Page 192 of Out of Bounds

It was a new sketch, a picture of her and I that she must’ve drawn during class, with her on my lap, and her arms around my neck. There were little notes written in the margin about poses with emotions but I didn’t know what any of that meant.

All I knew was that my mouth dried and I stood up so fast from my seat, I slammed my head against the overhead compartment.

"God fucking dammit," I swore, barely holding on to the burger.

The guys burst into laughter at my table and I rubbed the top of my head.

"Pretty good photo." King flashed the screen and Adam laughed even harder.

"Give me my damn phone." I reached over and grabbed it before settling back in my seat while the bus pulled away from Marrs University. I needed to tell her exactly how much this meant to me. She’d never drawn us together before. It was an important moment I didn’t take lightly.

RYAN:THANK YOU

I narrowed my eyes as the message delivered. Not good enough.

RYAN:THANK YOU!

I shot off that one but it still wasn’t enough.

RYAN:I APPRECIATE THE ART

RYAN:THANK YOU

RYAN:I LIKE IT A LOT

RYAN:THANK YOU

RYAN:AND THE FOOD

"How many times are you texting her?" Adam demanded before my phone disappeared from my hand.

"I’m texting mygirlfriend," I retorted and pushed up to take it back. "I can text her as many times as I want."

"No, that’s your wife, dumbass."

I glanced over at King. "I can’t text my girlfriend?"

King gave a shrug. "Why are you asking me? How would I know?"

"I’m giving you this phone back on one condition and one condition only," Adam threatened. "You actually have a good time tonight. You party. You hang out with us. Andthenyou can hit up Kassie a million thousand times and you two can talk about how many forks you share and how you miss chewing on each other’s fingernails or whatever weird shit couples do."

I shrugged, holding out my hand. "I already promised Kassie I’d hang out."

Adam gave me the phone. "It’s weird how she does that."

"I like it."

He shifted back in his chair. "Don’t do this, King. Don’t get fucked up over some chick and abandon me."

"I’m making no promises." King threw an onion ring in my mouth. "Who knows? You could be next."

That brought out a whole speech out of Adam but I unlocked my phone and grinned down at the single message.

KASSIE:<3

75

Kassie

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