Page 24 of Campus Crush
If you don’t want to, it’s totally cool. No pressure at all.
A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.
Maybe it was time to take a risk.
My fingers hovered over the keyboard for a second longer. Then, heart pounding, I typed back:
PeachyKeen:
I’d love to meet.
Sam was right about one thing. It was time I put myself out there again, and hopefully this time things would turn out better than before.
FOURTEEN
The café Peach and I had agreed to meet at was packed when I arrived. My nerves were a mess and I was too jittery for caffeine, but I felt like I should get something while I waited for her. I glanced around the space, looking for a woman sitting by herself with a small plush peach on the table—that was what Peach had said she’d bring to identify herself, and I’d had a good chuckle at that.
The only woman alone at her table was working on a laptop and didn’t seem like she was waiting for anyone. I checked my phone for the time. Maybe I’d beaten her here.
I didn’t want to think about the possibility that she changed her mind and wasn’t coming.
I got in line behind a few other people and then caught sight of familiar brown hair. Abby was standing behind the woman currently ordering at the counter. There was one person between us, but Abby didn’t seem to notice me behind her.
She wore a simple fitted green tank top that hugged her curves in a way that made my mouth water.
Abby was the kind of beautiful that was understated but completely disarming.
She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, and I was drawn to the way her jean shorts fit her ass, which was…well, distracting in the best possible way. When she reached up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, I caught a glimpse of her profile—the gentle slope of her nose, her full lips pressed together in concentration as she studied the menu board.
There was something captivating about the way she carried herself—confident but not showy, like she had nothing to prove to anyone. It was refreshing compared to the girls who usually threw themselves at me just because I played hockey.
I shifted my weight, suddenly aware that I’d been staring for too long. The last thing I needed was for her to turn around and catch me ogling her like some creep, or worse, for Peach to see me.
Guilt heated my cheeks. I shouldn’t be checking out Abby when I was here to meet Peach. What the hell was I doing?
“Do you have another card?” the cashier asked the girl who was standing in front of Abby at the register.
The girl shook her head. Her voice caught as she asked, “Can you try it again, please? I just…It’s been a really bad day, and I just really need this coffee.”
The cashier held the card out to her. “I’ve already tried three times. It didn’t go through. Sorry, hon.”
The girl’s shoulders dropped, and when she glanced behind her at the rest of us in line, her cheeks flushed bright pink in embarrassment.
Abby immediately stepped up and told the cashier to put it on hers, holding out her card, and then placed herorder for a vanilla latte. The girl seemed profusely grateful, but I couldn’t catch the rest of what she said to Abby once she lowered her voice.
But I could see Abby’s face as they turned. Her expression was full of kindness and understanding, and I didn’t miss her melodic voice saying, “Pay it forward someday.”
Something deeper than attraction or lust tightened in my gut the longer I watched her.
She fascinated me and drew me in like no one else ever had, although there was also still this niggling feeling in the back of my mind that I’d felt this before, but I couldn’t quite place it.
I was desperate to know more about her, to figure out what made her tick and what she was passionate about.
And for the first time, I admitted—at least to myself—that I had feelings for two women at the same time. I could only hope that meeting Peach today would help me figure out which one I felt stronger for.
I stepped up to place my order when the barista working behind the bar called out, “Peach.”
I snapped my head and struggled to breathe as Abby walked up to the counter and grabbed her drink with a smile. My gaze was glued to her as she walked back to her table and sat down, setting the drink down carefully before she dug in her bag and pulled out a plush peach the size of a baseball.
