Page 15 of Running Home to You
“Of course you do,” she muttered as Kate barreled through the iron doors.
Abby trudged after her, passing the bookshelves and wide tables in the center of the room where groups of students huddled together. They found a spot on the second floor. Abby grumbled as she unloaded her backpack, carelessly tossing books to the table. “I don’t know where to start,” she said.
“Maybe the assignments and tests that count for the largest portion of your grade?”
Abby hunched over her laptop, searching for said priorities when Kate cleared her throat. “What?”
“Do you mind if I…”
Her eyes widened as Kate inched over, so that she hovered above the laptop too. Her hand reached for the touch pad, briefly brushing Abby’s. While Kate clicked through her assignments, Abby stared at her cheek, freckled and a touch rosy beneath. And when she pulled back, their shoulders skimming slightly, the same warmth that once stopped her from shaking filled her stomach.
“How’s your grade in Professor Cruz’s class?” Kate asked as she returned to her chair.
“I uh.” Abby turned red, uncertain if it stemmed from the graze of Kate’s fingers or the reminder of her failings. “I think I have a C. I don’t know. Maybe I’ll get lucky, and she’ll continue to have mercy on me.”
Kate’s lips quirked. “Is Professor Cruz your…” She stopped as if it was a secret.
“We have the same bastard father.” Abby shrugged. “Isla’s kind of the reason I transferred here.”
“Are you close?”
“Not really. We met for the first time a few months ago.”
“Do you have other siblings?”
“No, it’s just—” Abby almost choked. “Itwasjust me and my mom.” She stared at the table.
“I’m sorry,” Kate said.
Abby fingered the thick textbook next to her. “You’re taking the LSAT?”
“Yeah, this spring.”
“Of course you are,” Abby whispered.
They spent three hours in the library, perhaps more than Abby ever had. School never interested her, and she typically managed only passing grades. She felt self-conscious in Kate’s presence.
Kate, who arrived everywhere early, whose softball pants and practice shirts were always clean, tucked in, ponytail so sleek that light bounced off her chestnut tresses. Kate, who apparently wasn’t just a talented athlete, the fastest and fittest on the team, a sure starter at shortstop if not for Abby, but also a high-achieving student. Kate,who everyone adored and looked up to, not because she was funny like Mick, or scary like Seaborn, but because she radiated kindness and calm.
Abby rooted in competing envy and admiration while Kate worked with blue intensity shooting from her gaze. She broke every twenty minutes to check in with Abby, to give her note cards to study for her exams, to suggest readings for her essay, to ask what she thought of the latest chapter in Isla’s class that Abby hadn’t studied, before summarizing it for her. Then she’d silently go back to her own work like some academic assassin.
Abby swore she stared as much as she studied, drifting to the hair Kate tucked behind her ear. To her pinched brow and perfect penmanship. She lingered on her hands. The ones that touched Abby that day after the river as though she were an egg or infant, something fragile and not yet broken.
“Are you okay?” Kate asked.
Abby jolted and recovered with a scowl. “Can we call it a night?”
Kate nodded. They packed up, and while she loathed studying, Abby didn’t want it to end. Her shoulders sank as she trailed Kate through the maze of books, down the spiral staircase, and out to the dark quad.
“Let me know how your economics test goes,” Kate said.
Abby nodded, savoring a last glimpse before returning to isolation.
“Hey, there you are!” A towering man cut between them and threw an arm around Kate. “You didn’t text back.”
“I was in the library.” Kate’s cheeks flushed. “This is my teammate Abby. Abby, this is my boyfriend—”
“Blake Davis.” He offered a hand. Abby shook it, her teeth grinding together. “You’re the transfer student, right? Katie says you’re amazing.”
