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  Waiting on Forever

  Copyright © 2013 by Ashley Wilcox

  Edited by Indie After Hours

  Cover design by B Designs

  Formatting by JT Formatting

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the above author of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Prologue

  “Matthew Jacobs?”

  “Matt, and here,” I say raising my hand at the cute tour guide, giving her a half smile. I swear they do this on purpose. Back when I was visiting colleges before I decided on Cortland, every single tour guide at every single school was hot. It’s funny, too, because I’ve yet to see a dude doing tours. Must be because most girls go to college to actually learn and most guys well, they’re going for other reasons. So, not a dumb idea to reel you in with a hot girl to show you around.

  Fortunately for me, it wasn’t much of a toss-up. I didn’t pick the college by how hot the girls that go there are; Cortland offered me a full ride for football, and since I don’t have much in the money department, Cortland was the obvious winner. Not that I’m complaining, though. Cortland is a division three school with a pretty awesome football team. On top of that, I’m guaranteed a starting position which is kind of unheard of as a freshman. Yeah, I had a couple of better schools with more prestigious football programs offer me scholarships, but the playing time would have sucked. I don’t want to warm benches, I want to tear up the field.

  “Leah Bennett. Is there a Leah Bennett here?”

  “Yes, sorry. Here,” the girl behind the camera answers.

  “Wait, you’re part of orientation?” I ask the nerdy girl that has been taking picture after picture while we get the roll call and paperwork done.

  She looks at me, confused. “Yeah, why?”

  “I thought you were part of the welcoming committee,” I respond, shrugging my shoulders.

  “Why? I’m not wearing one of their shirts,” she says, her tone a little snippy.

  Whoa. Calm down, killer!

  “I don’t know. You’ve been taking a bunch of pictures, so I thought maybe you were doing it for the school or something.”

  “I’m a photography major. We take pictures.”

  “Gotcha,” I answer before turning my attention back to the hot tour guide.

  Even though this girl is screaming nerd, she’s actually pretty cute. Not to mention that I’m always drawn to the girls who don’t give you the time of day at first. They give you more of a challenge, instead of the fake airheads who will bend over for you if you just smile their way.

  This girl, Leah...she’s an eye catcher. I noticed her right away. Short brown hair to her chin and huge brown eyes with the longest eyelashes I’ve ever seen, even though they’re hidden behind her glasses. Until I strategically placed myself next to her, I didn’t even notice them.

  Another thing I didn’t notice until now is that she’s wicked tiny. With me being six foot three, and her barely coming up to my chest, I don’t know if she even reaches five feet. She could probably fit in my pocket. Here’s the thing I like most about girls like her–even when wearing only a pair of jeans, and a t-shirt with some band across the front, her body still looks amazing.

  Cali, our tour guide, interrupts my discreet stare down of Leah. “First we’re going to walk through campus so you guys can get a look at where all the buildings are, and then we’ll make our way down to the dining halls and dorms. How many Phys Ed majors do we have here? We can stop by the sports complex, too. It’s just a little bit of a hike from up here.” Raising my hand since I’m a Phys Ed major, I hear Leah do a sarcastic chuckle under her breath.

  “Is there a problem with my major?” I ask Leah.

  “Nope, not at all,” she responds, clearly lying.

  “I’ve always wanted to be a gym teacher,” I state defensively.

  “I’m sure you have,” she says with even more sarcasm.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “All you jocks major in the same thing,” she says matter-of-factly.

  “Well, I like sports and I think it’d be cool to teach it,” I explain.

  “Okay,” Leah says with a smirk. “I didn’t say there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just predictable.”

  Ahh, this girl is something else.

  “Okay, we can go down to the complex at the end then,” Cali smiles her pearly whites at me.

  “Nah, it’s alright. I toured it last year during my visit. No need to see it again.” I smile back, making Cali blush and Leah roll her eyes. I laugh, seeing the rise I get out of Leah. This girl is definitely intriguing.

  I can tell we’re going to have some fun today.

  Chapter 1

  Shit! Do not disturb.

  After a long shift serving the student body at Racket Pizza tonight, all I wanted to do was de-scum myself of the layers of grease coating my body, finish my homework from earlier, and get to bed at a reasonable time. But seeing the “do not disturb” sign hanging from my door kicks that plan to the curb as I do not want to walk in on another late night romp session with my slutty roommate and her latest flavor of the week.

  To say that I’m roomed up with my sheer opposite is an understatement. Kayla is a blonde haired, blue eyed, heart-throbbing sorority girl who makes guys come in their pants with just a look their way. Although she hasn’t been technically sworn into the sorority yet, she’s in the middle of pledging right now and fits the description to the T.

  Completely annoyed, I take a seat on the floor in front of my door, pull out my iPhone, plug in my headphones, and close my eyes to escape inside the land of music.

