“On second thought, I’m not planning on staying long. I have to pack still.” I erased any emotion from my face, turning my expression into something neutral, and faced Sadie as I sat. “He just got back from his mission trip to Haiti. I’m sure if I get him talking, I’ll be here all night.” I tried to tack on a small chuckle, but it came out all wrong, making my words sound strangled.
“That is true.” Sadie was quick to agree. She’d seen the girl get swept into Will’s arms like he’d done so a thousand times. She also knew all about my feelings for him and how the timing had always been off for us. “Where the hell is Jeff with our beer?” She craned her neck to search for him.
“I was wondering the same.” A beer, no matter what kind, sounded good right now.
Will had slipped through my fingers again. Damn it. Why the hell did life enjoy screwing with my heart when it came to him so much? It wasn’t fair.
One whole year. The timing had been off for an entire freaking year.
We’d met in the library. He was studying for an anatomy test. I was working on a research paper for my women’s history class. There was a book I needed on a top shelf. Instead of asking the librarian to get it down for me, I let the stubborn Montgomery gene take over and grabbed an unoccupied chair from his table and pushed it against the bookshelf. As soon as I placed a foot on the chair, he spoke.
“I would have let you borrow my height, if you had asked.”
His husky tone had vibrated through my core, sending goose bumps racing along my body, and I knew right then I wanted him. I climbed onto the seat of the chair, reaching for the book I needed before I risked a glance at him. I could still picture the little smirk twisting his lips when I finally did look at him. It had caused all the breath to leave my lungs at once.
“I can see you’re the independent type who likes to do things for herself.” His smirk morphed into a wide grin.
It had taken so much strength to break our stare and force my fingers to grip the massive book I needed. There was not one part of me that wanted to look away. All I wanted to do was drink in this beautiful guy slouching in his chair, surrounded by books about parts of the human body—parts I had, ones that were on fire from the mere existence of him.
“That’s me.” I clasped the book against my chest as I attempted to make my way down from the chair. “I like how you used the term independent; most just call me stubborn.”
He lifted his pen and pointed it toward me, as though he was punctuating my sentence in the air. “I’ve never been a fan of the word stubborn. Independent sounds way better.”
My lips quirked into a larger smile than I had wanted them too. I could still remember the fluttering feeling in my stomach the entire moment had brought on.
“I’m Will Pelzer, by the way.” He licked along his bottom lip. “And you are?”
“Charlotte Montgomery.” I never knew how my words had come out so strong sounding during that awkward introduction, but they had, and I had been grateful.
Things had seemed to be looking up for me. After all, when had anyone ever heard of meeting their next asshole boyfriend in the library? Nice guys hung out in libraries. Smart, considerate guys. Guys who were determined to make good grades and had goals and ambitions set for themselves.
Will was all of this and more.
Unfortunately, he also had a girlfriend. A drop-dead gorgeous, should-be-a-model girlfriend. They dated for three more months. During that three-month stint, I could feel the chemistry building between us. We had too much in common for there not to be a natural attraction. But by the time they broke up, I was dating someone. And so the vicious cycle began. If I wasn’t dating someone, then Will was. And when we were finally free to date one another, he had already signed on to head to Haiti for a mission trip that would last four months. From the looks of it, he had found someone while there. I, on the other hand, was still single, which was not intentional. I didn’t believe in long-distance relationships, the same way I didn’t believe in waiting for someone forever. Neither was realistic. Life always got in the way.
“Here you go, ladies.” Jeff slipped back into his seat beside Sadie. There was a frosted-over pitcher of the lightest beer I had ever seen in one of his hands and three glasses in the other. “Want me to pour you one?”
“Thanks.” Sadie smiled.
“Sure,” I added. Generally, I wasn’t much of a drinker, but this situation was a tad bit depressing. Here I was, sitting at a table with my roommate and her boyfriend, pining over the guy across the room as though he had been mine before and I’d lost him to someone else. What the hell was wrong with me?
Nothing that was what. Who needed a man anyway?
I damn sure didn’t. I was fine being alone. You had to love yourself before you could love anyone else right? Wasn’t that how it worked? I’d heard somewhere that was the secret. If you didn’t like who you were, no one else would either. Well, I liked who I was. Even when I was boyfriend-less.
Jeff poured Sadie her beer first, and then mine. I felt the tension in my shoulders release as I gripped the cool glass and lifted it to my mouth. Skunk. The beer tasted like watered down skunk. I hated it.
“This is good.” Sadie praised Jeff for his choice. Was she not drinking the same beer as me? We had similar tastes when it came to alcohol, and this was nowhere close to what we liked.
“It is, isn’t it?” Jeff took another sip, and smacked his lips together. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. I hated when people did that. It didn’t make them taste anything better. It was just plain annoying. “What do you think, Char?”
Char? Jeff didn’t know me well enough to cut my name down to Char.
“It’s not my favorite.” I shrugged, avoiding Sadie’s eyes because I knew she would frown at me for being so bold. She also knew how much I hated it when people shortened my name as though they’d known me for years. There was only one person I had let slide with that.
He was sitting on the other side of the bar with a girl who wasn’t me wrapped in his arms.
“Hey, Sadie. Hey, Char.” The voice was husky, sending goose bumps across my skin in a ripple effect. “I spotted you over here, and figured I’d say hi.”
Scratch that, the only person I had ever allowed to shorten my name in such a short time was not across the bar. He was standing behind me.
“WILL. HEY, IT’S GREAT to see you,” Sadie piped in. Jeff and Will might not have noticed it, but I could hear the nervousness enter her voice. She never was one who could handle silence, especially not the awkward kind.
I understood her nervousness. My heart was already pounding out of my chest from knowing he was behind me. Forcing myself, I twisted around to glance at him, while plastering a smile on my face. “Hey! How was Haiti?”
“Great. Wonderful.” The corner of his lips quirked upward. It was the same sexy little grin I’d come to love over the last year. “Inspiring. Good for the soul.”
I knew right away he meant every word in its truest form and wasn’t being sarcastic. Will was appreciative of the experiences tossed his way. Maybe that was why I liked him so much. Where I was all hard edges and sarcasm, equal parts stubborn and independent, Will was warm and loving, genuine and motivational. We would be the perfect balance. If only.
“That’s awesome. I’m glad it was everything you thought it would be and more. I’m actually sort of surprised to see you back so soon. Wasn’t it supposed to be for four months?”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing.” And there it was again, that slight lift of his lips that made him sexy.
“No. Never.” I paused to take a sip of my drink, hoping the move would make me appear far less flustered by his presence than I actually was. “I just thought the trip was for longer is all.”