Total pages in book: 121
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116759 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 584(@200wpm)___ 467(@250wpm)___ 389(@300wpm)
Last Semester
Guilt and anticipation mingled as I strode up the library steps. This whole situation had gotten out of hand. I promised myself this was the last time. Then I saw Lily sitting near the entrance, chewing on the end of her tablet pen as she studied something on the screen. If she were anyone else, I’d have already slept with her. In fact, the first time I saw her, I was pretty sure that’s where our interaction would end up.
But six fake tutorial sessions and several weeks later and … I liked her. A lot. So much I couldn’t sleep with her because it would make things awkward and weird between us and I realized I didn’t want that. I’d quite like to keep Lily in my life. Plus, I knew from her podcast that Lily didn’t do casual sex.
That, unfortunately, was all I could give her. That or friendship.
So, friendship it was.
As if sensing me, Lily looked up, and her lush mouth widened into a gorgeous smile. Those dimples. Bloody hell, those dimples did something to me. She stood, tugging down her sweater self-consciously. “Hi.”
“Hey.” I studied her stunning face and felt the words, the truth dancing on my tongue. I should tell her now.
“Ready for more human personality tutoring?” she teased.
I smiled. “If you feel it’s still necessary.”
Lily laughed and gestured for me to follow her. I did, my eyes dropping to her arse with a mind of their own. Her narrow waist sloped dramatically into her curvy hips and round bottom. She had the kind of body I didn’t think existed outside of sexist cartoons. The alarming thing was, Lily was not only completely unaware of how beautiful and sexy she was … she clearly had confidence issues. She was forever fidgeting with her clothes or glancing away shyly when she revealed something personal.
I’d known this from listening to her on her podcast. But the skeptical bastard I was, I’d thought it was a schtick, the whole shy, reserved girl dating from an introvert’s perspective. I thought it was to help sell the podcast. Especially when I saw her in real life because surely a girl that stunning knew she was that stunning.
But it wasn’t a schtick.
Lily Sawyer had no idea how fucking gorgeous and likable she was.
She was everything she’d seemed on the podcast and more. Funny, kind, insightful, smart. “I’ve been listening to your podcast,” I blurted out. Immediately, I wanted to pull the words back in.
It was one thing to try to dig myself out of a hole I’d made but another to perpetuate a lie. It was bordering into manipulative.
Damn it.
Lily wasn’t leading me to the study room. She led me down some aisles of books instead. She glanced over her shoulder in surprise. “Really? You listened? Also, I need to grab a book for my Thinking and Reasoning paper.”
I nodded, continuing to follow her, lowering my voice as we entered a quieter area of the library. “I listened to the episode when you talked to Carly. The young woman grieving her boyfriend.” Carly’s boyfriend had died of cancer, and they’d been together since they were thirteen years old. Truthfully, I’d listened to the episode weeks ago. It was my motivation for seeking out Lily. Carly had called into the podcast to explain how her boyfriend had been gone for two years, and she still couldn’t bring herself to date. That she’d tried, gone out with a bloke a friend set her up with, and had thrown up as soon as she’d returned home. Lily had been so compassionate while she gently suggested the girl start counseling. But she’d also advised her not to be pressured by family and friends into doing anything she wasn’t emotionally ready for. She explained grief was not linear and it wasn’t a one-size-fits-all.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Lily after that episode and I didn’t understand why. I only knew that I had to know her.
“You were incredibly kind to her.”
Lily stopped at a shelf, her expression sincere. “That was a difficult one. But I heard from Carly last week. She’s been speaking to a counselor, and she thinks it’s helping.”
“That’s amazing. You’re amazing.” Guilt swamped me.
I was a shithead. Truly. Because secretly, I was Elijah, a current host on Potterrow Blokes, a rival podcast started by Olly because he was pissed at Lily’s friend and cohost Sierra for dumping him. The podcast seemed like a joke at first. Olly started it with Harry, one of my roommates. They’d invited me onto it, and I’d done it for a laugh, faking an American accent so no one would know it was me. No one knew it was Harry and Olly either.
But I soon discovered Olly started it as some kind of lighthearted vendetta against Sierra, and that didn’t sit right with me. Especially as I began to suspect that Lily’s podcast meant a hell of a lot to her and it actually did some good.