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She slipped the backpack off her shoulder and dropped it onto her sofa In a week she hadThere wasn’t a lot of fussy shit around, and there were no pictures of her with friends or fa?

"How did your classes go?" I asked, knowing if I didn’t control the conversation, ould stand there in silence Another thing I wasn’t used to with girls Nor ear off

She filled the coffeepot ater then glanced up at me "Good, but I wasn’t worried about these two courses Wednesday, I have to face Funda, and, well" She trailed off

The pink color in her cheeks was enough I knehat she meant She didn’t like attention on her I had seen that et this far in life without being the center of attention wherever she went? "You baffle me," I said "You don’t want attention" I let s in those jeans and heels, and s and the things I could do with the attention"

I lifted aze back up to see her face as she turned away fro on blending in and hoping people will let me be," she replied

The pain in her voice didn’t sit ith me Had someone hurt her? And if someone had, who the fk were they and how could they do anything to hurt someone so incredibly vulnerable and sweet?

There should be a dad or older brother or boyfriendsure no one ever mistreated her But I had seen no one with her or near her since she moved in Why the hell was that? I didn’t know her family, but I decided that I really didn’t like the just a little too ue

She turned her head to look at me "Yes?"

I took a step toward her and then stopped She would spook easily, and that wasn’t what I wanted I also didn’t want her getting the wrong idea, because there was no way in hell I was taking on someone like her I didn’t do relationships I had tried to have one, and I had fked it up Jess had been in love with someone else, so it hadn’t mattered, but it had just about killed ain I didn’t do it well But I could be her friend I could be a da, or anyone, you call me"

She studied me a moment then slowly nodded She didn’t ask me why or bat her eyelashes at me in a flirty way Instead she just sot

"Give me your phone," I told her

She walked over to her backpack, pulled out a smartphone, and handed it to me I added my number then texted myself so I would have hers "Here," I told her as I handed it back to her "Proain "I prorinned at her and walked over to sit down on her sofa I propped my feet up on the table "Now, come tell me all about your new classes"

She didn’t move at first, and I wondered if I had pushed her too hard I waited Finally she moved and walked back to the coffeepot and poured two cups

"How do you take yours?"

"Black," I replied

She grinned as she brought the cups over and handed uy," she said

I washer feel comfortable around me Good That was my plan I wanted her to feel like she could trusttrust "What’s your major?" I asked

She frowned and stared down at her coffee for aup to hed "I want to write books But first I need a degree so I can have so to fall back on in case I’ in English"

Chapter Five

BLYTHE

For the next teeks I found a rhythm Classes, work, study, and occasional visits fro one I wasn’t ready for that I was trying to prepare myself for the day I had to actually stand in front of everyone and talk, but so far the professor hadn’t calledsessions in the afternoons, and I was left alone to handle the filing, answer the phones, and work on the different things he left on hnuts and a friendly sht sandwiches one day from a deli in town and convinced me to take my break outside with him He put me at ease, and for the first tiht think ofof my faults and he was nice

I finally had a friend