If I Forget You (11 page)

“Owen,” he answered. “Sorry if you think I’m stalking you. I take it as a sign we should be friends since we like the same food and keep running into each other.”

Not literally, though, like me and Jordan,
she thought to herself as she popped another chip into her mouth. But Owen seemed nice enough, and eager. Three guys might be interested in her, but she wouldn’t let it go to her head. As she looked into Owen’s charming blue eyes rimmed with a darker blue, she decided that this was what college was about
—
meeting new people, taking chances, opening yourself up. High school had been almost the complete opposite for her. Maybe that was why she was meeting so many guys now. Maybe subconsciously she was putting herself out there more than she ever had in her life. So far the results were exciting and horrifying at the same time.

“I’m Avery,” she said. “I moved from Spokane. You?”

“Guess we’re even more alike,” he laughed. “I’m from Spokane too. What high school did you go to?”

“Shadle Park.” She wanted to say that she wasn’t
from
Spokane, but it didn’t matter at this point.

“Ah, that’s why I don’t know you. I went to Rogers.”

Her stomach flipped upside down as she thought of Ryan and his deep brown eyes and the way he’d looked at her on the sidewalk by Stacy’s house, as if he was confused about whether he wanted to kiss her or run from her.

“But, hey,” Owen continued, “that’s not too far apart. We kicked your butt at football.” He cleared his throat. “Not that you should take it personally or anything.”

They were nearing the tree Avery liked to sit under, and she slowed her pace. “I never paid much attention to football,” she answered, taking a seat on the grass. It was damp, as usual. “Not that you should take it personally.” She looked up and gave him a wink as he sat down next to her. They both set their food down and Avery fished her drink from her bag and opened it to take a sip. “Wait, crap, you weren’t a football player, were you?”

He looked down at his body and shrugged. “Um, no.”

She laughed. He was lean, like a runner. No wonder she’d thought he was Kent/Jordan. They were all athletic in some way. Kent was a total outdoor junkie and ice skater, but she had yet to discover why Jordan looked so fit. For all she knew, he could be addicted to the gym.

“Do you play sports at all?” she asked.

“I ride my bike everywhere. Does that count?”

That explained the tennis shoes and a streak of chain grease across the bottom cuff of his jeans.

“Sure, it counts,” she said before digging into her hot dog. She loved the tang of the cream cheese meeting the spiciness of the meat and onions. Why couldn’t she have met Owen in high school? Every guy in her class she had ever been interested in was either not interested in her, offended by something she’d forgotten, or taken by some other girl. It was a small pool of fish, and just a few miles away there was Owen at Rogers High. And Ryan, but she wouldn’t think about him right now. Owen, who could have been a better friend than Tam turned out to be. Avery already felt at ease with him.

“Do you ride?” he asked after swallowing a huge mouthful of food. His hot dog was nearly gone.

“No, I walk or take the bus. I live a few blocks away at my aunt’s house.”

“Oh, cool. I’m in a house, too, but I rent it with a bunch of guys.”

“How do you like that?”

“It’s all right, I guess. My roomies are obsessed with drinking. I swear that’s why they’re here. But hey, screw your classes, right? College is all about the party.” He rolled his eyes and dumped the last of his chips into his mouth.

Avery chuckled. “So you don’t party with them? What a shame.”

“Yeah, a definite shame. Guess they’re a lot richer than me. I had to work my ass off to come here. I’m not going to waste it getting plastered my entire first quarter.”

She already liked Owen more than she probably should. “I’m with you on that. I get a bunch of financial aid, but it’s not enough to make it a free ride.”

“I don’t believe in free rides,” Owen answered. “I’ve watched people get somewhere with them, but how can they live with that? I don’t get it at all.”

Avery smiled, happy to find someone with a good, hard work ethic. “I agree.”

“Awesome.” He suddenly got to his feet.

“Are you leaving already? We’re just barely getting to know each other.”

He smiled down at her and held out the trash from his lunch. “Just throwing this away. You finished?”

She shook her head. “Still working on it, thanks.”

“Be right back.”

