2. Claudia and I didn’t talk at all over winter break. And that bothered me. I was losing my patience.
3. Sawyer never called. Maybe I wasn’t nice enough at the drugstore. Gracie was right. I had to stop expecting to be rescued, but the fact that he hadn’t texted me yet was really bothering me.
4. I’d signed up for twenty course hours this semester. Why? I had no idea. I must have been in a really optimistic mood the day I registered.
My anthropology class was fascinating, so my mood was starting to soften when I stepped into the icy tundra that was once known as the quad. And thus began my final grievance, with the city of Champaign.
Champaign didn’t use salt on their roads; instead they used sand. Sand and salt apparently did not have the same effect on ice. Not at all. Which led to what happened next.
I was smack dab in the middle of the quad, on one of the sidewalks that cut across the center of the large expanse of lawn, which was currently covered with a layer of snow underneath a layer of ice. I had made a poor decision in footwear when I left the dorm this morning, choosing my beloved comfy Adidas sneakers, even though my sensible boots with deep ridges on the bottom called to me from my closet. I was feeling rebellious, and was about to pay the price.
Of course, I lost my footing and slipped. And not just any old slip, the kind of slip you see in movies like Home Alone when the robbers slipped on the steps that Kevin had covered in water earlier that day. That was exactly what I looked like. In the middle of the freaking quad.
With spectacular flailing, I landed square on my back, the textbooks in my backpack jabbing into my muscles.
“Ow,” I muttered under my breath. I tried to pull myself to a sitting position, but slipped repeatedly on the ice.
“Sunny?”
I turned to see Sawyer, the Lost Boy, standing in the middle of the sidewalk across the quad, people walking around him as he stood staring at me. “Are you okay?” he called out.
I waved. “Fine,” I called back, completely mortified. Of all the people to see me fall, why did it have to be him?
And then something happened. Something that made Crab-ass Sunny take a walk. That Lost Boy ran across the quad, punching through the deep ice-covered snow that came up to his knees. He ran to me.
A laugh escaped my lips as I watched him approach, worry creasing his handsome face.
“Here, let me help you.” He looped his hands under my arms and scooped me up from the sidewalk. “Easy, easy,” he said as I stood up straight, planting my feet in the snow so as not to fall again.
“Thanks,” I said, brushing the snow and ice from my limbs. His eyes peered into mine and the cold disappeared from every bit of my body.
He might not have a white horse, but he rescued me just the same.
“No problem,” he said.
“Did you, um…did you see me fall?”
He bit his lip. “Would you believe me if I said no?”
“Probably not.” I shook my head with a chuckle.
“How’ve you been?” he asked, his hand still on my elbow, steadying me.
“Ugh, well, let’s just say that fall you witnessed pretty much sums up my recent weeks.”
“Me too.” His brow furrowed in understanding.
“Yeah?”
He nodded. “Maybe we could start over, ya know? Like pretend we’re meeting each other for the first time.”
I fought the smile that crept onto my lips.
“I’m Sawyer. It’s nice to meet you.”
His smile was so genuine, so sweet, it didn’t take much for me to force myself to play along.
“Sunny McCormick.”
“Great name.”
“Thanks. So, um, Sawyer, tell me about yourself.”
“Well, I’m a sophomore. I live at my fraternity house. And I’m single.”
“Interesting,” I said.
“And you? Tell me about yourself.”
“I’m a freshman. I’m a GDI and also single.”
He threw his head back in laughter. “I love that you said GDI. You always make me smile.”
“It’s the truth. No Greek in this girl.”
“That’s okay.”
“You sure?” I asked, testing him.
“Absolutely.” He paused. “So, are you busy Saturday night? I’d love to take you on a real first date.”
“What do you mean, real first date? I just met you,” I teased.
“Ah,” he said. “Good point.”
“Saturday sounds great.” I smiled. “I’d better get to class, though.”
“True. Don’t want to be late on the first day.”
“Exactly,” I said. “Thanks again. For helping me.”
“My pleasure.”
“See you Saturday.”
“Can’t wait.”
Chapter 17
Triangle
Grace
Late January, a Thursday afternoon
There were some very simple things that became the best of things when you were away at college for the first time. In the dorms, you got a little slip of paper in your mailbox when you received a package.
Today, I had one of those notes.
“Oh my God,” Claudia shrieked as I unwrapped the small gift that was waiting for me after classes at the front desk. “I may have to switch from Team Trevor.”
In my hands was a jar the size of a large softball, filled with cookies and wrapped with a simple red ribbon.
“You don’t even know who it’s from,” I said, brushing her off.
“That’s shortbread. It’s from your Haggis.”
“Ross.”
“Whatever. Open the card.”
“Okay.” My heart pounding, I tore into the envelope. Inside was a Christmas card with a reindeer on the front. There was a note inside. One that made my breath catch.
Dear Grace,
Thank you again for your offer to come up for Christmas dinner. Believe it or not, I was going to take you up on it. Until the storm came…with eight inches of snow. I figured it was best to stay here. My mother did send me pounds and pounds of our family’s Scottish shortbread recipe. If I eat it all, I’ll have to be rolled out of my dorm. So I wanted to share with you.
