The Girl Who Wrote The Dating Manual

chapter twelve

            Hence why she’d taken in my emotionally abusive father, alcoholic Darin, and the other refutable boyfriends she’d had along the way. She was just the kind of woman who loved healing a man and not being appreciated for it.

            Don’t worry, I’d well and truly learned from her mistakes.

            The drive went quickly, and by the time we were pulling into Hamilton’s student lot, I was surprised we’d arrived so quickly. We’d lost Chance and Jamie somewhere back a few hours ago, and hadn’t seen them since, but we weren’t worried about them. They’d probably taken a wrong turn or decided to take the scenic route.

            The lot was partly empty, only a few other snow-laden cars in the lot. “The snow’s weird,” I commented as I hopped out of the car. “Florida never gets snow.”

            “Global warming, my friend,” Ava replied, pulling her duffel out of the drunk.

            We made our way back up to our dorm, and I was glad to be inside and out of the bracing cold. I shivered as I unwound my knitted scarf and took off my trench coat, flinging it over the garish wooden coatrack Ava had gotten as a joke and taken way too seriously.

            “So, we’ll sleep off the food comas tonight, but be prepared for the best birthday tomorrow,” Ava sing-songed, wiggling her eyebrows. “Trust me, we have some mega things planned.”

            “We?” I replied, frowning.

            She nodded. “Uh, yeah. Chance, Jamie and I. We’re thinking drinks at the bar of your choice—on us, of course—and then anything you want after. Skinny-dipping in Hamilton’s water fountain, streaking across the fields, dancing in the snow…. Whatever. Your birthday, your choice. But remember, you’re only twenty-one once.”

            I smiled and moved towards my room, amused. Thoughts of what I wanted to do for my birthday spun through my head, but really there was only one concrete thing I wanted to do: spend time with my best friends. As long as Ava, Chance and Jamie were there, I really didn’t mind what kind of fun we had. Obviously streaking and skinny-dipping was out—I had no desire to get hypothermia on my birthday, thanks very much—but I did want to do something fun and memorable that was affordable and close to Hamilton’s campus.

            “Hey, what’s for dinner?” Ava yelled from somewhere nearby—her room, perhaps.

           

            I pursed my lips, running over options. I’d ditched the fruit and vegetables we had because of the trip, but Mrs. Donoghue had sent us back with more than enough rations to sustain us. “Does lasagna and ciabatta sound good?”

            “I have no idea what ciabatta is, but it sounds delicious,” she called back, peeking her head into the room. “Do you mind if Rose comes over tonight and joins us, though? I should’ve asked you first, but she’s kinda on her way over now.”

            I smiled. “Ave, she’s your girlfriend, and you haven’t seen her in two weeks. Of course she’s welcome here. But maybe I’ll go out tonight for dinner instead and let you two catch up.”