Chapter4
“Where’s my dad?” I demanded, walking up to them with my bags trailing behind. When they looked down at me with those dark eyes, I froze for a sec. They definitely weren’t the same guys from those old photos.
Someone had been hitting the gym.
“Emily?” asked the tall one with sleeve tats peeking out of his T–shirt. His black hair was all messed up, like he’d just rolled out of bed and couldn’t be
bothered to fix it.
“Yeah, that’s me.” I snapped out of my daze. “So where’s my dad?”
The guy just rolled his eyes, ignored my question, and grabbed my suitcase, heading for the doors. “Sorry about that, Emily…” the other one said with an awkward smile. “Ethan’s not much of a talker. I’m Ryan.”
“Emily!” Rachel came bouncing over. “Found my bag finally! Wanted to catch you before my cab gets here. Thanks for keeping me company on the flight!”
“Oh, no problem. Had fun.” The thought of her taking a cab didn’t sit right with me. She’d been super nice the whole trip. “Skip the cab. We can give you a ride to campus. Right, Ryan?”
I shot him a look that said ‘don’t even think about saying no.‘ He was speechless for a second before catching on. “Yeah, sure! Campus is like 10 minutes away. No biggie.”
“Oh my gosh, thank you so much, sweetie!” Rachel squealed, throwing her arms around me. I went stiff as a board.
She pulled back, looking confused. “Not into hugs?”
“Not really,” I laughed, “but don’t sweat it.” I caught Ryan smirking like he thought this was hilarious.
“Here, let me grab those for you and we can head out,” Ryan told Rachel, But not before giving me another once–over.
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Following Ryan outside, I didn’t expect Ethan to throw such a fit about dropping Rachel off. But after I put my foot down, he just gritted his teeth. and dealt with it.
“Get in the fucing car,”
His tone ticked me off, but Rachel and I didn’t need to be told twice. Soon as we were in, we took off toward campus – where we’d both be spending the next four years.
Trees and bushes flew by like green blurs. One thing I was actually stoked about in Idaho was all the nature everywhere. I couldn’t wait to get lost in it, check out places most people wouldn’t bother with.
Back home, Mom and I were total free spirits – always did our own thing, no matter what anyone thought. Just ‘cause she wasn’t here didn’t mean I was gonna change that. My ancestors would roll in their graves if I stopped being me just ‘cause I moved across the country.
We turned off the highway onto this perfect little street lined with trees and old brick buildings.
“This is incredible-” Rachel whispered, pressed against the window.
“Welcome to U of I,” Ryan laughed, which got an annoyed huff from Ethan.
When we got to what looked like student housing, Ethan slammed on the brakes, throwing me forward. “Ow!” I snapped as he turned to glare at me.
“Watch yourself next time then,” Ethan shot back before jumping out and stomping to the trunk where Ryan was helping Rachel with her bags. Rolling my eyes, I got out and went over to Rachel. “You good from here?
“Oh yeah, totally. Thanks again for the ride!” She waved. “See you Monday!”
“For sure – catch you at orientation!” I called back. before Ethan started yelling at Ryan to hurry the hell up and get in the car.
I hadn’t even been here an hour and Ethan was already proving to be the biggest jerk I’d ever met. Just my luck.
You always gotta be such a dick?” I asked as we pulled back onto the
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tighway toward Dad’s place. No way was I letting him get away with freating me or my friends like that. Totally not cool.
