Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 68126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68126 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 341(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“Yeah.” She took the wad of money back and shoved it into her desk drawer. “But you guys know how he is, always worrying that I’ll miss out on stuff and trying to make sure I have anything I need.”
Larissa’s dad was as protective as our parents, but most people missed it. Not Calliope and me, though. Growing up with her, we understood that his gruff exterior masked his big heart. Even though he was kind of clueless about girls, he still rocked the whole single dad thing. “I know what you need right now.”
My friends laughed and started putting their shoes back on because they knew exactly what I was going to suggest. When we first moved into the dorm, our parents took us to a diner in town for lunch before they hit the road to head back home. They had the best strawberry milkshakes I’d ever tasted, and anytime we went off campus, I wanted to grab one. Luckily, Larissa and Calliope liked them—and loved me—enough that they were willing to stop there whenever I asked.
Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting at our regular booth in the back corner. It was a good thing the hostess knew our orders by heart because our waitress didn’t bother to stop by our table until we were halfway finished with our shakes.
“What can I get you?” she asked without bothering to look up from her notepad.
Larissa rolled her eyes before answering, “Nothing. We’re good with the shakes.”
Her head jerked up, and she glared at us. “Seriously, you don’t want anything else?”
“Nope.” I let the P pop and grinned when she huffed in frustration and stomped away.
“I wonder when she started here,” Calliope grumbled before slurping on her vanilla malt. I always got strawberry, and Larissa got chocolate, but she rotated through the flavors. I suspected that sometimes she picked based on what she was wearing. The cream cable-knit sweater she was wearing today was almost a perfect match for her shake.
“She’s got to be new, or else we would’ve seen her here before,” Larissa suggested as she scooped off the last bit of whipped cream from the top of her shake.
“Maybe she replaced Candi since she usually does the Sunday evening shift, and I don’t see her anywhere,” I added.
Larissa and Calliope leaned against each other and giggled, shaking their heads.
“What?” I asked, not getting how I’d made them crack up.
Larissa pulled her straw out of her shake, sucked the shake out of it, and pointed it at me. “Only you would know the waitresses’ schedules by heart. You’re obsessed with this place.”
“You might be right.” I shrugged and grinned. “Even though my mom made all of my favorites over break, I legit dreamed about these strawberry shakes a few times while I was home.”
“You do realize your mom would’ve made you as many milkshakes as you wanted, right?” Calliope asked. “You should’ve saved your fantasies for something good, like hot guys.”
“She would’ve tried, but they just wouldn’t be the same.” I sucked down the rest of my shake and pushed my empty glass to the end of the table. “And you know I haven’t found a guy worth dreaming about yet. I thought when we got to college it would be different, but the boys here are just as immature as the ones in high school. All they care about is getting into your panties before moving on to the next girl.”
“Yeah, it would be nice to meet someone who was ready for a relationship for a change,” Calliope agreed with a nod after finishing her shake and nudging her glass next to mine.
“Just so long as we remember we’re worth way more than the boys on campus are willing to give, we’ll find the right guys eventually.” Larissa reached out and lifted her pinkie in the air. Calliope and I followed suit, and we wrapped them together as a reminder of the pact we’d made to wait to give up our V-cards until we met guys who we could truly see ourselves spending the rest of our lives with.
She was done with her shake less than a minute later, but the glasses sat there for another fifteen before our waitress stopped by and picked them up. We asked for our check, but she didn’t come back with it for another ten minutes. When she disappeared in the back again, I’d had enough.
“You guys go ahead.” I held out my hand for Larissa to fork over some of the cash her dad had given her. “I’ll pay the check and meet you back in the dorm.”
The waitress was slow as heck, and another half hour passed before she brought my change back. I’d been tempted to just let her keep it so I could finally leave, but there was no way I was going to leave her that big of a tip after the crap service she’d given us. I dug a few singles out of my purse and dropped them on the table after pocketing the bills she’d given me—because of course she didn’t bother to give me anything smaller than a ten. I heard her huff behind me as I stalked outside to wait for my rideshare. It was cold and snowy, but the car was only a few minutes away, and I was beyond ready to get out of the diner.