Page 4 of Love and Other Goals

“He did,” I say, looking up with a little more confidence.

Teegan squeezes my shoulder. “Just be patient, LaLa. You’ll see Aaron soon, and I’m sure every memory of how incredible and amazing you are will come flooding back. He’ll have no choice but to finally snatch you up.”

“You’re the best, Beef,” I tell her. “I’m sorry for being whiny. I want to hear about your summer—any gentlemen catch your eye?”

She gives me a sly smile. “Wellllll, there might be some stories to share. Too bad you’ll have to wait till Amaya is back for our group catch-up session.”

“What, NO! That’s not fair, Teegs, you can’t tease me like that!” I exclaim. She just laughs an evil queen cackle.

“Lucky for you, Amaya texted she’ll be back in fifteen minutes—just long enough for me to shower and rinse all the nasty frat party out of my hair and for you to sit in torturous suspense,” she calls over her shoulder, heading to the bathroom.

I open Aaron’s Instagram profile again and look back through his posts from the summer. Every smile, every goofy pose, every look of his crystal blue eyes make my heart beat a little faster.

This is our year, Aaron Adams. I hope you got the memo.

CHAPTER THREE

The first week of classes is always so boring. Syllabi, grading scales, class procedures—I know I should appreciate the slow pitch start to the semester, but it’s so hard to focus.

I took the LSAT over the summer and got an admirable score. Between some credits from high school I transferred in and front-loading my first years of college, I arranged it so I’m only taking twelve credit hours this semester. That gives me time to get my law school application turned in early.

At least, that’s the theory.

I’ve decided to use some downtime this week to fill out the bulk of the application, and then hopefully I’ll have my personal statement essay finished by mid-September. I’ll feel good if I can submit my application to UC Davis by the end of September.

It’s risky to put all my eggs in one basket, but I really want to attend UC Davis. Maybe I’ll consider applying to a couple of other programs, but for the moment, I’m laser-focused on UC Davis early admission.

I made reasonable progress through the packet after classes. My Wednesday afternoon was shot after Amaya roped me into helping her with some projects for our first AOPi chapter meeting, even though I’m not on the leadership board this year. It was worth it though to see her proud, beaming face at the front of our sorority on Wednesday night. She’s such a dynamic leader; I can’t imagine a single thing going wrong in AOPi this year.

It's now Thursday afternoon, and I’m sitting at my desk alone in our room with a stack of chocolate chip cookies from the dining room, application open on my laptop. My Mindful Mellow Spotify playlist is keeping my brain tuned to the task before me, so I’m making great progress.

Ping.

The text notification sound from my phone summons, and I swipe it open.

Aaron

Hey Lana. Feels like it’s been forever. Hope I’ll see you at Arrow tonight

Aaron texted me. He’s thinking about me. He’s thinking about seeing me tonight.

I stand up to do a little happy dance.

Okay, I want to let him know I’m excited to see him too without seeming too eager—I don’t want to come across needy. I consider for a moment before typing back.

I know, right? Summer was long. I’ll be there tonight, so see you then.

I hit send and can immediately see that he’s read it. Which means he was waiting on the phone for my response.

Collapsing on my bed, I know I won’t be getting any more application questions finished. I shoot a text to our Beefs’ group chat.

Aaron just texted saying he hoped to see me tonight

Amaya

YAS QUEEN!

Teegan

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