She leaned against the tree behind her and watched him walk away. What had she gotten herself into? She couldn’t be crushing on three different guys. She couldn’t.

Before she could argue with herself anymore, she realized Owen wasn’t coming right back. Instead, he was talking to a beautiful girl with curly black hair.
Tam.

Avery almost jumped to her feet. Something was going on with Tam. She had been at the party with Kent and Jordan, and now she was worming her way into Avery’s relationship with Owen too
—
a relationship that had barely begun!

Owen laughed out loud and nodded. He was too far away for Avery to hear their conversation. Was Tam very funny? She was beautiful, that was for sure. She had always been beautiful. Avery picked up her hot dog and took a bite entirely too big for her mouth. Chewing helped alleviate her anger. Her jaw was starting to hurt by the time Owen waved goodbye to Tam and headed back.

Don’t glare at him. It’s not his fault.

As he sat down, Avery swallowed and took a drink. “Do you know her?” she asked, unable to hold in the question.

“Who, that girl?” He nodded toward Tam, who was now walking in the opposite direction.

“Yeah.”

“She’s in my economics class, but I’ve never really talked to her before. She just recognized me and said hi.” Positioning himself so he was sitting cross-legged and facing Avery, he leaned forward with a smirk. “Why? You jealous already?” He blew on his knuckles. “I’ve managed to steal your heart in twenty minutes flat?”

Despite her anger over Tam, a grin broke out across her face. His confidence wasn’t forged. He really did think highly of himself, but at least for now he was not coming off as conceited or arrogant. More like the opposite. She liked his sideburns, she decided. They made him look intelligent and unruffled.

“Oh, wait,” he laughed. “It was the hot dogs, wasn’t it? Our three encounters before this must have made an impression and primed you for this charming lunch today.”

She paused in the middle of putting a chip in her mouth.
Three
encounters? For the life of her, she couldn’t remember the other times she’d seen him. There was the first day of classes and then today. That’s all her brain had logged, anyway. Of all things she hated, the worst was this feeling of something missing, like she’d subconsciously chosen to reject certain events and it was somehow her own fault. It
was
her fault. If she’d taken note of the situation or just tried harder to remember, she wouldn’t be such a mess.

Forcing herself to smile, she said, “Oh, this whole relationship revolves around the hot dogs. It’s fate.”

He laughed. “So, do you know her?”

Her forced smile fell at the mention of Tam. She looked down at her food and picked at a piece of grilled onion. “Yeah, we knew each other in high school.”

He was silent, and when she looked up he was leaning back on his hands and looking at her with a serious expression. “You really are jealous of me talking to her, aren’t you? But does it really have anything to do with me?”

She dropped the piece of onion. “Not really. Don’t let your ego get too bruised, though. I do like you.”

Surprise lit up his face. “You do?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Really?” He looked shocked, and she was suddenly reminded of how she’d felt when Jordan invited her to his party. Was it possible she was not the only one out there who thought it was unthinkable for someone to honestly like them? The sad thing was that, even though she had three guys interested in her at this very moment, she was pretty sure none of it would amount to anything in the end. She would make some epic mistake
—
if she hadn’t already
—
and it would all disintegrate around her.

“I really do,” she answered him, trying to hold the most serious expression possible.

She was a complete idiot. Why was she encouraging this when she already had her hands full with Jordan and Kent? But looking into Owen’s face as his surprised expression slowly faded into hope, she knew she couldn’t lie to him or to herself. She
did
like him.

“You want to meet here for lunch tomorrow?” he asked, twisting the dagger she’d stabbed into herself.

She couldn’t help but smile. “Wednesdays are crammed for me, but Tuesdays and Thursdays I’ve got the whole afternoon free.”

The hope on his face swelled into joy. “How long do we get to sit here and talk today, then?”

She looked at her watch. “I have to work at three here on campus. I usually study between now and then, but …” She looked up at the clear blue sky peeking through a tangle of tree branches and leaves. “I think I’d rather sit here with you right now.”

He laughed and pulled his backpack into his lap. “Maybe we can study together. Are you a science major?”

A giddy smile crossed her lips. “Biology
—
botany, specifically.”

