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“Just a bit.” He chuckled.
“What’s it really like?”
“A lot less crazy than you’re imagining it in here.” He reached over and gently tapped her forehead, and she giggled. “It’s what you make of it, really. There are some people who spend the entire four years with their noses in books and others who party it away. I like to think I had a good balance of the two.”
She smiled over at him, causing butterflies to awaken within his stomach. But that was nothing new when he was close to her lately.
Skylar lightly splashed at him with her foot. “That’s what I want. A good balance. I want to do well, of course, but I want to enjoy myself, meet people, have new experiences, and make memories.”
“Exactly. You will. And people won’t care you’re a Schultz. Most people will be too wrapped up in their own lives to notice.” He bumped her shoulder with his, just wanting the contact.
“I hope you’re right.” She grew quiet for a minute and then her expression turned shy. “So, how was your date?”
A buddy of his from Dad’s law firm had set him up on a blind date with a fellow law school student last week. It was more of a favor than anything. Definitely not a love match.
Franky looked over at her curiously. “How did you know about that?”
“Bash.” She stared down at her feet in the water.
Was Skylar jealous? Because if she was, he liked it.
“Are you going out with her again?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“She was nice, but not really my type, I guess.”
Her lips lifted in a hint of a smile. “Oh.”
“I’m leaving anyway. Not the best time to start a new relationship.”
Her smile disappeared. “Yeah.”
“Does it bother you that I went out with her?” He was dying to hear her answer.
“Uh …” Her face screwed up, and even in the dim evening light, he could see her cheeks had colored a pretty shade of pink. “No, I didn’t mean … I was just curious.” She was cute when she was flustered.
He watched her with a big smile on his face, curious what was going on in that mind of hers.
She abruptly stood. “It’s too hot tonight, don’t you think? Aren’t you hot? Because I’m hot.” And with that, she dove into the pool.
He chuckled and hopped off the side into the cool, refreshing water and swam toward her.
She came up from underwater and rolled to float on her back.
He struggled to keep his eyes off of her and dove under to distract himself before he did something stupid. Because he couldn’t stop thinking that this was the last night he’d see her before they went their separate ways for a while.
He quickly swam away from her, down to the bottom at the deepest part of the pool, and stayed there until he couldn’t hold his breath anymore. It was a little longer than he should’ve, and he was gasping when he finally came up for air.
“Hey! Don’t do that!” Skylar cried.
“What?” He wiped the water from his eyes and saw her look of alarm and her quivering chin. “Sky, what’s wrong?”
“When I was younger, I used to have nightmares about people I love drowning.” She shivered, despite the hot, humid night air. “Seeing you down there, all still like that, freaked me out.”
He recalled Sebastian telling him about that years ago, and he moved toward her, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. “I’m really sorry, Sky. I forgot.” He shouldn’t have touched her, because now, he wanted more.