Chapter 6

Liam

September

I get back to our college house around supper time the day before classes start up. I've spent the last two months at my family"s home, spending time with them and doing some one-on-one coaching with middle schoolers to earn some money. I'm grateful that I don't have to worry about rent or the cost of school or even my car. Mom and Dean, my step-dad, bought me my Jeep in high school and my tuition is covered by an account mom and dad had set up and contributed to when I was born. Lucky isn't even the right word for it, I'm blessed. I love coaching though and having my own money that I made myself just feels good.

"Hey," I call out when I enter the house, "I'm home." Ryan's truck is here but I don't get a response. Ryan left home yesterday to return to campus, I guess he was meeting some teammates for dinner. I head upstairs and throw my bags on my bed before knocking on Ryan's door.

"Uh, one sec." Ryan shouts before appearing in the doorway that he has only slightly cracked open. "Hey bro, glad you're back."

I send him a puzzled look until my eyes take in that his chest is bare and the only thing donning his body is a pair of boxers. "Um, right. I'm gonna shower then make dinner."

"Yeah, sounds good. I'll meet you downstairs in a bit." He closes the door. Shaking my head, I turn around into my room to unpack and shower. After a nice long shower, this house has great water pressure, I throw on some shorts and a tee. It's just after Labor Day Weekend, still very much summer in New England. When I get downstairs, Ryan's already in the kitchen looking at something on his laptop.

"Hey Ry."

"Liam! Glad you're back. It was a lonely night without you here."

"Can't have been that lonely, who was here earlier?" He might not have said it, but him answering his door in his boxers and the look on his face clued me in.

"Oh, uh, no one." Ryan brushes it off. While neither of us have ever gone crazy hooking up with girls, we aren't strangers to an occasional hookup. Ryan definitely would outnumber me any day though. We almost always tell each other who it was, not to brag but because we don't want to hook up with the same girls. Some people don't know we're related since we don't have the same last name as we are only step siblings and some people don't care, but we do. So I find it a little weird he hasn't said her name but I let it go. It doesn't really matter anyways because the only girl I've been able to think about all summer is Emilia. Something is seriously wrong with me.

"Um, Earth to Liam." Ryan stands in front of me waving his hands. There I go again zoning out, daydreaming about a girl I met once.

"Sorry, want burgers for dinner? I can start up the grill."

"Yes, sounds great." I am no chef, I am an infinitely better cook than Ryan is and it's something that brings me joy. I heat up the grill and start making dinner. I put Ryan on potato chopping duty so we can make our own french fries as well.

"Eli made these mini strawberry shortcakes yesterday, they were insane. You missed a good one."

"Damn. I'm jealous. Little sis makes the best desserts." Ryan has always called Eliza his sister and me his brother, despite us being step siblings. He even calls my mom, mom. Which is fair considering she's really the only mom he's ever known.

I'm dying to know if Ryan's heard from Rosie, Emilia's roommate. He was so into her at that party and maybe if he's heard from her I have a chance of talking to Emilia. The strawberry blonde beauty I haven't been able to stop thinking about all summer.

"So, have you heard from Rosie?" I try to bring up the topic nonchalantly.

I can almost feel Ryan stiffen beside me. "Why?" Okay, defensive much?

"Just curious, wanted to know if her friend is okay after that party."

"Ohh." Ryan says like he understands what I mean now. "You don't actually care about if I heard from Rosie, do you?" There's a teasing tone back in his voice.

"Have you heard from her or not?"

"I've talked to Garrett who says they're both okay."

"Good, good that's good." Neither of us say anything, like if we do we'll figure out the other's secret. We both know when to and when not to push each other. I change the topic, asking Ryan about his training and game schedule since hockey starts in just over a month. We finish cooking dinner and then sit down to eat it while we watch a show before heading up to get some sleep before classes tomorrow.

