After the Rain Read Free

out what belonged to whom. We’re both addicted to jeans, cutoff jean shorts, and long maxi skirts, and sadly, I think we hit all the same stores.
    “We’re having a Biology study group tonight. Do you want to come?” she asks, sitting on the edge of her bed. Not only do we get along, but we’re also in a lot of the same classes because as it turned out, we’re both majoring in psychology.
    “Maybe. I have to check with Beau first to see if he has any plans.” I
    slip the bag over my shoulders and step into my flip-flops.
    “You two spend way too much time together. Don’t you ever just want to do your own thing? When do you have time to study?” she asks as she chips the finger nail polish from her nails. It’s a habit I noticed the first day we were here.
    I shrug. “We’re making up for lost time. It’s hard to explain, but right now I need all the time with him I can get. And don’t worry about my study time. I get plenty of that done when I’m with Beau.”
    She looks up from her nails and smiles. “Whatever. I guess if Beau was my boyfriend, I would want to spend every minute I could with him, too.”
    “Have you ever had a serious boyfriend, Emery?”
    I’ve never seen a smile fall from someone’s face as fast as it fell from hers. “Let’s talk about something else.”
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry,” I say softly, trying to push away the dark cloud that has suddenly formed over the room. There’s a lot that Emery doesn’t know about me—a lot she’ll probably never know about me. I’m not going to be a hypocrite and force her tell me her secrets.
    “It’s okay. Maybe someday we can talk about it, but not today.”
    “Are you ready to go?” I ask in an effort to move us away from the subject of our pasts.
    “Yeah, let’s get out of here.” She stands up from the bed and tosses her long hair over her shoulders. I wonder if she realizes how pretty she is with her brown eyes, dark hair, and olive-colored skin.
    As we make our way across campus, she talks about what she’s doing for her Biology paper that’s due next week. She doesn’t do much outside of class, the library, and various study groups. I almost feel sorry for her, because while she seems content, she doesn’t look all that happy. She reminds me a lot of myself from a year or two ago.
    I even invited Emery out for pizza with Rachel and me yesterday; she looked at me like I had idiot written on my forehead. I’ve made it my goal this year to help bring her out of her shell … like Asher did for me. I can tell it’s going to be a struggle, but I’m up for the challenge.
    When we get to our classroom, we take our seats right next to each other in the front of the room. This isn’t the most exciting class I have so sitting in the front is necessary for staying awake.
    “Are you ladies going to the game tomorrow?” It’s Drake, the quarterback of the football team. Every time we have this class, he sits right behind us. If he wasn’t such a jerk, we might not mind it so much.
    “We have better things to do. Like memorizing all the past presidents in order of their presidency,” Emery says, not even bothering to turn around and look at him.
    “What about you? Are you memorizing the presidents with the brown-eyed devil over here?” he asks, nodding toward Emery.
    “She’s hanging out with her super nice and very sexy boyfriend,” Emery interjects, turning toward me just enough that I can see her eyes roll.
    Drake narrows his gaze, focusing them in on the back of her head. “I think she can answer for herself.”
    “Stop,” I interrupt. “I don’t know why you two even bother talking to each other.”
    “If Professor Monroe hadn’t assigned us to work on a project together, we wouldn’t,” Emery answers, glaring over at me.
    Sitting quietly, I watch Drake lean forward in his chair so his mouth is only a couple inches from the back of Emery’s neck. “Speaking of that stupid fucking project,