“Just for a little while? I won't keep you long,” I began to raise his shirt, but he gently restrained me by the wrists.

“Bex is downstairs.”

“Crap,” I said with a grimace. My hands fell to my sides, and I blew my bangs from my face in a huff.

Jared left me alone, and I ambled to the bed. Once my head hit the pillow, I was surprised the yearning for his warm body beside me, or thoughts of Ryan, or Jack, or the upcoming day of tedious bombardment of syllabi and introductory never crossed my mind. Heaviness came upon me, and I gladly succumbed.

“Nina!” Beth shouted from the end of the hall. She rushed to catch up, and then threw her arms around my neck. “Can you believe we’re back already?” She looked around, scanning faces of passing students.

“No,” I said, grinning at her endearing over-enthusiasm for everything.

I didn’t bother bringing my laptop; every class would be the same. Beth filled me in on the last few details she’d taken care of at Titan, and we discussed the monstrosity that was Sasha and the fact that she would be staying on.

“How far does she think she’ll go in that company, now that she’s made an enemy of you?” she asked, rolling her eyes.

“You make the mistake of believing she thinks. She did take on the Christmas party. Makes me wonder what she has up her sleeve.”

“Hopefully breath spray,” Beth said, covering her mouth. “I can’t believe I just said that.” Beth giggled, and I shook my head.

My attention diverted to a group of boys that walked through the door. Josh led the group. As Ryan’s best friend, he wasn’t a fan of mine, and made it quite clear that he’d rather not be around me. Chad admitted that Josh accused me of being the reason Ryan left. Beth came to my defense, of course, but that didn’t make him wrong.

Once Josh caught a glimpse of me, his eyes became unfocused. He looked right through me before pretending to be deeply engrossed in whatever his friends were saying.

Beth glared at him as he found his seat. “He really needs to get over himself.”

“He’s just being the same kind of friend to Ryan that you are to me,” I mumbled, fiddling with my pen.

“Guess I can’t fault him for that.”

I found myself fighting the urge to tell her that Ryan was not only back, but just a few minutes away. Not being able to see him when he was so close was bad enough; even though I had thought a several different scenarios where I could happen across that information, I couldn't tell Beth until Claire gave me the green-light.

“Good morning,” the professor said, passing out the intro packet for the class.