∞∞∞

Emilia

I spent most of the summer settling into our apartment and working. The coffee shop that's located on the first floor of the campus library, The Blue Bean, where I work during the school year was open but with reduced hours and that combined with having extra time and more bills had me picking up another job. So, I got a job as a server at an Italian restaurant, Nico's, not too far from campus. It's only a fifteen-minute walk from my apartment, if I cut through campus.

With these two jobs I have been able to pay my rent, start putting money aside for emergencies and hopefully for a future car. So far I have been lucky enough that my jobs and internships have been close to campus but my academic advisor let me know that might not be the case for my spring internship. Working my butt off for a car it is. I knew I'd need one by the end of senior year anyways so my timeline has just sped up a bit.

Today is the day before the fall semester begins, I requested some time off for the first time all summer to get everything in order. Plus, Rosie is coming back to the apartment today and I'm excited to see her. She stayed at the apartment for all of June and the first half of July but after that she headed home to see her family who live about three hours away in Connecticut. Sitting in the living room on a couch we got from Ikea, I"m putting my class and work schedules into my planner while humming along to my chill pop playlist. Moments later Rosie comes in the door with multiple suitcases and bags, she is a chronic overpacker.

"Rosie, you should have texted me. I would've helped you!"

"Emi! No need, I was determined to get it all up in one trip. I missed you!" She drops everything in the doorway and comes over to hug me.

"I missed you too, Ro. How was the rest of the summer?" Rosie and I texted often and FaceTimed weekly so I know most of how her summer went but I still like to hear about it from her in person.

"It was good, we had a big cookout this weekend. Mom invited everyone like the whole family and the whole block." Her family is incredibly close, something I am extremely jealous of but it makes me happy for her. "It was nice, crazy, but nice to spend time with everyone." She flinches, probably thinking of me here all summer without seeing family, not that I wanted to see mine anyways. "Sorry, Em." There's really nothing to apologize for. She invited me to come with her this summer and even offered to drive back here and then back to her family just for the weekend but with school starting up soon I wanted to pick up as many shifts as possible. I'll still be working during the semester just not as often so I can still be sure to get my schoolwork done.

"Don't be silly. I'm so happy you got to spend time with everyone." We go on filling each other in on what we've been up to, me about my jobs and class schedule and Rosie about how her family is doing. Her brother even made it to the cookout to surprise everyone. He's been traveling around the world for the past year.

"So you never saw Liam around, huh?" Rosie has been texting me all summer to see if I spotted that handsome green-eyed boy on campus and unfortunately the answer was always no.

"Nope. He probably wasn't even on campus all summer." Unlike me, most students, even ones in apartments and houses, would go home for at least half the summer to see their families.

"Yeah, that's true." Rosie says shaking her head, her tone sounds off but before I can ask she says she's headed to take a shower because she feels gross after her long car ride.

While Rosie is in the shower I finish filling in my calendars, classes and work taking up all the spaces. I sigh, high school me had been so hopeful for college and while it's been a great experience and I'm working towards my goals, that's not all I imagined. My heart dreamed of an adventure, getting that typical college experience and maybe finding love. When I got here, however, I just dove right into my studies and haven't given myself a chance to breathe since.

Getting up, I head into my room and open the top drawer of my desk retrieving a special piece of paper I have stashed in between my notebooks. I pull out the folded paper that reads "My College Bucket List" at the top in purple ink. I check off one of the boxes, the one that says "attend a college party", only the second item on the list I've ever checked off. Granted the list isn't that long. Maybe it's time I try to accomplish some of these things, live that college life outside of classes.

There's a knock and I turn to see Rosie, freshly showered, standing in the doorway. Nonchalantly, I move the paper under the book on my desk so she doesn't see it. I've never shown Rosie my college bucket list because in all honesty it's a little silly. Also when I met her freshman year I knew she would be all over it and want to help me achieve everything on it, but I wasn't ready for it. Maybe I am now.

"Movie night?" Rosie asks.

"Of course, let's make popcorn."