Read Birthday Girl (The Student Union Series Book 1) for Free Online

stratovolcanoes, but my mind kept wandering. My phone buzzed again.
    Zach: Can I say something totally inappropriate, and you can tell me to shut up?
    Me: OK
    Zach: You looked fucking amazing in that bathing suit last night.
    Oh, shit, he was paying attention.
    Me: Even next to Ashley and her practically bare tits?
    Zach: Didn’t notice
    Bless him.
    “As absolutely no one has forgotten, the midterm is tomorrow,” said Professor Radford. “Please take a handout about the camping trip on the way out today.”
    I slipped the handout into my backpack on the way out of class and did my best to make sure Zach didn’t see the stupid grin plastered across my face. I zipped up my jacket on the way into the quad, but I was still shivering. Zach said I looked amazing. No, fucking amazing. I had only one thing on my mind: get back to my room, get my jeans off, and start touching myself. That was one subject where I was guaranteed an A.
    “Brooke, wait up,” came a familiar voice from behind me.
    “I told you, you can’t catch me.”
    Zach pulled up beside me. “I just want to make sure you’re okay with what I said.”
    I stopped and turned toward him. He had his fingers on his chin, stroking his beard. “Zach, look. Of course I’m okay with it, I really appreciate it, and you looked amazing, too.”
    “But?”
    “But I can’t date you. I want to, but I can’t. And you deserve an explanation.” We turned off down the lightly-traveled path toward the administration building, and sat on a bench. “I was dating this guy Evan. Evan Stringer. He played baseball, he had a buzz cut, he seemed like an all-around good guy.” Zach nodded. “We got together toward the end of freshman year. I dated him for two years. Lost my virginity to him.”
    Zach pulled a pair of gloves out of his coat pocket and started to put one on, but changed his mind and offered them to me. “You’re shivering.”
    “I’m fine. So last year, on my birthday, I had dinner planned with Sierra and Ashley and Evan, and a couple of my other friends. I told Ashley I was going to treat myself to a trip to the mall in the afternoon, but after class I didn’t feel like it, so I decided I’d earned a nap instead. So I went back to my room, opened the door, and there were Evan and Ashley, totally naked, going at it.”
    “Oh, god,” said Zach. “I’m so sorry.”
    That was the PG version of the story, but as I told it, the details came flooding back. The parts I could never tell anyone.
    “Yeah, so that sucked,” I said. “And now I’m over it. But I’m not going to make the mistake of getting involved with anyone now, when the year’s almost over and I’m heading to grad school.” My mouth almost got away from me and said, but if you want to just make out for a few hours…. But I reined it in, and I wasn’t sure why. Maybe I thought Zach had old-fashioned values and wouldn’t want a woman to throw herself at him. But more likely, I was just afraid he wasn’t really that into me, that he was just teasing me with a few steamy text messages, and if I flipped through his phone, I’d find similar exchanges with ten other girls.
    Zach smiled. “Well, in that case.” He held his hands out to me, and I took them. His fingers curled around mine, and I never wanted him to let go. He pulled me to my feet. “I understand what you’re saying, and I respect it. But just out of curiosity, if I were to show up outside your window with a boom box, what song would you like me to play?”
    “What, not an acoustic guitar?”
    “Wow, that’s not a good idea.”
    “You could pull off the sensitive hipster singer-songwriter, but you’d need to borrow a flannel from me.”
    “That sounds very romantic,” said Zach. “I’m here to serenade you, but first, can I borrow a shirt?” I laughed and squeezed his hands tighter. “See you at study group tonight?”
    I nodded, and grudgingly let his hands go. “Bust a Move,” I called after