3. Savannah

Chapter 3

Savannah

"Hey, babe." Chad slides into the seat next to me, placing a kiss on my cheek.

"Hey. How's your day going?"

"Now that I get to see you, it's great." He flashes me a lopsided grin and drapes his arm around my shoulders. I've never been so thankful our class is in a lecture hall. I lay my head on his shoulder and the world feels… right, perfect.

"What's wrong, Sav?" He whispers into my hair.

"Nothing. It's just the past haunting me."

"Do you want to elaborate on that extremely vague statement?" He chuckles.

"Nah, not right now. What are you doing for Thanksgiving?"

"I don't know. I really don't want to go home and deal with my mom's new boyfriend. He thinks if we become buddy-buddy my mom will like him more. I'm not ten. I don't need a new dad. I think I'd rather stay here than deal with that. What about you?"

"I'm going home. Do you want to come with me? I'd love it and I know my parents would be more than happy to meet you." I glance up at him, praying he says yes.

"Are you ready for me to meet your parents? I know you wanted to take things slow."

Chad's been the world's greatest boyfriend. Most college guys don't want to deal with a girl who isn't willing to sleep with them within the first week or so of dating. But Chad's been patient and doesn't even bring it up. He's understanding and happy to wait until I'm ready.

"We've been dating for almost a year. I think that's slow enough." I peek up at him with a grin.

He lowers his head, pressing a gentle kiss to my lips. He doesn't hesitate to cup my cheek and deepen our kiss. He refuses to break away until the professor clears her throat. My cheeks heat when I find her stare focused on us with an arched brow.

"Sorry," I whisper.

I struggle to pay attention to the professor for the first twenty minutes of class. By the time we're halfway through class, I've had at least six text messages come through. My focus is anywhere but on the lecture like it should be. I need to ace this class if I want to graduate with a 4.0 GPA.

"Who keeps texting you?" Chad mumbles under his breath so no one can hear him.

"I don't know. I don't want to check. You know how she is with people using phones during a lecture." I discreetly nod to the professor.

The woman never stops moving. She's back and forth along the front of the room, then she's walking up and down the steps, making sure her gaze falls on each and every student in here. She's a great teacher, but she expects greatness from her students in return.

Normally I'm all about focusing and excelling in my studies, until Nixon popped back into my life. Couldn't he have waited a few more weeks?

I haven't even seen him yet, and he's already filling my head with him and only him. I don't understand why he's contacting me. He's the one that pushed me away. He left me. Disappeared without a word. He doesn't get to come back after I've finally created a little life for myself.

"Turn your phone off if it's going to keep vibrating," Chad whispers. "It sounds like you have a vibrator in your bag."

My wide eyes snap to Chad and I stare at him in horror. He chuckles and shrugs a shoulder. He loves to say things that horrify me like that.

Reaching down into my purse, I hold down the power button without looking. Once I know it's been held long enough, I search for an extra pen so the professor doesn't think I was distracted.

She stops her movement at the edge of our row, with her eyes locked on me. When I yank a pen out, she smiles over at me with a nod. I blow out a breath of relief and focus the best I can the rest of class.

After she gives us our assignment, I let out a long sigh. That was brutal. I hate being distracted. It just means I'll have to study more tonight than normal. I can't wait for the next few weeks to be over. I'm tired of studying, but I'm so close to being done with school.

"Hey, I have to meet up with people for a group project. What are you up to tonight?" Chad threads his fingers through mine as he leads me out of the lecture hall.

"I was planning on studying for a while. I have a huge test in a few days. According to some people, if you don't pass it, you'll fail the class."

"Babe, you have a 4.0 GPA, you won't fail the test, let alone the course."

"Not if I study." I smirk.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow then."

Standing on my tip toes, I place a kiss on Chad's lips then tug him behind me and out of the building. We step into the sunshine and I breathe out a sigh of relief. I can go home and relax for a little bit before I start studying. Chad kisses me one more time before we part ways.

I head straight to my apartment, knowing Chad isn't going to bother me the rest of the night. He knows I take school seriously. He'll entertain himself until I have time to hang out. Like I said, best boyfriend ever.