Page 8 of Campus Crush
If I saw him walking my direction on campus, I went a different route.
If I saw him in the Student Union Building, or SUB as most students referred to it, I’d duck my head and hope he didn’t notice me.
He never did.
It should’ve been a relief, but instead it left me feeling even more humiliated.
Now I knew that I wasn’t just a bad kisser, but I was also entirely forgettable.
Just what every girl dreamed to be.
He ran his fingers through his dark brown hair that was long on top but short on the sides. I still remembered how thick and smooth it felt between my fingers. His blue eyes were the color of the recycling bin sitting on the floor by the door—I refused to compare them to anything flattering. He was just as tall as I remembered, although his muscles seemed thicker than they were freshman year. If I had to guess, I’d say he was six three or six four. I remembered how he’d towered over my five six body when we’d first met and he ducked down to whisper in my ear.
I loathed that the sight of him still made my pulse all fluttery and my stomach swirl withsomething. I decided it had to be dread because I refused to believe that I could have any lingering attraction for him after all this time.
No, any attraction I had for Foster Kane died a painful death freshman year.
My boss, Marco, walked over to him with a big smile on his face and an extended hand. I was too far away to hear exactly what they were saying, but they seemed friendly.
“Holy shit, is that Foster Kane?”
I jumped and spun around to see Layla, another tutor, staring between the books at Foster. I could practically see the hearts beating out of her eyes.
“I wouldn’t mind tutoring that man,” she said. “It’s not often I get eye candy while I work.”
“You can have him,” I muttered.
The last thing I wanted to do was to be stuck tutoring Foster Kane when I could barely stand to look at him without thinking about that night almost two years ago.
But apparently the universe was having a good laugh in my face because not five seconds after I had the thought, all my worst fears came true.
My boss started looking around the room and said loud enough for me to hear, “I know I saw her here. Abby,” he called out.
Suck a lemon drop.
I closed my eyes and composed myself. I could do hard things. I’d been doing hard things for years now. This would be no different.
Even if looking at him reminded me of the most humiliated I’d ever been in my entire life. Followed by the worst days and months of my life for a very different reason.
With a neutral expression, I spun around and walked out from behind the bookshelf.
Marco’s face lit up. “Ah, there you are.”
I glanced nervously at Foster and then back at Marco. “What’s up?”
My gaze darted back to Foster, unable to stop myself from seeing his reaction to me. Vaguely, I heard Marco talk about how Foster needed help with math, and since I was the best math tutor here, he wanted me to work with him exclusively.
My boss continued to very enthusiastically talk me up to Foster, and the whole time, my body braced for Foster to recognize me—to say something snarky or witty or whatever.
But nothing came. He smiled at me in that way you smile at a stranger you’re meeting for the first time, and my heart fell to the pit of my stomach.
Was it really possible that the night that lived on in my memory as the most humiliating night of my life was a night he seriously didn’t even remember?
Foster extended his hand to me. “Hey, Abby. Foster Kane. It’s great to meet ya.”
I took his hand woodenly, my grip firm, but slightly clammy—or maybe that was him. No. There was no way Foster Kane was nervous enough to have clammy hands.
The second our palms touched, the past slammed into me.
