Slowly We Trust (Fall and Rise #3)(40)
Author: Chelsea M. Cameron

Stryker cleared his throat.

“Okay, so we’re all going to leave the happy couple alone for at least 24 hours more. Agreed? Emergency contact only.” He was the oldest of our group and sometimes he acted as our leader/father/voice of reason. Ironic, considering how many bad decisions he’d made in his life.

“Agreed,” everyone muttered. Except Trish. She just rolled her eyes and muttered something to Max, who muffled a snort of laughter behind his hand. Shit, even they were aboard the adorable couple train. Never thought I would see that.

“We’re going to go now,” I said, slowly backing away and taking Aud with me. Everyone waved goodbye. I had a brief image in my mind of them somehow stopping us, but they didn’t.

“Should we run?” Aud said as the door closed behind us and we walked down the steps.

“We might want to. Just to be safe.” She grinned at me and we took off.

“I seriously have to do homework. You’re a terrible influence on my grades. Or is this some sort of backwards way to win the New Year’s money?”

We lay in bed again, this time I was reading the first Harry Potter book aloud to him. Or trying to. He kept interrupting me, and finally, I’d shut the book and started beating him with it.

“Whatever, Aud. You could sit and do nothing and you’d still get perfect grades. Some of us actually have to work at it.”

“Some of us aren’t taking classes like tennis.”

“Ouch, burn.”

I grabbed my book and got up to put it back on my bookshelf. I’d try again with him soon. I’d make a Harry fan out of him yet.

“We can do homework, if you want. We might want to leave this room, though. Whenever I look at the bed, all I can think about is getting you in it.” I couldn’t argue with that. I definitely felt the same way.

“Okay, we’ll go to the library. Do you have all your stuff with you?” We’d gone back to Will’s room during our mad dash from the Union and he’d gotten more of his stuff.

If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was trying to move in with me. His stuff was all over my place now. Holy crap, was he moving in with me?

“Whoa, you’ve got a weird look on your face.”

“Are you moving in with me?” He gaped at me for a second and then his face went red.

“Uh, no. That wasn’t what I had planned. I mean, we sort of just started dating. Doesn’t that seem a little fast? Unless you want me to? Because if you wanted to, I think that would be okay. Simon would be happy because he and Brady could be together all the time.” He’d taken off on one of his rambles, and I was trying not to laugh.

“No, you don’t have to move in with me. It’s just that you have a lot of your stuff here and I don’t have a roommate, so I guess I jumped to conclusions.” Will just nodded and started gathering his stuff up and I went to do the same.

“We could go get your phone later, if you want.” My blood went cold at the mention of my phone.

“Why do I need a phone when I can use yours?” Luckily, my back was toward him, so he couldn’t see my face. I had enough time to put on a smile before I turned around and put my books, notebooks and laptop in my bag.

“Do you not want to go and get a new phone? Won’t your parents be worried if they can’t get in touch with you?” I almost smiled at him for real this time. He might be smart in some ways, but he was naïve in others. He couldn’t really understand that there was a giant rift between my parents and me. Granted, I hadn’t told him why, but he still seemed to think that it would just change one day and we would try to be a family again.

“No, they won’t. Ready to go?” I tried to give him my usual smile, but it felt awkward on my face.

“Uh, yeah. Ready.” He smiled back and took my hand. Crisis averted.

Will was quiet on the walk down to the library and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the issue with my family, or if he was thinking about something else.

“Penny for your thoughts?” I said.

“Hm?” I repeated my question.

“What does that even mean? Like, did people in the olden days actually give people pennies for their thoughts? I mean, pennies were worth a lot back then, so that was kind of a big deal. And weren’t there people who would tell you what they were thinking for free?” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this.

“Sorry. That was weird.” I couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re ridiculous sometimes, but I love you anyway,” I said.

“You do?” Was that in doubt? I’d said it what felt like hundreds of times in less than three days. Once I said it the first time, it was as if I’d opened the floodgates and I couldn’t stop.

“Would you still love me if I had a deep, dark secret?” he asked.

“Of course.” The words were out before I could think where we were going with this.

“Good to know, good to know.” His hand tightened on mine.

“Was that what you were thinking about?”

“No, I was just wondering.” We crossed the street and I didn’t know what else to say.

“Have a lot of homework for tennis? Need to polish your racket?” I tried for a lighter tone. It took him a moment to answer.

“No, I think I’ll need you to do that for me later, if you know what I mean.” He raised his eyebrows up and down.

“You’re terrible,” I said, bumping him in the shoulder as he reached to open the door of the library.

“But you love me anyway.”

Yes, I loved him anyway.

Studying with Will wasn’t easy. We were near a window and the sun kept catching the gold in his hair and making me glance up from my book or computer. He also made the cutest serious face when he was reading, and the way he rested his head on his closed fist made him look like he was posing. I wanted to photograph him like that, but I kept my mouth shut and tried to keep reading.

I wasn’t the only one who had an issue, though. I could feel it when he looked at me as I was trying to read or type.

There was one moment when he had definitely been staring at me for quite a while and I couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“You’re staring,” I said, not looking up from my textbook.

“You’re gorgeous. I can’t help it.” That made me look up. “Hold still.” I did and he leaned over the table and kissed me on the cheek. “There. I just had to do that.”