He leans his large frame against it, widening the gap and keeping me from closing it on him. “I’m checking on my favorite sister.”

“I’m your only sister.”

He pushes a big shoulder against it, and I give up on trying to keep him out. Crossing the small dorm room in three steps, I resume my position on the bed.

“Have you left the dorm at all this weekend?” He follows me and takes a seat at the end of my bed. “Hey, Ava.”

My roommate Ava’s on the phone with her boyfriend Trent, but waves and blushes when Adam acknowledges her.

“I’m enjoying my last days of summer vacation,” I tell him as I pull my hair down from the messy bun and attempt to make it look like I haven’t been rocking this same hairstyle for three days. It’s the day before classes start and the only things going on around campus are parties and new student activities—neither of which have sounded appealing enough to get dressed and leave my room.

He picks up the package of cheese and peanut butter crackers I’d been devouring when he knocked. “This looks like the opposite of fun. And you bailed on my party last night.”

“A party with a bunch of your teammates… yeah, no thanks.”

“You can’t sit in here moping forever. Bryan did you a favor. Long-distance relationships in college suck. Next to no one survives them. Plus, the guy was a tool anyway. Don’t let it ruin college. College is awesome.”

My heart cracks a little more at the reminder that my ex-boyfriend, who should be with me at Valley starting our freshman year together, decided at the last minute to go to Idaho instead.

It wasn’t entirely his fault. He got the offer after they’d lost their second-string quarterback to an injury. Bryan became their new second-string and I was cut from his roster altogether.

Adam nudges my arm with his elbow. “Come on. Let’s grab lunch, or come over and hang at the apartment, meet my roommates. You don’t need no man. There’s plenty of fish in the sea. What kind of pep talk are you feeling?”

I smile. “Of course you think there’s plenty of fish in the sea. You have a new girlfriend every semester.”

“Exactly. I speak from experience.”

I don’t think it’ll be that easy for me. My brother is a hockey player, tall and muscular, and I guess objectively he’s attractive. He certainly has no problem finding girlfriends if that’s any indication. He has perfect hair; I’ll give him that. I’ve had hair envy my whole life. Where my dirty blonde hair is stuck somewhere between straight and curly, his is lighter, thick, and the longish strands hang perfectly at the nape of his neck.

“How about lunch?” he asks.