Read One Hot Fall Term (Yardley College Chronicles Book1) for Free Online Page A

There seems something romantic about those ivy-covered edifices. The strong horizontal lines and the concrete and glass of the Architecture building, called the Wright Building, leave me cold. Does that mean I’m not really made for a future as an architect after all? I had great marks and a good portfolio of artwork, but I’ve always been a small town girl at heart. For example, I was much happier living in tiny Milltown with Mom than living in the city when Mom and Dad were together.
    But I guess I was probably unhappy there due to bigger problems. And I became especially happy in Milltown when I met Ryan.
    That’s the point about college anyway. It’s supposed to open my mind, teach me, and give me experiences I’ve never had before.
    The first one is going to be living in residence.
    ***
     
     
    The dorms are four storey rectangular buildings fashioned in beige, with blocks of bright colored stucco. I sigh. The closest I’m going to get to a one-hundred-year-old stone building with character is if I get to open a door and take a peek.
    Vans and trucks line up outside. Furniture is being hauled through the door by grunting and sweating fathers, guys, and girls in sweats and yoga pants. Tearful goodbyes are everywhere, which reminds me of Ryan. And it reminds me that my stepfather and I will be saying goodbye in a few minutes.
      Don’t let him kiss me. Hugs are awkward enough.
    The main floor is entirely common areas and offices. A fourth-year student named Alison is assigned to give me the tour. She’s tall, with straight brown hair, and glasses with severe, square, navy blue frames. Alison points toward a kitchenette, a games room, quiet study areas, and a communal T.V. room. In there, I can hear guys shouting. It sounds like Ryan and his friends watching football and my throat tightens.
    Alison takes the stairs up from the common rooms to Floor 3, which is one of the women’s levels. I hold a key tagged with my room no, 310. It turns out to be a corner room. Dad’s pleased. Apparently he’s paying extra to get me better accommodations. A corner room has two windows.
    When I unlock the door and push it open, I get my first lesson in roommate behavior. Knock first.
    What I see is a broad, tanned male back with a woman’s hands clinging to it. The woman has long, sparkly fingernails, the tips painted cobalt blue, dotted with tiny fake diamonds for stars. As the door creaks, the hands let go of the guy, and she peeks around him. Instead of being angry, she gives a glowing smile—the kind that grace teeth-whitening commercials. Her boyfriend has black hair and a shadow of dark stubble. She’s blond, with impossibly straight hair that flows over her shoulders. In a pink tank top and grey sweats—bulky sweats, not ass-cupping, flared yoga pants—she looks amazing. Graceful. Slender. Incredibly attractive.
    I’m a little intimidated. It’s going to be hard getting up each morning and seeing such perfection, because I suspect she’s one of the lucky females who looks good when she rolls out of bed. I never like to be seen without mascara. Though Ryan has seen me that way, and it’s never scared him away.
    Her boyfriend steps back, smiles at me, surprisingly confident for a man caught shirtless by strangers. He does have a great chest.
    She sticks out her hand. “Hi, you must be my roommate. I’m Lara Williams. Lara, like in Croft, but with zero similarities.”
    Her self-effacing comment wins me in a moment, though I’m thinking Lara Croft would wish she looked like this girl.
    I shake her hand. My father throws disapproving glances at the boyfriend, and I wish this whole moment would be over. “I’m Mia Reynolds. This is my father, Daniel Reynolds.”
    I hate to say it, but I watch my father carefully as he shakes hands with Lara. He looks at her long enough that my stomach plunges. I can see he’s looking at her not as a college girl his daughter’s age, but as an attractive female.
    I so want this