Read Unspoken (The Woodlands) for Free Online Page B

class, but he wanted to go to do our “lab” project this weekend? And I’d already planned on going to the Natural History Museum this weekend to look up indigenous plants and talk to a staff member. I tried to remember if I’d mentioned this in class because I couldn’t believe he’d come up with this on his own. I was totally going to call him on this bullshit.

    TO: [email protected]
    FROM: [email protected]
    SUBJECT: RE: RE: RE: Class notes

    Sure. When, where, etc.

    AM

    I slammed my laptop shut before I could read any response but couldn’t turn off my thoughts. How could he flirt so blatantly with me one day and then give me the kiss-off the next? I fumed. The rest of the week I was testier than a five-year-old stuck inside because of rain for a week.

    “W HAT ’ S YOUR PROBLEM ?” E LLIE ASKED me Friday morning as we were getting ready for class.
    Not wanting to admit that it was thoughts of Bo making me act unbearably, I held up my birth control case. “Why do I take these when I haven’t had sex in months?”
    “Because you’re in college and you might have sex?”
    “Why not just use condoms?”
    “Because you’re smart and thrifty.”
    “Thrifty?”
    “Yes, birth control is free from the health center. Condoms fail. Abortions cost money and having a baby is like eighty thousand times more expensive than that. Birth control is an economically sound decision.” Ellie spoke in calming tones, as if she knew one wrong word would send my head spinning around on my neck.
    After my less-than-stellar first time here at Central, I’d tried out two more guys. One was a local, a gorgeous guy who introduced me to good sex. I followed him around like a stray puppy, which annoyed him, and he dumped me after a few weeks. My second try at the dating scene was last semester. I hooked up with an osteopath student from the College of Osteopathy across town, but we never clicked. He’d take time describing each bone in my body like I was an anatomy exam, and while he might have thought he sounded sexy, it came off like he wanted to dissect my cadaver. I ended things with him, but his sigh of relief when I suggested it wasn’t working out was telling. My lust for Bo was probably just a product of a long dry spell.
    “Right, economically sound.” I popped my pill in my mouth and swallowed. “Maybe we should go out this weekend and put this pill to good use.”
    Ellie’s face lit up. “Sounds like a great idea. I’m going to do some recon at class today to figure out where my future boyfriend will be partying.”
    “Does future boyfriend have a name?”
    “Ryan Collins.”
    “Can’t wait to accidentally run into him at a bar this weekend.” I winked at her.
    “Me either.” Ellie smiled wryly at me. “It’s okay to crush on Bo. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
    Despite my attempts at diverting her attention, Ellie had accurately identified the source of my bad mood. I gave her a tiny shrug. “It’ll be forgotten this weekend.”
    Being the good friend she was, Ellie didn’t laugh in my face at this bald-faced lie.
    To my surprise, when I arrived at class on Friday, Bo was already there, leaning against the door, waiting for me. He had a black eye and a puffy lip. There was a bruise over one of his cheekbones and his hands were scabbed and swollen. He could barely hold the pen in his left hand, yet he looked happier than I’d seen him all week.
    I rewound my memory of the e-mail he’d sent. Sore? Something going on? My mind had jumped immediately to the bedroom because that’s where Bo spent most of his time in my imagination, but I’d apparently interpreted the whole thing wrong.
    After I’d stared at him for what seemed like five minutes, he broke out in a huge grin and held out his hand. “Stop looking at me. I’m not supposed to smile.”
    “What the hell, Bo?”
    “The other guy looks worse?” he offered as some kind of half-baked explanation, leading me