good mix. I had a feeling Cullen didn’t know what he was talking about.

“Macroeconomics, Take 2!” I heard shouted loudly from the back of the auditorium, and I turned to see Micah standing there with his arms over his head in triumph. “This year, you will be my bitch, oh daunting subject that bores me so. I will triumph over you.”

He was causing a scene, and I noticed most people in the room had turned to stare at him. Then someone behind him must have shoved him, because he pitched forward into the room, laughing as a guy with dark brown hair covered by a backwards UT baseball cap shook his head and laughed at his friend. He had a brunette in tow, his hand in hers, and she had two friends with her.

The five of them laughed and joked their way to the middle of the room and landed a few rows in front of me. I shrunk down in my seat, hoping Micah wouldn’t notice me. I’d had a feeling his boisterous personality lent itself toward obnoxious from time to time, just in how he’d acted in the few times he’d come over to our apartment.

I honestly found him to be borderline annoying most of the time. He was always ‘on’, and he thought he was hilarious, so his jokes flew at will. I hoped Sara didn’t start dating him. He definitely wasn’t my favorite person, and I already felt like he was over at our place too much.

Suddenly a scream of glee broke out from their group, and I looked down to see the guy in the UT hat hauling the brunette across his lap. I couldn’t believe how loud they were being in class. Thankfully the professor hadn’t arrived yet. I just hoped they wouldn’t be disruptive once the lecture started.

“Jack, quit it!” the girl shrieked as he tickled her, drawing attention from all over the room.

As soon as she said his name, I realized he was Micah and Cullen’s other roommate, the one I hadn’t met. And thank God for that. He kind of seemed like an jerk. He definitely wasn’t what I’d expected from the way Cullen had described him that morning, and he sort of seemed like he might be as unbearable as Micah. It was no wonder they were friends.

“Oh, you love it, darlin’,” he said to his girlfriend, and I noticed he had a slight southern drawl.

It wasn’t as thick as Micah’s, but it had the same way of wrapping around mundane words and making them sound sexy. I realized as I listened to him talk that it might be harder for me to stay away from the guys in Texas if the majority of them talked that way. It was kind of hot.

Not that I thought this guy was hot. Okay, that was a lie. He was really
hot. In fact, he was kind of insanely hot with broad shoulders and a wide smile and eyes that twinkled like he didn’t have a care in the world. And he probably didn’t. Aside from that, I had a feeling his personality would prevent me from ever thinking he was desirable. But a nice, serious guy who looked like him, with a sexy southern accent like his, might be exactly the kind of guy who could distract me. And I was starting to wonder if maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Maybe I needed to take Sara’s advice and have a little fun. It probably wouldn’t kill me. As long as I stayed on top of my classes, I’d be fine. I’d have to see, though. There was a lot on the line, and the last thing I wanted to do was screw up the killer opportunity I’d been given.

“Good morning, everyone,” I heard a few minutes later and was glad to see that Micah and his friends had settled down. “I’m Reddick, and I’m the head TA for Intro to Macroeconomics, a class that will surely knock your socks off with its vast and exhilarating content. We have an action-packed semester ahead of us. Christina and Felicia, two other TAs who are at your disposal for questions and such, are handing out the class syllabus. And just so I don’t get into trouble for not telling you this, if you weren’t already aware, this class is being recorded.”

He gestured to the back of the room, so I turned and saw a camera pointed right at him.

“That’s right. We are live, and that’s because this class is also available to stream online, just in case you can’t manage to get out of bed at what I’m sure most of you would consider an ungodly hour. But don’t worry. Those of you who do come each day won’t be recorded as long as you don’t raise your hand and ask a question. The camera sees Professor Hall only. Everyone else is relatively invisible until they speak up. So keep that in mind as you make any comments or pose any questions.”

“Awesome news! Thanks for letting us know!” Micah shouted, and the girls he was with giggled.

As soon as he said that, I knew it would be the last time I’d see him and his friends there. They’d no doubt stream the class for the whole semester. I knew I’d come in person, though. I wanted the facetime with the professor, and I wanted to have access to the TAs in case I had questions about the material.