When Gracie is humiliated after following her best friend's brother to college and finds he's moved on without her, she grows closer to his rival--the captain of his basketball team--the infamous Kalen Rush, and suddenly Gracie wonders just what len...
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Francesca Hart was never one to pull her punches.
That much was made all the more obvious by the clear distaste written on her features as she listened to my rant about none other than Kalen Rush.
"And he said what, exactly? I'm having trouble getting past the whole 'guessing' thing. Like what is wrong with him? Is he into you, or is he just fucking with you? And if he is fucking with you, then why? What's even the point?"
Her voice grew louder until the low hum of the dining hall was drowned out by her questions, and more than a few heads turned our way but she wasn't done.
"Well, actually I can answer that, because obviously the point is that he wants to fuck—"
"Franny!"
"What? It's clear as day. Maybe he wants to mess with you by fucking you, or fuck you and then mess with you, or—"
"Okay, can you stop listing off all the way that you think he wants to fuck me, please? Or you know what, maybe you could try talking a little louder, I don't think every single person in this room has heard you yet."
Her eyes rolled as she picked off a piece of her roll and chewed it haphazardly while picking up her phone and reading through a few messages.
"Whatever, you know I'm right. You haven't let him anywhere near you like that yet, have you? Because just because a guy doesn't have that kind of reputation on campus doesn't mean anything. He could be finding girls off campus or something."
"No, I...no we haven't gone there."
My cheeks flamed red in remembrance of the passionate dance we'd become embedded in the moment his lips had crushed against mine at that party.
"Good. I think I'd have to have you committed if you ever went there."
"Yeah. Right."
Maybe I'd self volunteer instead, considering I'd have rather stuck my hand in a lit fireplace than tell her about the things I'd let Kalen do to me...and the things I'd done to him in return.
"So, have you talked to Colby recently?"
Her question was innocent enough, but if her brother had told her about the amount of messages and calls I'd been avoiding from him, her voice would've been much more full of suspicion than it had been. Right?
"Uh, not really. Why?"
"I think he's about to break up with his girlfriend, actually. You've always been really good at getting him to realize what a mistake he's making before he makes one. Will you talk to him? I really like her. He either needs to stop being a serial dater and just be single and find someone and stick with them. Like, its not that hard."
"That doesn't really seem like it's my business, Fran. If he wants to date and break up with girls, that's between him and the girls who decide to date him, too. Plus, won't he be pissed that you're interfering in his life again? Remember homecoming two years ago?"