I hope to see you soon.
Best,
Ross
“Wow,” I said, pressing the card to my chest, my mouth agape. When he never called about Christmas, I’d assumed he’d forgotten all about my offer. I had no idea that there had been a snowstorm down on campus.
“Can I read it?” Claudia asked.
I handed the card to her and she sighed when she finished reading.
“Wow,” she echoed. “He seems really…sweet.”
“I know. What am I going to do, Claude? I don’t know how to do this.”
“You’re a free agent. You can date them both.”
“I have, like, no experience with the opposite sex. He was my first kiss. And my second!”
“So? That’s kinda cool. It’s like you’re jumping into the deep end.”
I shook my head. “I don’t do that. I dip my toe in. I’m a shallow end girl. Always have been.”
“Not anymore,” she said with a Cheshire grin. “Now you have two really nice guys. And you should date them both. Until you decide to be exclusive with one…or neither.”
I shivered. “Just the idea of that gives me anxiety.”
“I’ll help you. I have a lot of experience with this.”
“But I get attached. You don’t.”
Claudia hesitated, opened her mouth to speak, and then clamped it shut. “That’s true,” she said. “But that’s where I can help.”
“I hope so. I’m afraid I’m going to screw this up. I like them both. A lot.”
“You won’t. I promise,” she said as we walked to my room.
I placed the jar on my desk. When I opened the jar, the delicious smell of butter and sugar filled the room.
Claudia gasped. “Oh my God, that smells like heav
en.”
I passed her the jar and we each took a triangle from the pile of cookies. We both moaned as we sank our teeth into the buttery goodness that was Scottish shortbread.
“Good Lord, that’s good.”
I nodded. “Agreed.”
“Call him.”
“Should I?”
“The number’s on the back of the card.”
“What do I say?”
“Um…thanks for the gift?” Claudia said sarcastically.
“I know that. I mean, after. When that awkward silence comes.”
“You ask him about his Christmas.”
“His Christmas sucked. Shouldn’t I avoid that?”
“Hmm,” she said, biting down on her lower lip. “Maybe.”
I sank onto my bed, lying down in a heap, anxiety sweeping through my limbs as I contemplated what to do.
“Just go with it, ya know,” Claudia said, sitting down next to me. “He likes you. You already know that. You have to say thank you for the gift.”
“Can I send him a text?” I asked.
“No. Definitely not. You’ll make all Americans look bad.”
“Oh geez, Claude. No pressure or anything,” I said, pushing her on the arm.
“Sorry. Wow, I guess I’m not helping as much as I thought.”
“No, it’s okay. The moral support helps.”
“Good.” Her smile was warm.
It felt nice to have my friend back. She came back from winter break a different person. Sunny and I both assumed she was just relieved to be done with exams. She was spending a lot of time with us this first week back, and we were both hopeful that our little GDI sorority was still intact.
“Listen.” She rose to her feet after her phone dinged with a text. “I have to make a call. Call Ross. You’ll feel better when you do.”
“Okay,” I said, covering my eyes with my hand. “If I have to.”
“Come by after, ’kay?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there in a few.”
I stared at my phone as adrenaline ran through my veins. Claudia was right; it was time to take a jump into the deep end of the pool.
Ross answered on the second ring.
“Hey,” he said.
“It’s, um, it’s Grace.”
“I know, your name came up on my phone.”
“Oh…that’s right. Anyway, how are you?”
“Doing well, thanks. Started classes. So far, so good.”
“Me too.”
Awkward silence.
Panic.
“I got your gift. The cookies. They’re so good.”
“Glad you like them. Mum will be thrilled.”
“Yes, please thank her for me.”
“Will do.”
“That was so nice. I didn’t expect that.”
“I was thinking of you. And I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see you. Your offer meant a lot to me, but the snow—”
“I know, I had no idea. It didn’t storm by me.”
“Yeah, it was bad. I figured it was better to stay in. Besides, my family doesn’t make a big deal out of Christmas. I watched football and ate cookies.”
“And for dinner?”
“Pizza. A meal fit for a king.” Ross chuckled.
“Ugh, I feel so bad.”
“Don’t.” He cleared his throat. “When I made the decision to come here, I knew I wasn’t going to go home for holidays. I knew what I was getting into.”
“Okay.”
“I’m serious, Grace.” His voice raised slightly and I knew he meant it. “The last thing I want is for you to feel sorry for me. I’ve wanted to come to America my whole life!”
“I just want you to have the best experience, ya know?”
“Then go out with me. This weekend.”
I loved the tone in his voice. Sheer confidence. It was really sexy. Made my stomach flip in the best possible way.
“Oh, well, yeah, I’d love that.”
“Great. I can’t wait to see ye.”
“Me too.”
“Saturday then?”
“Yes.”
“Great. I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Wonderful.”
I hung up the phone and drifted down to Claudia’s room. Her door was open, which was not the norm these days. Usually it was closed tightly, a knock necessary to enter.
