After (After 1)

The room starts spinning. I was not prepared to go to war with my mother, not today at least. I knew it would be a matter of time before she found out, but she wasn’t even on my radar for today.

“I knew something was going on from the first time I saw him in your room. I just didn’t think you would be so quick to open your legs for him!”

Hardin steps between us. “You’re taking this too far,” he warns her with dark eyes. I think Hardin may be the only person who could actually give my mother a run for her money.

“You stay out of this!” she snaps, crossing her arms once again. “If you continue to see him, I will no longer speak to you, and you surely can’t pay for college on your own. This dorm alone costs me thousands!” she shrieks.

I’m astounded that my mother would go there. “You’re threatening my education because you don’t approve of who I am in love with?”

“In love with?” she scoffs. “Oh Theresa, my naïve Theresa, you have no idea what love is.” She laughs, making a sound that is more like a sickening cackle. “And you think he loves you?”

“I do love her,” Hardin interrupts.

“Sure you do!” Her head falls back.

“Mother.”

“Theresa, I’m warning you: If you don’t stop seeing him, there will be consequences. I’m leaving now, but I expect a call after you clear your head.” She storms out of my room, and I go into the doorway to watch her as she stomps away, her heels clunking and echoing down the hall.

“I am so sorry.” I turn to Hardin.

“You have nothing to apologize for.” He takes my face in his hands. “I am proud of the way you stood up for yourself.” He kisses my nose. I look around the room and wonder just how everything came to this. I lean into Hardin’s chest and he reaches around me, rubbing the tense muscles on my neck.

“I can’t believe her, I can’t believe she would act like that and threaten not to help pay for my college. She doesn’t pay for all of it—I have a partial scholarship and some student loans. She only pays twenty percent; the biggest thing is the dorms. But what if she really stops paying for them? I will have to find a job on top of the internship,” I sob. His hand moves to the back of my head and gently guides my head down to cry on his chest.

“Shh . . . Shh . . . It’s okay, we will figure it out. You can move in with me,” he says. I laugh and wipe my eyes, but he goes on, “Really, you could. Or we could get an apartment off campus. I have enough money.”

I look up at him. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“We can’t move in together.” I laugh and sniffle.

“Why not?”

“Because we have only known each other for a few months, and most of that time was spent fighting,” I remind him.

“So, we have done a pretty good job getting along this weekend.” He smiles and we both burst into laughter.

“You’re insane. I am not moving in with you,” I tell him and he hugs me again.

“Just think about it—I want to move out of the frat house anyway. I don’t really fit in there, in case you didn’t notice,” he says and laughs. It’s true, his small group of friends are the only ones who don’t wear polo shirts and khakis every day. “I only joined to piss my father off, but it didn’t work as well as I had hoped.”

“You could just get an apartment on your own if you dislike the house,” I say. There is no way I am moving in with him this soon.

“Yeah, but that wouldn’t be as fun.” He grins and wiggles his brows at me.

“We could still have fun,” I tease.

His wicked smile grows and he brings both hands down to my bottom and squeezes.

“Hardin!” I scold him playfully.

The door opens and my breathing stops. Flashbacks of my mother’s anger fill my vision, and I’m afraid she’s come back for round two.

So I’m relieved when it’s Steph and Tristan who walk into the room.

“Guess I missed something grand. Your mom just flipped me off in the parking lot,” Steph says, and I can’t help but laugh.

Chapter seventy-five

Hardin ends up staying the night in my room after Steph goes to Tristan’s apartment with him. The rest of the night we spend talking and kissing before Hardin finally falls asleep with his head on my lap. I dream of a time and place where we could actually live together. I would love to wake up every morning to find Hardin next to me, but it’s not realistic. I’m too young, and that’s moving too fast.

Monday morning, my alarm goes off ten minutes late, throwing my whole morning off. After I shower and do my makeup quickly, I wake Hardin before plugging in my blow dryer.

“What time is it?” he groans.

“It’s six thirty. I have to blow-dry my hair.”

“Six thirty? You don’t have to be there until nine; come back to bed.”

“No, I still have to do my hair and get coffee. I have to leave here by seven thirty; the drive is forty-five minutes.”

“You’d be there forty-five minutes early; you should leave at eight.” He closes his eyes and rolls back over.

I ignore him and turn on my blow dryer; he takes a pillow and covers his head with it. After curling my hair, I go over my planner again to make sure I didn’t miss anything.

“Are you going to just go to class from here?” I ask Hardin as I get dressed.

“Yeah, probably.” He smiles and crawls out of bed. “Can I use your toothbrush?”