He closed the door before I could hear any response. I knew I was madly in love with Austin, but moving in with him while he navigated a breakup might be a poor choice.

The girl in love in my head stomped her feet. She didn’t care if anything made sense as long as she could be near Austin.

He held out his hand and I took it. We ran through the hall and down a set of stairs. Austin reached for my backpack before taking the burden from me. When we hit the garage, we all-out sprinted, still holding hands until we skidded to a stop at his vintage white CRX. I heard the doors unlock and grabbed the passenger door. Austin had the car in reverse the second my door was closed.

“You’ll be a few minutes late, sugar.” He pushed up the sleeves of his sweater while he waited for the parking garage arm to let us out.

I rested my head back and watched him. I woke up with Austin Burathon. He dressed me and was driving me to school. Teenage Taylor was dying one thousand deaths of happiness.

“Thank you.” I watched as he navigated the manual transmission like a boss. Why were his forearms so defined?

“You wanna get your stuff after class? What time do you get out?” His warm brown eyes met mine and he offered me a small smile.

“I don't know if I’m ready to battle Roberta and her boyfriend yet.” I unzipped my backpack and slipped my phone into the front pocket.

“Oh, sweetheart, they won’t be allowed to talk to you. I’ll be there and I’ll have some of my friends with me.” He double parked in front of the Begonia Building, which was near the Parker Building.

“Okay. Eleven-thirty is when class ends.” I opened the car door while the drivers of the vehicles behind us laid on their horns.

“I’ll be in this exact spot then. I’m going to sit here the whole time so these bastards get so mad their panties light on fire.” Then Austin winked at me and we had a date.

I closed his car door and headed to class.

This was all great. Super awesome. I was so happy and confused that all I wanted to do was talk to my best friend, and she was Austin’s sister.

2

TAYLOR

I texted Peaches. She was my best friend, too. But she was the ridiculous one. Good ridiculous, but still ridiculous.

ME: So I left my dorm last night.

PEACHES: OMG! Why?

ME: The bitch and her screw buddy hit my last nerve.

PEACHES: Where are you? R U ok?

Now Peaches was sounding like Teddi, who would one hundred percent be involved in finding me housing options and a lawyer.

ME: Austin picked me up

PEACHES: NO! TAYLOR FANCY BOLAND!!

She used my full name.

ME: Yes

PEACHES: No!

ME: Yes