She shoved me off with a laugh, fixing her hair before launching into other things she’d seen at the party, including a couple hippy kids making mushroom tea, and the garden in the back which I agreed with her was completely bizarre and didn’t fit the scene.

I just listened to her, nodding along, and kept my hands in my pockets.

Mostly to keep from reaching for her again.

Chapter Twelve

Giana

“I want you all to be thinking about your case study,” Professor Schneider said on Wednesday morning, a click of her mouse pulling up the requirements on the screen at the head of the class. “It feels like the end of the semester is far away now, but it will sneak up on you, and I will tell you now that I’ll know if you procrastinated, and your grade will reflect it.”

My tired eyes bounced over the text on the screen, though I didn’t register much. Social Media as a Mass Communication was the furthest thing from my mind, especially after a late night working on the upcoming team auction.

Charlotte had me cold-calling everyone in the community she could think of who might be willing to sponsor or provide date itineraries for the auction. And as if that wasn’t draining enough, she then told me I needed to select the charity for the proceeds to benefit and have it on her desk by morning.

It could have been an easy task, if I was lazy and didn’t care about every tiny aspect of my job. I could have Googled charities in Boston and selected the first one that popped up. But since I was addicted to knowledge and detail, I not only searched charities in the area, but also how much of their funding went toward their goal, how many other national sponsors they had, what their output of help in the local community was, and how their ideals matched up with that of NBU and the team.

I hadn’t landed on a decision until well after midnight, and though I passed out as soon as I got home from the stadium, my alarm went off only six hours later.

Early classes were a bitch.

“The quiz on chapters one through five is now live in your online portal. You’ll have until Friday to complete it. See you all next week.”

With that, textbooks and laptops snapped closed, the shuffling of bags the first sound that filled the room before soft talking followed it. I packed up my own things in silence, glancing at my watch that read ten AM and thinking it would be a two-coffee kind of day.