  Not long after the third song starts, my door opens with a muscled juice-head coming out from inside. A disheveled Kayla leans against the doorframe in nothing but a short silk pink bathrobe. Rolling my eyes with a less than enthused smile on my face, I pull out my earbuds as I stand up and walk past her.

  “Sorry, I didn’t think you’d be home until later,” she giggles, obviously amused by the situation before closing the door, and follows me inside.

  “On to a new one already?” I ask with distaste, not recognizing this one.

  “Why stick with one when there’s plenty more waiting?”

  Oh, I don’t know…maybe because sticking with one is the moral thing to do? Or maybe to avoid catching every disease possible? Or maybe it wouldn’t hurt to actually get to know the person you’re spreading your legs for? I guess none of those things are important to Kayla, though.

  “That would be silly now, wouldn’t it?” I reply, dripping with sarcasm.

  “One of these days, Leah, I’m going to crack your shell and introduce you to what you’ve been missing out on.”

  “I wouldn’t hold your breath,” I say as I pick up my shower caddy and pajamas.

  “You might actually enjoy it. Or even have fun for once,” Kayla points out.

  “Yeah, no thanks,” I smile, before walking across the hallway to the showers.

  Of course when I was sitting outside my room waiting for Kayla to be
done there wasn’t a soul in the bathroom, but now that I can actually take a shower it is full of girls getting ready to go out.

  Ahhhh!

  Dropping my caddy next to the sink and hanging my clothes on the hook, I decide to at least kill some time by washing my face and brushing my teeth.

  “Hey, Leah. Going out tonight?” Corinne asks. She is standing next to me, doing some kind of facial mask.

  “Nope, staying in,” I respond like it’s nothing out of the norm.

  “Bummer. The football house is having a big party tonight,” she says with a raised eyebrow and smirk.

  Unlike Kayla, Corinne is actually a sweet girl and goes out to have fun with her friends, not to hook up with every guy that looks her way.

  “Maybe next time,” I smile back, even though the chances of that happening are slim to none.

  “Okay,” she shrugs, then smiles before rinsing the green crap off of her face.

  Just as I finish brushing my teeth, a shower opens up. Picking up my things, and smiling at Corinne as I pass her, I’m finally able to strip off my work uniform and wash off the grease fest known as Racket Pizza; the only place on campus where you can get just about any deep fried snack or pizza after normal dining hall hours.

  By the time I get back to my room, Kayla is already dressed in the tightest dress imaginable and has enough makeup on to keep the Clinique counter in business.

  “Well, if you get bored and decide that you actually wanna have fun on a Friday night, I’ll be at the football house,” she says before picking up her hand purse and walking out the door.

  Biting my tongue to avoid saying something snarky and rude, I just smile as I sit down in front of my computer to check my email. Seeing my Facebook tab flashing with a notification, I open it up to see a missed message from Matt.

  Matt is the football player I met at orientation. Normally I don’t converse with the athletes, but after getting to know him a little better I noticed he wasn’t as arrogant and pig-headed as most football players are and we actually had fun yanking each other’s chains all day. Although we haven’t hung out since then, and we’ve only see each other in passing on campus, we still keep in touch online.

  From Matt:

  Hey! Thought you’d be home from work already, but guess not. Hope you had a good day–I’ll try to catch up with you later :)

  Smiling to myself, I type back.

  From Leah:

  I would’ve been home earlier, but I was greeted by yet another “do not disturb” sign on my door. How was practice?

  Remembering both Kayla and Corinne mentioning that there is a party at the football house tonight, I’m surprised when I see an immediate response from Matt.

  From Matt:

  Same shit–coach working us to the bone. He’s on us even more with Cortaca Jug next weekend. Any plans tonight?

  Cortaca Jug is the biggest football game of the season. It’s almost like the Superbowl for Cortland. T-shirts are sold, the pledgees are made to do asinine things to embarrass the shit out of themselves, and it gives the bars reason to open up early so students can be drunk off their asses all day. More importantly, we play our rival team, Ithaca State College, on our turf. It’s a big deal around here.

  From Leah:

  Just laying low with some friends in my room.

  Yeah, I know that’s a complete lie, and to anyone other than Matt I wouldn’t care, but admitting my boring uneventful Friday to him is different. For some reason I try to make myself out to be less of a social outcast then I really am.

  From Matt:

  Our house is having a kegger tonight–you guys should stop in!

  I pause before I respond. There’s a reason why Matt and I have never hung out together, and that’s because we come from two different sides of the social ladder. Where Matt is Mr. Popular football player, I’m the artsy nerd who would be stared and pointed at walking into a jock house party. I can picture it now-the music stopping and all eyes on me as I arrive. I think it would be almost the equivalent of a police officer showing up. Definitely not someone people want at their party. For some reason Matt doesn’t seem to realize this and keeps inviting me out...or maybe he’s just being a nice guy. Either way, I respond like I always do.

  From Leah:

  Maybe next time :) Have fun, though!