“Oh, that’s perfect. I’m into marine bio. What do you want to do?” He pulled out a biology book, and her heart practically melted.

“Don’t laugh, but I’m thinking something along the lines of landscaping or agriculture. I guess I don’t really know at this point. I just barely got here.”

He looked up from the notebook he was flipping through, his brows furrowed. “You’re a freshman? You seem older than that … in a good way.”

Laughing, she took the last bite of hot dog. “I’m nineteen. Maybe that’s why?”

“Maybe.” He looked at her with a softened expression for a few seconds longer than necessary, and then turned back to his notebook. “So? Bio? Got anything you want to go over?”

“I sure do.”

As they pulled out more books and notebooks and lay on the grass on their stomachs, Avery’s heart started to pound so hard she could hardly contain it. Maybe this was all a bad idea. She kept telling herself it was okay, but Heaven was right. She
was
overwhelmed. It wasn’t by schoolwork or moving away from home
—
it was by her heart that had somehow split into three parts.

12

Last Year

Stacy Edisson’s house was packed. Avery made her way through the crowd, not surprised to see soda pop cans clutched in most people’s hands
—
probably filled with beer or something stronger. She scrunched her nose, irritated that a headache was starting to form behind her eyes. After an evening filled with reminiscing about her dad, and then all her confusion over Ryan, she wasn’t sure how long she would last tonight. She had to find Tam.

“Do you know where she is?” Ryan asked, right behind her.

“Are you assuming I’m looking for Tam?” she asked as she glanced over her shoulder. Ryan was right up against her, pushing himself even closer as a group edged past him. His hand brushed against her hip long enough for her to wonder if he’d done it on purpose.

“Well, aren’t you?”

“Well, she’s the one who asked me to come.”

“Do you do everything Tam asks you to do?”

Stopping in her tracks, she turned completely around to face him. His lips were slightly parted, and she couldn’t stop looking at them. The kissing deal was driving her nuts. She needed to remember what the hell she had agreed to. “No, I don’t do everything Tam asks me to do. What do you think I am? Her slave?”

He shrugged and those perfect lips pinched together to form a smirk that revealed his dimples. After a moment, she lifted her eyes to his and blinked.

“She’s a strong personality,” he said nonchalantly, “and you’re … well, you remember what you told me before, right? You’re the quiet type. Alone.”

She had told him that? Gritting her teeth, she straightened her shoulders. “What does that have to do with Tam?”

His smirk fell into a straight line. “Opposites attract, that’s all. She seems like the type who thrives off people needing her, and you’re the opposite.”

“You think I can’t fend for myself?”

“That’s not what I said.”

“Then what are you saying?”

By this point her headache was pounding like a sledgehammer, and she squeezed her eyes shut against the pain. Why did Ryan set her off so much? She didn’t normally argue with people like this. Something brushed against her cheek. She opened her eyes to see Ryan leaning close to her face.

“Are you okay?” he asked, studying her as he lowered his hand. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m interested in Tam, so I want to know more about her, that’s all. Since you’re such close friends
—
”

“Oh, stop. I’ll find her for you. She’s usually with her group. They’re not my
group, but sometimes I’m allowed to hang with them.” She rolled her eyes and turned back around to resume her search. As she cut across the living room and into the kitchen, she wondered if she was so upset because Ryan had a point. Maybe she
did
do everything Tam asked her to do. Did that mean she was a doormat? A friend of convenience? Her headache pounded even harder.

Tam wasn’t in the kitchen or the back yard. “Downstairs, maybe,” she muttered, and turned to find wherever that was. Like an excited puppy, Ryan stayed on her heels. By the time they got downstairs she wanted to tell him to keep his distance, but it didn’t matter. There was Tam, sitting at a table with a bunch of people Avery didn’t recognize. They were playing some sort of card game with others standing around, watching. Loud music blared through the room, along with a movie over in the corner.

Tam grabbed a handful of popcorn from a bowl in the middle of the table and dropped a few pieces in her mouth. “I told you that was a stupid move,” she laughed. When she caught sight of Avery and Ryan she stopped mid-chew. Her eyes widened.