Once they were gone, I sighed and scrubbed a hand over my face. Then I put away the cereal Mom had left out and cleaned up the rest of the kitchen before leaving the house as well. The campus was only five minutes away, so I was pulling my Jeep into a parking spot and killing the engine before I knew it.
Showtime.
I blew out a breath and stared out the front windshield, watching kids fresh out of high school either strolling toward the main building or gathering outside in groups.
“Dammit,” I muttered, not ready for this. Then I grabbed my shit and opened the door, anyway.
I slipped my bag’s strap over my head as soon as my shoes landed on asphalt and glanced around some more, not sure which way to go. I’d toured the building and knew where my first class was located, but I had a good fifteen minutes before it started. I didn’t want to get there too early, so I just started wandering.
As luck would have it, I noticed a group of guys I’d gone to high school with—all of them younger than me—loitering around what everyone called the statue garden. So I swerved in that direction.
When they hollered a good-natured greeting, I joined them and found a free bronze statue to lean against before trying to mold myself into the discussion they were having over what the most kick-ass bumper sticker was. I was nodding in support of the awesomeness of all Jeep stickers when I heard it.
A laugh.
Just a single, simple laugh.
Except my response was anything but simple, because it was unlike any laugh I’d ever heard before, all loud and animated yet enjoyable with a layer of intriguing female on top. I was used to tittering girls who covered their mouths when they let out an embarrassed giggle or husky, do-you-want-to-be-my-secret snickers from all the cougars I didn’t want to think about. The closest that could compare to this laugh was my sister’s screams of delight when I tickled her, except this wasn’t a scream. It was a full, out-and-out laugh.
I glanced over, needing to see what kind of person would make such a lively, open sound—and here, of all places—when it happened.
I’m not even sure how to properly describe the experience that followed.
You know when you’re sick and your internal thermometer has one of those fucked-up, what-is-wrong-with-me moments where your body is chilled, then goes suddenly hot all over, only to return you to feeling cold again a moment later?
Yeah, well, staring at a complete stranger did that to me.
I couldn’t tell you if she’d just been laughing in my direction or if she’d already been focused on me, but when I looked over, our gazes caught and did the whole meet-and-greet routine, locking together until there was just me and her left in the universe.
That musical sound that seemed to come straight from her soul died abruptly, and I instantly missed it. I mean, not enough to look away in the hopes she would return to laughing again because I liked looking at her, but still in an achy, please-laugh-again-because-my-life-felt-as-if-it-depended-on-it kind of way.
Honestly, looking away seemed impossible, and I had no idea why that was. She wasn’t super gorgeous. I mean, from here, she looked pretty and sweet, in a girl-next-door sort of way, wearing skinny jeans with fraying holes in the knees and a dark form-fitting V-neck jersey shirt with white stripes around the short sleeves. But her lines ran a little on the leaner side, whereas I typically preferred more curve. However, the way the sun hit her long, dark hair put a glossy sheen on it that was breathtaking.
I think the energy around her was what captured me the most, though. Vibrant and colorful, she fucking shimmered. It was probably just the way the daylight hit her, but I swear she glowed, and the glow seemed to come from within, not from the sun. It made me want her to laugh again, more than ever. I bet her glow went neon when she laughed.
An invigorated, jazzed feeling of hope bloated inside me, something that resembled…peace. Maybe the glowing girl was an angel or something. Maybe she could deliver me from—
Hell, what was I thinking?
I had no idea where my brain had been heading, but it seemed like a direction it shouldn’t go. Her laugh had totally discombobulated me; that was all.
Putting the brakes on my thought process, I tore my gaze away, only to become aware of the friend she was occupying her bench seat with.
And like taking a needle to a balloon, all the giddy hope crammed in my chest deflated. Whoever the glowing girl was, she kept some seriously shitty company.
Eva Mercer wasn’t my least favorite person on earth but she did rank in the top ten, possibly even the top five.
Spoiled little rich girl, Mercer had visited the Country Club with her family more than I liked. She ran hot and cold to the extreme, trying to get into my pants one minute and then treating me like a pus pocket that grew on a diseased toad the next. I could only imagine what kind of horrors she was telling Glowing Girl about me that very moment, the worst of them no doubt being true.
My eyes narrowed as anger and frustration filled me. Damn Eva. Next to her sat the one girl who’d made me think maybe women weren’t the bane of my existence after all, and she was probably ruining her for me even as I stood there.
Though honestly, if the brunette was a friend of Eva’s, then she must be like Eva, and in that case… Never mind. Not interested.
Not that I wanted to be interested in any girl, anyway, even if she’d ended up being amazing. But now I didn’t even want to think about wanting to hear her laugh again.
I turned away.
The group around me began to disperse, startling me. Worried about how long I’d been thinking about the girl, I glanced around to make sure no one was giving me any strange looks. Then I checked the time, and shit, I needed to get to my first class.