Page 280 of His Virgin Romance Series

I frowned. “That’s not exactly why I want to be hired.”

“Who cares why you’re hired?” Leah asked. “As long as you are.”

“Fair point,” I sighed. “I’m far past the point of desperation.”

“Hang in there, kid… you’re just building character.”

I smirked. “Is that something your dad told you growing up?”

“Of course it is,” Leah said. “That was his party line every time I was going through something. It used to piss me off, and now I find myself repeating it to myself whenever things don’t go my way.”

I laughed. “How are you?” I asked. “I miss you so much.”

“Oh, dude, you have no idea how much I miss you,” Leah replied. “I have a good group of friends here, but… it’s not the same.”

“At least you have a group of friends… I don’t even have that to distract myself.”

“That’s because you’re so damn committed to your music that you forget to get out there and have fun.”

I wanted to argue with her, but I knew Leah was right to an extent. “You know I hate parties,” I said.

“Oh, boy, do I know,” Leah said. “I used to have to drag you to any party we had in high school. Do you remember Ashley Benson’s party?”

“Of course I remember it,” I replied. “I was in love with her brother—”

“Which was the only reason I was able to convince you to come with me,” Leah laughed. “You spent the whole night hiding in a corner, and when Ashley’s brother finally made an appearance, you walked the other way.”

“I was cripplingly shy back then.”

“What was his name?”

“Jason,” I replied, but instead of picturing Jason, the handsome firefighter I had met the other day at Seth’s station popped into my head.

“That’s right… wonder what happened to him.”

“He probably went off to college, met some hot girl, and married her.”

“Please, he was not the marrying type,” Leah said. “Last I heard about him his parents caught him with drugs in his room, and they sent him off to some camp.”

“No way!”

“True,” Leah replied. “Ashley told me herself.”

“Wow… how did I not know that?”

“Because you kept your head down all through high school… and you were averse to gossip even back then: probably one of your worst qualities to date.”

I smiled. “How are things with you and Byron?”

“Meh,” Leah replied.

“Meh?” I repeated. “Translation, please?”

“Things are fine between us. I suppose,” Leah said. “I suppose I’ve just been getting a little bored lately. We’ve been together two years now, and I feel like I’ve missed out by restricting myself to one guy during my prime college years. I should have been out there experimenting.”

I laughed. “Sounds to me like you just need to spice things up…”

“True, he has been getting really comfortable with me lately,” Leah said. “I’m going to have to remind him that just because I agreed to move in with him after we graduate does not mean he gets to take me for granted.”

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