But today she was sitting on her bed, her cell phone pressed to her ear, a huge grin plastered on her face. She looked…happy.
She waved when I entered the room.
“Should I go?” I mouthed, pointing back to the door.
She shook her head, sitting up straight and waving me over. “Hey, I gotta go. Grace is here.” Pause. “Yeah, she needs to fill me in. Call you later? Okay, ’bye.”
I didn’t need to ask who was on the phone; I already knew it was Libby. I was starting to think Sunny was on to something with her Libby theory, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. That was her business, not mine. I didn’t want to make her uncomfortable, especially when she seemed genuinely content for the first time since I’d known her.
“Okay, tell me everything.” Claudia patted the spot next to her on the bed. I sat down and smiled wide.
“We’re going out Saturday night.”
“Sweet. Did you talk about anything else?”
“Um…oh yeah, he had pizza on Christmas.” Claudia pressed her lips together in pity. “But I’m not allowed to feel sorry for him about it.”
“He seems very proud.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s hot,” she said, nudging my knee.
“I agree.”
“What will you wear?”
“Ugh, I have no idea.”
Right then, Trevor’s face flashed before my eyes. And a little emotion called guilt soon followed.
“What is it?” Claudia asked.
“I feel guilty. Like, if I go out with Ross again, I’m officially leading Trevor on.”
“Has he called?”
“No, and I’m kind of hoping he won’t until after this date.”
“If he does, he does.” She shrugged. “Don’t feel guilty. You’re jumping in, remember? No more dipping toes in the water.”
I nodded and then was overcome with another emotion. Curiosity.
“Is that what you’re doing? Jumping into the deep end?”
Claudia froze. Completely. Sheer panic crossed her face.
I took her hand in mine. “Lets jump together.”
A tear ran down her face. She knew that I knew, and that I still loved her. She didn’t have to say anything. I didn’t want to push, just for her to know that I was her friend. Now and always.
“Okay,” she said, wiping the tear from her eye and squeezing my hand. “Okay.”
Chapter 18
Date
Sunny
Late January, a Saturday night
I walked into the lobby to meet Sawyer for our date, trying hard not to be nervous, and was surprised to see him holding a large bouquet of daisies.
“You are so sweet. These are really pretty,” I said, taking the flowers from his hand.
“I’m glad you like them. You look beautiful,” Sawyer said as he eyed my brand-new sweater. I’d bought it that week, feeling like I needed something new and fresh for our do-over first date.
“Thank you. So, what are we doing tonight?”
“I thought we could decide together,” he said with a grin, removing several pamphlets from his jacket pocket.
Interesting.
“The basketball team is playing and my roommate gave me two tickets. Game starts in an hour. Dinner at the Courier Café, it’s supposed to be really good food. Indoor mini golf at the mall, rock climbing at the rec center, bowling at the union, skydiving in Peoria…” He flipped through each pamphlet twice and opened his eyes wide, waiting for me to answer.
He’d obviously tried hard not to laugh when he mentioned skydiving—thank God. If he wasn’t kidding, I’d hav
e to question his sanity.
“Can’t say I’ve ever wanted to skydive,” I said, letting him off the hook. “I kinda like my feet planted to the ground.”
He crumpled the pamphlet. “Thank God. I’m terrified of heights.”
Sawyer continued to stare at me with the remaining pamphlets in hand. I took the Illini basketball team pamphlet from him and folded it in my hand.
“Not a big sports fan?” he asked and I scrunched my nose, shaking my head. “Okay, so no to basketball.”
“I am a little hungry,” I said, taking the pamphlet for the small café from his hand. Inspecting the menu, I was intrigued. It was in Urbana, and since the girls and I didn’t have cars, it wasn’t exactly a convenient restaurant to try.
“Perfect.”
“And if that goes well, maybe I’ll kick your ass in bowling,” I teased.
“Somehow I don’t see that happening,” Sawyer said, fixing the wool scarf on his neck, attempting to look cocky. His brown eyes gazed down at me. Sawyer was tall…very tall, at least six foot two. And I was this tiny little sprite barely clearing five feet. We must have looked pretty awkward standing next to each other, but I didn’t care. Not one bit.
“We’ll see, frat boy,” I said. “We’ll see.”
With a chuckle, he held the building door open and led me to his car in front of the dorm. He jogged in front of me to reach the car first, opening the door and gesturing for me to climb in.
So polite.
The warm car was actually clean—not at all how I pictured the car of a college sophomore. Maybe he’d cleaned it that day. The thought of that made me smile.
“How are your classes?” Sawyer asked.
“So far, they’re okay. I took on way too heavy of a course load, though. Not sure what I was thinking.”
“I’m sure you’ll be just fine.”
“I hope so,” I said. “Have you been to the Courier before?”
“Nope. We’ll try it together. One of my buddies said to order the Reuben. I guess it’s famous or something.”
“Interesting,” I said as he parked the car in a small parking lot across from the tiny brick café.
Sorority of Three: Freshman 101 Page 12