Total pages in book: 145
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 694(@200wpm)___ 555(@250wpm)___ 463(@300wpm)
His eyebrows rose, and I watched as his fingers tapped rapidly on his phone. I forgot all about that. How does it work again?
You can call one any time after 90 minutes. I couldn’t even remember who’d started it last year, but the rule was that if we’d been at it for over an hour and a half, any one of us could call for a study break, and we’d all have to take one. We could grab a drink, stretch, or take a quick walk around the library’s lower level—anything except push through.
“Time for a study break,” Jayden announced, with a wink toward me.
Lucas and Roger both groaned. Amanda, still wearing her earbuds, didn’t appear to hear, and I tapped her arm.
“What?” she asked, surprised to see us all looking up.
“Jayden called a study break.”
“We’re still doing that?” Roger grumbled.
Jayden shrugged. “Rules are rules.” He paused and looked my way. “What were the rules again?”
Lucas answered as he stretched his arms behind his head, leaning back in his chair. The guy worked so hard that he should probably hire a full-time massage therapist to work the tension out of his muscles. “It has to be after ninety minutes, and the one who calls it decides what we do during the break.”
“Let me guess, squirt guns again?” Roger asked.
“That was one time,” Jayden said with a grin. “And I offered to pay for your calculus book.”
That had been one of our more interesting study breaks. Since Jayden hadn’t even remembered they existed, this wasn’t likely to be a repeat, but Amanda slipped her earbuds into the pocket of her hoodie out of an abundance of caution.
“So what’s it going to be this time?” I couldn’t help grinning at Jayden. He was an easy-going guy, much as I remembered from last year. But now he had a closely cropped beard and mustache, making him look older. I guessed none of us looked like freshmen anymore, thank god.
“Everyone up.”
This time we all groaned, but it seemed like more because our stiff muscles were protesting the movement. I scooted the ancient wooden chair back and got to my feet. Lucas did too, sliding his chair back to let me pass. I smiled up at him, and his green eyes softened. He looked different, too. There was a five o’clock shadow that I’d never noticed before, and he looked taller, somehow. Were twenty-year-old guys still growing? He looked stronger, like maybe he no longer studied 24/7—just the vast majority of the time.
We were as stiff as a bunch of senior citizens as we stretched behind our chairs, making me chuckle under my breath. Amanda caught my eye and grinned. She had her arms folded over her head and was slowly leaning from one side to the other. It looked like a good stretch, so I copied her.
“Okay, while we’re stretching, we all have to share one thing we did over the summer,” Jayden said.
Lucas let out a quick bark of laughter. “You don’t look like Mrs. Henry, my third-grade teacher, but you sure sound like her.”
We all chuckled, even Jayden, who didn’t seem offended. “I’m serious. Except for Lucas, I haven’t seen you all in half a year. And forgive me if I haven’t kept up with you on social media.”
He had a point. "That wasn't really his thing. Social media didn't really seem to capture the attention of anyone in this group, actually, except maybe Amanda."
“I’ll go first,” Jayden said. “I went to Tallahassee to visit my brother and his wife. And, in a couple of months, I’m going to be an uncle.”
“Congrats,” I said, and the others echoed it. Jayden definitely seemed like he would be good with little kids, and though we were in northern Georgia, Tallahassee wasn’t that far of a drive or flight.
Jayden turned to Roger. “Your turn.”
Roger put his hands behind his back, lacing his fingers together to stretch. “I did some research for one of my professors, and my name will be in the article he’s publishing.” He grinned when we congratulated him, too. “I’ll be a footnote in history.”
Wow. My study buddies were overachievers. Roger jerked his chin at Lucas, who still seemed a bit grouchy at the forced break. “Not much happened over the summer. I took five classes.”
Amanda frowned. “I thought the limit was three for the summer session?”
Lucas grinned, and the lines on his forehead disappeared. “It was. How’d you spend your summer?”
“Wait,” Jayden interrupted before Amanda could speak. “You forgot to mention the best thing that happened to you over the summer.”
Lucas raised an eyebrow. “Which is?”
“You got a charming, handsome, and talented new roommate.”
“No, I didn’t,” Lucas said with a smirk. “But Jayden moved in.”
I bit back a laugh, but I was also surprised. Lucas had a small house a couple of towns over, and I’d gotten the impression that he already had a roommate last year. I wondered what had happened.