Page 20 of Choosing You

Sierra notices me standing there. “Oh, hi. What’s your name again?”

“Jade. You came to my room earlier.”

“Yeah. You’re from Ohio, right?”

“No, Iowa.” I really should carry a map around.

“How did you end up at Moorhurst? It’s such a small college and it’s so far away from Ohio, or Iowa, or whatever.”

“I’m here on scholarship. The Kensington Scholarship.”

Sierra’s bright pink lips slowly curve upward as she turns to Garret. “Aww, that’s so sweet of you.”

Garret’s jaw tightens. “Shut up, Sierra. Just go.”

“I didn’t know you were so attentive to the scholarship winner.” She looks back at me and switches to a condescending tone. “Has he given you a tour? Shown you his room?”

Garret takes my hand. “You’re right, Jade. This party sucks. Let’s go.”

Sierra continues to talk, raising her voice so she’ll be heard above the music. “Where are you going, Garret? You can just take her in one of the rooms here.”

Garret pulls on me to leave and we exit out the front door, which now has a small cooler holding it open, probably so the drunk people don’t have to work so hard to go in and out. I try to pull my hand away, but he holds on even tighter.

“What was she talking about?”

He keeps walking fast toward the car. I finally yank my hand free. “Garret, she acts like we’re going to have sex or something. Like you’reusingme for sex.” I stop walking but he continues. “Is that why you’re being nice to me? Is this all some game you’re playing? Get the naive new girl to sleep with you?”

He whips around and walks back to me. “Seriously, Jade? Why would you listen to a bitch like Sierra? You barely know her and now you believe her over me? Sierra makes up shit all the time. She does it to cause problems. Her parents even made her see a counselor when she was 12 because she made up this story about a teacher flirting with her. She’d never even met the guy. She’s a total liar.”

I’m not sure if I should believe him. I want to, but I don’t trust him. Then again, I don’t trust anyone.

“I think I should walk back.”

“Jade, no.” He takes my hand again, this time gently holding it. “It’s dark and it’s not safe to walk alone. Plus there’s no sidewalk. You could get hit, especially wearing that dark shirt.” He leads me over to his car and opens the door. “Please. Just get in the car. It’s still early. We can go somewhere else. You want some dessert?”

I take a moment to think about it. I really don’t want to go back and sit all alone in my dorm room. And for some crazy reason I do want to spend more time with Garret even though part of me is screaming to stay the hell away from him.

I agree to go and he takes me to a small diner that’s in a renovated old train car. There are small, high-backed wooden booths along each side of a narrow aisle and the ceiling and walls are covered in dark wood panels. The floor has black and white checkered tiles and short, red drapes hang on all the windows.

As I’m reviewing the dessert section of the menu, the waitress arrives.

“We’ll have the Boxcar Bonanza,” Garret says to her. “Two spoons.” She takes off without even asking what I want.

I slam the menu shut. “Did you just order for me?”

“No, I just ordered forus.” He sits back in the booth. “I used to love this place as a kid. They have great burgers.”

“Excuse me, but going back to what just happened. I don’t care for the way you just ordered without even considering what I wanted. It’s rude. Maybe I won’t like the Boxcar whatever it was.”

“Boxcar Bonanza. And you’ll like it. Everyone likes it. It’s their special dessert.”

“And we have to share it? Maybe I wanted my own dessert.”

“It’s huge. You have to share it.” He sips his water. “So tell me about yourself, Jade. This whole time we’ve been hanging out you haven’t said one word about home.”

“There’s nothing to say.”

“Tell me about your family. That guy, Ryan. What’s he like?”

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