  From Matt:

  Thanks :) Have a good night, Leah.

  From Leah:

  You too!

  And that’s it. That’s the extent of our friendship. I'd be lying if I said that I don't get a rush of butterflies every time I see a message waiting from him, or every time he smiles and says hi when I see him on campus. He's a good looking guy. Let's be honest, he's freaking hot as hell and a nice guy as well. How can I not be a little attracted to him? I can't.

  It's also the same reason why I'd never let our relationship be different than it is now. I would like to think that Matt is a sweet guy who goes to sleep alone like me every night, but I know it must be far from the truth. He's an incredibly hot college guy who every girl on campus swoons over. On top of that, he lives in the football house–a revolving door of easy girls like Kayla. I'm sure that as soon as he exits out of his screen from our conversation the party starts and he's just like any other football player, ready to get drunk and get laid.

  Shaking my head to clear the image of Matt hooking up with some sleazy girl from my mind, I close down my computer and pull my psychology book from my bag. The nice thing about being one of the only people without a life on a Friday night is that the dorms are peacefully quiet so it is the best time to get some solid studying done. Although my heart belongs in photography, being a freshman means my schedule consists of mostly general elective courses that are required to graduate. Unfortunately, it means I only have one photography course this semester. I’ve been told by some upperclassmen that it’s pretty much going to be my schedule until my junior year when I actually get more involved in my major. Until then, I’m stuck with taking these useless courses.

  Feeling my eyes starting to get heavy, I close my books and snuggle under my sheets to drift off into a nice peaceful sleep.

  Chapter 2

  Today is unusually cold for a fall day, even for upstate New York. It doesn’t help that the campus is at the top of a hill and feels ten degrees colder when you get in the center where all the buildings are. Being from White Plains, New York, which is downstate and only a short ride from New York City, I’m not used to frigid temperatures this early in the fall. It feels more like winter temperatures to me.

  “Oh, come on. It’s not that cold,” a familiar voice startles me as I step out of my dorm building, zip up my jacket, and pull my hat over my head.

  Shocked to see him outside my door and on this part of campus, I’m speechless as I look up at him.

  “I figured we could walk to class together today,” Matt smiles.

  “But we don’t have class together?” I ask, confused. We don’t have any classes together, and I’m lucky if I even pass him during the day.

  “You have French 102 with Professor Adams, right?”

  “Yeah,” I answer, nodding my head.

  “Yeah, they switched me from 101 to 102. Apparently I’m advanced in the foreign language department,” he says with a wink. “We actually have a class together now.”

  “Wow, that’s awesome. Be prepared–Professor Adams is a tough ass and she’s not keen on tardiness, so we better get going,” I respond, trying to ignore the nervous butterflies flapping in my stomach, and my heart that’s ready to jump out of my chest at any moment. It’s been a while since I’ve been in this close of proximity to Matt, and apparently my body is reacting just the same as it did all through orientation; a swoontastic mess. I’ll be damned if I’ll let it be noticed, though! I start walking towards campus like I would any other day, even though the only guy that has ever made my heart skip a beat is walking next to me.

  Finding my seat in the back of the classroom, Matt takes the d
esk next to mine. Although that’s where Margo normally sits, my French class friend, I’m okay with Matt sitting there instead. It’s not going to be easy to focus in class, knowing he’s sitting next to me the whole time. But having an hour with Matt three days a week-I’ll take it. I’ll even take a failing grade if I have to. What I didn’t expect, even though I should have, is every girl turning and shooting him a smile when they notice the new student in class; the hot new student in class. I roll my eyes, annoyed with how pathetic girls can be, as they giggle and wink at him. However, Matt proves to be the non-arrogant guy that he is and just politely smiles before disregarding them and taking out his notebook and pen.

  I inwardly smile at how he brushes it off instead of eating it up.

  Just as the clock strikes nine, Professor Adams walks in.

  “Bonjour!” she greets us as she places her things on her desk. “S'il vous plaît transmettre avance affectation de vendredi alors que je passe autour de la feuille d'inscription.”

  I laugh to myself when I see Matt’s face drop, completely lost with what Professor Adams just said.

  “Did you understand any of that?” he whispers to me.

  “She said to pass Friday’s assignment up front while she passes the sign in sheet around,” I respond with a grin.

  “Am I supposed to understand this? Because I don’t,” he says with a frightened look.

  “We pretty much don’t use any English in this class.”

  “Well, damn. This should be fun,” Matt says sarcastically.

  Coming up next to him, Professor Adams smiles. “Bonjour, vous devez être monsieur Matthew Jacobs?”

  “Oui?” he responds as more of a question.

  “Nice to meet you, Mr. Jacobs. You will find we speak mostly French in this class, so if you have any questions please let me know. I’m sure Ms. Bennett can loan you her notes from the last few classes, and please purchase the textbook before next class,” she smiles, and I can visibly see Matt’s body relax as he listens to her speak in English.