Page 14 of Floored

My thumbs flew across the screen as I replied to my best friend.

Me: OMG I TOLD YOU

Me: Didn't I tell you she didn't actually think you were a nerd?

Finn: You did. She doesn't even mind that I'm working a thousand hours a week right now.

Me: An excellent trait for someone dating a doctor.

Finn: Future doctor. I hardly have time to sleep right now. Is it stupid to try to date someone I actually LIKE?

Me: Shut up. Go out with her again. I'll just never speak to you anymore because you'll be happy and busy and becoming a doctor and sucking face with her all the time.

Finn: True. You'll probably never see me when you get back either. I know how you feel about PDA.

Finn: Bauer and Claire are the WORST, btw. I saw them last week, and I swear, he forgot I was there at one point when she kissed him.

That made me laugh softly because normally, I did hate PDA. I teased Claire about the fact that she and Bauer couldn't keep their hands off of each other, but in a strange way, her new relationship—and Finn's, for that matter—made it easier to be where I was. She had someone. Someone who loved her fiercely, no matter how caught off guard we'd all been by my quiet sister's relationship with the bad boy snowboarder.

Me: You'll have to manage them in my absence.

Me: Gotta go, my train is approaching the station.

Finn: ?? You're just getting back to Oxford??

Yeah, not touching that one with a ten-foot pole. I tucked my phone away as I hauled myself back up to my feet, following the flow of people who exited the train along with me at the Oxford railway station. The university of Oxford wasn't a typical college, centered in one place within a city. Depending on where you needed to go, it could take another forty minutes from the train station until you reached your destination.

After two weeks, I finally felt like I had a handle on the whole “getting around” thing. At home, it was so easy to just ... hop in the car. Here, it was like a whole thing. Figuring out the best/fastest way to arrive where you needed to go.

Oxford was smaller than London, obviously, though equally steeped in history. It still felt like I was walking through a movie set as I made my way back to my place. I skipped up the narrow stairs to my second floor flat and unlocked the bright blue door. With a glance at the clock, I had just enough time to change, run a brush through my hair, slap some mascara on, and get to Catherine's office at Oriel College.

The mirror in my tiny bathroom had me grimacing because whoo boy, my hair looked like I'd spent the night having sex with someone and then bolting out the door. With a yank of a brush and a little product, I was able to braid it and wind the full length into a sedate bun at the base of my skull.

My black shirt still held a trace of beer smell, so I stripped that off and tossed it into the hamper in the corner. The leggings stayed, as did the flats, and I topped them with a soft chambray shirt and a simple gold necklace.

I shoved an apple from the tiny kitchenette into my purse, munching on it on my way to her office.

By the time I got there, I beat our postponed meeting time by three minutes. Just enough to have a nervous pit swirling in my belly.

I loved school. Loved learning. And I came this close to blowing off this first meeting with Catherine when she was doing me a huge favor by agreeing to allow me into the research cohort she was overseeing. My advisor at UW about cried tears of joy when I asked for the credits equal to a class for one semester in order to do it.

This was what you called a no-friggin’-brainer.

When I raised my hand to knock on her office door, I took a second to gather myself.

Whatever urge I'd felt yesterday, whatever feelings had swamped me during my day in London, those had to stay the frick away from me. Leaving my family, leaving my entire life for a few months had nothing to do with epic shags or morose palace viewings. I came to learn and get one step closer to figuring out what I wanted to do with all these years of education.

"You can do this," I told myself.

I knocked, and she called for me to come in.

From her seat behind her massive desk, Catherine glanced at me over her black-rimmed glasses. "Morning, Miss Ward. Thank you for being willing to wait for me."

"No problem." I took a seat across from her when she gestured to one of the leather chairs.

She set her pen down and leaned back in her chair, assessing me carefully. "Let me remind you, simply because you're not taking a typical class, this will be no walk in the park. I'll expect world-class work from you, Lia, because that's what I expect from everyone who learns under me."

"I understand." I took a spiral-bound notebook and my favorite purple pen out of my backpack. "And I am beyond ready to get started."

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