Free My Sweetest Escape by Chelsea M. Cameron

of
    saying that I don’t want to make you
    uncomfortable this early in our relationship.
    Wow, why do I keep doing that?
    I am so sorry.”
    “No big,” I said, unable to stop laughing.
    “How about you tell me something else?
    Where are you from?”
    She chewed and swallowed before she
    spoke. “Up north.
    The boondocks. The sticks. The butthole
    of Maine. Whatever you want to call it. I
    couldn’t afford to go out of state and this
    was the biggest school in Maine. Great
    place to get lost in, you know?”
    I did.
    “What’s your major?” she said after
    taking another bite of her wrap.
    “Poli-sci.”
    “Me, too. Although, that’s only because
    it sounded better than history and I’m a bit
    of a law junkie. I have no idea what I want
    to do, but I figured it was as good as
    anything else. Plus, in the upper level
    classes we get to debate and that’s kind of
    one of my favorite things. You?”
    “I used to want to be president, or a
    senator or something,”
    I said. I hadn’t decided quite what yet. I
    figured I’d start out in local government and
    work my way up.
    “Used to?”
    “Another one of those long stories that’s
    a bit of a downer that I’d rather not tell.”
    Hannah nodded. Honestly, the burn
    wasn’t that bad once you’d been looking at
    it for a while. You got used to it, and the
    fact that Hannah didn’t seem bothered
    about it helped.
    “I hear you, girl.” We finished our lunch
    and talked more about the class, and
    Hannah told me that as long as I did the
    reading and had a reasonable grasp of the
    current political cli-mate, I’d be fine. I
    wasn’t so sure, but I took her word for it.
    “Are you on campus?” she asked as we
    dumped our trays and made our way
    upstairs to the Starbucks. Hannah said she
    needed her next caffeine fix.

    “No. I live in a house in Bangor with my
    sister and a bunch of her friends.” Hannah
    let out a dreamy sigh.
    “That sounds awesome. I’m stuck on
    campus. Yay, scholarship.” She sounded so
    enthused. “I’ve only lived with my
    roommate for a few weeks, and she’s
    already stopped talking to me. Luckily, she
    has a boyfriend with an apartment, so she
    usually stays there.”
    Once again, been there, done that.
    “It’s awesome if you feel like having
    three sets of parents always watching your
    every move.” I hadn’t meant to share so
    much about myself, but I couldn’t help it. I
    hadn’t talked to anyone like this in a while,
    and there was something about Hannah. I’d
    known her less than a few hours, but it was
    like we’d met before, even though that was
    impossible.
    “That sucks,” she said as she got in line. I
    decided to get my second round of tea just
    for the heck of it. The line was crazy long
    with everyone jonesing for their next fix like
    a bunch of junkies standing in line for
    methadone. Actually, the methadone was
    probably cheaper.
    By the time we got our drinks and found
    a table crushed in a corner and two seats, it
    was almost time for my next class. I downed
    my tea and told Hannah I’d see her on
    Wednesday.
    We hadn’t talked about the rest of our
    class schedules, but the chances of me
    seeing her in another of my classes were
    actually pretty good, and I had the feeling I
    would.
    I was searching for Neville Hall, which
    housed my English class, when someone
    tapped me on the shoulder.
    “Fancy seeing you here, Red.” I pivoted
    and found the ever-grinning face of Dusty
    Sharp. He pulled a set of headphones nearly
    identical to the ones I had off his ears and
    let them rest around his neck. His wardrobe
    of baggy everything hadn’t deviated, and I
    found myself wondering, once again, how
    his pants stayed up.
    I wanted to say something snarky, but
    instead a question came out of my mouth.
    “Do you know where Neville Hall is?”
    Someone yelled hello, and his eyes briefly
    left my face to wave hello and call out to
    someone.
    “Sure. Follow me. I’m going there, as
    well. What class