Page 52 of The Night We Met

I step next to Liam as Chance does all the talking.

“He really does have a knack for this, doesn’t he?” Liam asks so only I can hear.

I cover my chuckle behind my hand, “He’d be a great talk-show host if the MLB doesn’t draft him.”

“That he does. Are you going to the back-to-school party Kappa Mu is throwing on Saturday?”

Hesitation hits me. I may be leading this tour, but my sole focus is on Liam. “I was thinking about it. Why?”

“No reason,” Liam denounces as he looks at me and it appears that Chance is done answering questions. “Looks like he’s done. I’ll see you around Kam.”

“Bye, Liam.”

“Hey Mommy.”

“Hi, Kamryn. How was being a tour guide?”

My parents thought it was hilarious that I chose to dothis. I did it to get out of the house. The sooner I’m here, the sooner I can leave.

“Exhausting. I honestly think that some of them were only interested in Greek Life or being an athlete. But none of them looked like they played sports at all. I don’t think any of them let what I told them sink into their pea-sized brains.”

“Tsk tsk, my darling. You were like that too, remember?”

I groan at what my mom just pointed out. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Are you just doing this one tour today?”

“No. I have several that I’m signed up for throughout the year. So I think about six in total.”

“Well, if fashion doesn’t work out, you could always be a stewardess.”

“Mother! That’s it, I'm hanging up on you.”

My mom is laughing on the other end. “Fine. I’m done. Have you seen Liam?”

“Yeah. We talked for a bit.”

“It’ll get easier sweetheart.”

Unexpected emotion takes over. I swear this year I’m set to turn my emotions off. It’s exhausting feeling everything so deep. “I know it will. Hey I gotta go. I’m helping some of the girls move their stuff in. I love you. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Bye sweet girl, I love you too.”

Okay, I lied to my mom. I’m not helping any of the girls move in because none of them are coming back until closer to the weekend. Call me a bad daughter, but I can’t talk about Liam without getting all choked up. And just seeing him today did something weird to me. Maybe it’s the whole sayingabsence makes the heart grow fonder…or something like that. I don’t know. But what I do know is that I will no longer be the mopey girl from last year or the year before. I’m going to enjoy my final year. I’ll enjoy supporting all the sports teams as best as I can.

And I get to work on my senior project, which I’m super excited for.

But enough of that. It’s been a long day. And since the house doesn’t have alcohol, I walk up to the nearest bar. When I walk into the dimly lit bar, I find that it’s pretty much empty sans three other people. So finding a spot to sit at the bar isn’t that difficult.

“What can I get you darlin’?” The bartender asks me.

“Tequila on the rocks, please.”

“Coming right up.”

It’s times like this when my mind wanders back to Mason. It’s almost football season. And I haven’t let my thoughts wander to him for over a year. The beginning of the school year is harder for me. That’s when we first met. And well, we all know how that turned out.

“Here you go. Do you want to start a tab or close it out?”

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