I stopped for the moment too, eyes on Jen. Jen looked flawless as usual. She rolled her bag to the hallway that led the master bedroom and then removed her coat.

"It was good. Therapeutic for mother, I think. Are you going to be studying for much longer? I was hoping we could go out to dinner with Courtney and Reed tonight."

Kent looked down at the notebook. "We got a few more chapters to cover. You can maybe go out to meet them and I'll join you after we're done?"

She smiled softly and nodded. "Sure, darling."

She put her coat into the coat closet and then grabbed her bag and disappeared with it into the master bedroom. I hoped the blush didn't make me look suspicious. When I saw Jen my mind instantly went to the moments I'd shared with Kent last night and the guilt set in.

Kent watched her go into the bedroom with a raise of his eyebrow. There was apparently something on his mind, but I had no idea what. I cleared my throat softly and looked back to my notebook, resuming copying the notes. "I can probably just do the last chapters by myself. I don't want to hold you up."

He looked back down to the notebook and picked up the highlighter. "No. We started this, we're going to finish it."

I couldn’t be in the same room with them. I couldn’t sit here and pretend that Jen wasn’t in the other room. The Elly and Kent bubble was broken. If I stayed any longer, I was likely to burst into tears because of what we’d done - what I’d done. As far as I knew he thought it was a dream. And that’s how it would have to stay. A beautiful dream that would never be repeated.

I silently packed up my books. "Kent, my energy is depleted, I'm going to go back to the dorm and nap for a little while and then pull an all-nighter. I'll see you tomorrow at the final, ok?" I didn't look at him, not wanting him to catch my glossy eyes.

“But…" He tried to look at me but I kept moving so he couldn't catch my gaze. Kent sighed, shut his notebook and pushed it into the bag I was packing. "Take it. I highlighted the rest you'd need so you shouldn't have to pull an all-nighter."

I took it because I didn't want to argue with him. "Thanks. I'll see you later. Sorry for being a pain in your ass, literally." I zipped up my bag and quickly left, not giving him much of a chance to respond.

Chapter Fourteen