Free Accepted by Coleen Lahr Page A

to argue that Colin and I never eat alone anymore—Randi and Amber always show up at the dining hall during our lunches after class — but Becca stopped me by holding up her hand.
    "Not to mention all the little things that happened during the first week here — the way he always sought you out..."
    This time, I did interrupt her. "So a guy can’t help the new girl find her way without having an ulterior motive?"
    This time, Becca’s look shut me up.
    "Plus," she drew the word out. "The way he looks at you, especially when you haven’t noticed him yet. Or, the way he smiles at you, especially when you have noticed him."
    At this point, I wasn’t even trying to stifle my laughter.
    Becca stopped, looked me in the eyes, and smiled — a truly genuine smile. "Not to mention the way you look at him…"
    I smiled back at her.
    Then, I tried to deny it.
    "There’s nothing going on, Bec." I wish something could, but at least I wasn’t lying. "We’re just friends."
    "Because of Randi?"
    I looked up at her, surprised.
    "No." I shook my head. "Why would you think that?"
    She gave me a knowing look.
    "You know, he doesn’t like her like that. She likes him like that, but he doesn’t like her. They’re just old friends."
    "Well, I don’t like him like that either," I argued.
    She just smirked and said, "Sure, you don’t."
    "Plus, even if he doesn’t like her, she likes him, and she’s my friend."
    "You just met her, Ashley." Her tone was disbelieving.
    "Yeah, well, I’d like to keep her, Becca."
    She just laughed.
    I looked at her seriously, "I told you, Becca, I’m happy here. This is my home. You guys are my family. I’m not doing anything to jeopardize that. Colin and me—that could definitely jeopardize it."
    She looked at me for a long minute. Then, slowly, she nodded, and the corners of her lips rose.
    "I understand, Ash." Then, her smile widened. "I totally knew you liked him, though." And she laughed.
    "I didn’t say that!" But I was giggling with her.
     

Chapter Six
     
    "Seriously? You’re studying again?" Amber didn’t even try to hide the disdain in her voice.
    I laughed and looked up at my roommate as she walked into our room, dropped her bag on the floor, and flopped onto her bed.
    "What do you expect me to be doing? Midterms are next week."
    She shrugged, making a face. "I don’t know, but it’s Friday night, Ashley. You’re like the only person in the world who studies on Friday night."
    I chuckled at her whiney tone. "That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think? I bet I can find at least ten people in this building who are studying tonight. Besides, what else am I going to do? Becca and Randi both went home, and you have Danny coming to visit." She opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off, "And I am not playing third wheel to the two of you."
    Amber’s boyfriend Danny was coming to visit her for the first time this semester. He was making the twelve-hour drive by himself and had left New Jersey early that morning. Amber was expecting him any minute.
    He was staying in our room, which would not have been a problem at all, except that midterms started on Monday, and all I wanted to do was study. I could not, for the life of me, understand why they chose this weekend. Amber needed to study for midterms as much as, if not more than, the rest of us. His visit was further complicated by the departure of both Becca and Randi for the weekend. Not only was I being exiled, or sexiled, as Randi had put it, but I had no place to go.
    Becca went home for her mother’s birthday and to have some peace and quiet while studying. She was extremely nervous about her Calculus II midterm and wanted to shut herself in a room to study for hours straight. Even with Randi gone for the weekend, the likelihood of hours of uninterrupted study time in a dorm is low, so she used her mother’s birthday as an excuse to drive home last night.
    Randi, on the other hand, wasn’t particularly concerned