Page 34 of Those Summer Nights (Sweet Cravings 2)

“It felt like I couldn’t breathe. I’d never felt so alone in my entire life.” I shook my head. I didn’t want Kristen’s pity. “But life is pretty good right now. After all, I have a new best friend.” I kicked her shin with my foot.

A smile spread over Kristen?

?s face. “Best friend, huh?”

I had called her my bestie in my head a few times but never out loud.

“I like the sound of that,” she said before I had a chance to overthink it. “And you’ll definitely get in with that essay. Goodbyes suck, and I was already dreading ours. Now I won’t have to. What major are you declaring?”

“I chose marketing just because I was close to finishing that degree at SMU already. And also undeclared as my second choice. I’m hoping that if they don’t have any room left in marketing they might still take me. Honestly I still have no idea what I want to do after I graduate, so maybe I haven’t tried the right courses yet.”

Kristen clapped. “You’re definitely going to get in. Do you think you’ll live in the dorms? Or an apartment?”

“I think I’ll hold off on planning all that until I hear back.” I turned my screen back to me. “Any changes you’d make?”

“Zero. It’s perfection in written form. Hit submit!”

I held my breath as I pushed the button. That was that. I quickly filled out the billing information for the application fee and shut down my computer.

“So…” Kristen said.

I looked up at her. “So?”

“Your date must have been good if you’re moving all the way back to little old Delaware to be closer to him.”

“His new job is in New York, not Delaware. Me wanting to transfer has nothing to do with J.J.” Well, maybe a little. Or a lot.

“Oh you learned his name! What else did you learn about him?”

That he rides a motorcycle and his kisses make my knees feel weak. “Well, the whole he’s moving to NYC at the end of summer thing, which is a bummer.”

Kristen shrugged. “That’s not very far away from the University of New Castle. What else did you learn?”

“That he looks amazing even when he’s wearing a shirt.” And not wearing pants. “He loves a good burger. He rides a motorcycle…”

“God, of course he does. Did he wear a leather jacket? Did he make you wear a leather jacket?”

I laughed. “No, and no.”

“All he’s missing is the jacket and tattoos. Everywhere.”

Tattoos and a leather jacket would definitely scream bad boy a litter louder. But I liked that J.J. was a good bad boy. I smiled to myself.

“Anything else?” Kristen asked. “Anything in particular to get you to look into transferring schools in the fall? Because I could have sworn we talked about that a few weeks ago and our conversation certainly didn’t spur you into action.”

“Well, he maybe mentioned transferring credits and the possibility of moving back to the east coast.”

Kristen squealed. “He didn’t even hint at it? He just flat out asked?”

I couldn’t conceal my smile any longer. “Yeah. And we also kissed.” I decided that leaving off the fact that he apologized afterward and drove off on his motorcycle was for the best. He was definitely just worried about how I’d react to the kiss. He was worried that he crossed the line. And I couldn’t wait to see him again so I could tell him there was no line anyway.

Kristen picked up one of the pillows off my bed and threw it at me. “And who said it was a date date? Not just a friend date?”

“You,” I said as I hugged the pillow to my chest. “I just…I never expected him to actually like me as more than a friend. I mean, I’ve opened up to him about Aiden. He knows I was a loner out in Cali. And he doesn’t do long distance relationships.” That was the only troubling thing about our kiss. I hoped it was the fact that I told him I wanted to be single this summer that made him stop kissing me, and not the fact that he was worried about me being unfaithful to him if we were ever apart. I wasn’t the kind of girl that cheated. Apparently I was just the kind of girl that got cheated on. Ugh. I hugged the pillow a little tighter.

“Well, it looks like he’s singing a new tune about long distance relationships. So when is your next date?”

“Um…I don’t know. I figured we’d just see each other on Tuesday when I usually go to the beach.”

---