Page 36 of Fraud
“WHO WAS THAT?”AMY, MYincredibly nosy student assistant asked the second she appeared in my cubicle.
She wore her signature ripped jeans and brightly colored T-shirt that proudly bore the name of her sorority, making it sometimes hard to spot her amongst the two-thousand other students around here wearing the same exact thing.
But not today.
The moment Amy and her friends had walked by and I had seen that gleam of dark brown hair, I knew I’d been caught red-handed.
“A guy,” I stated, trying to appear aloof and nonchalant.
I was anything but.
That kiss…
That kiss had come out of nowhere.
Surprising me. Delighting me.
Disturbing me in the greatest possible way.
“I know, but what guy? What is his name? How long have you two been dating? Is he a good kisser?” she asked, firing away questions faster than I could register them.
My attempt at playing it cool faltered as my face cracked into a huge grin.
Looking around, I summoned her closer. “His name is Killian. One date, and, God, yes!” I said, my lips still tingling from the sensation of that kiss.
She made a high-pitched squeal, and I shushed her with my hands.
“Why are you being so secretive?” she asked quietly, taking a seat in the extra chair I had stashed in the corner.
“Because,” I explained, “the second everyone finds out, I won’t hear the end of it. It will go from one date to wedding planning in five seconds flat, and I don’t think I’m ready for that yet.”
“You guys really do have an unhealthy interest in each other’s lives,” she commented.
I handed her a pile of papers to file. “Oh, like you don’t know every tiny detail of your friends’ lives.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, but those are my friends, my sorority sisters. Not my coworkers.” Her features scrunched together, like she’d just tasted a sour grape.
It was times like these when the small age gap between me and someone like Amy felt less like six years and more like twenty.
“Someday, you’re going to be all grown-up, too,” I joked. “And you’ll be talking to your coworkers about bad dates and family troubles. Heck, you might even consider some of those coworkers friends outside of work.”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’m holding out for Prince Harry. If he can date an American actress, there’s no reason he can’t date a beautiful and vibrant young college student. He just needs to realize we were made for each other.”
“Right. And what does Josh think of this?” I asked.
Amy had been dating Josh since their sophomore year. Now that they were both seniors, I thought reality was starting to sink in for them.
Amy didn’t want to grow up yet.
Hell, I didn’t blame her.
“I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Things between us are weird right now. He keeps saying he wants us to have a plan. ‘We need to have a plan, Amy!’” she said, imitating Josh’s deep voice. “But I don’t even know what that means. Individual plans for each of us or a single plan forusas a couple? Because the two are very different.”
“Have you asked him?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m too afraid to hear the answer. Part of me wants to have a plan, you know? The two of us against the world, but I’m so young. What if I make a mistake by settling down with my college boyfriend? What if I make a mistake by walking away?”
I wish I had advice for her.
