Page 79 of Academically Yours

“Not officially. We haven’t really defined anything yet. But I’m spending spring break with him at his place. I just… don’t know that I’m ready to date yet, anyway, and I told him that. So I don’t know. We’re in this weird limbo between friends and something more. Maybe I’m okay with just sex for now.”

“Noelle.” Charlotte rolled her eyes. “I know you. There is no way you’re going to be able to pull off just sex. Have you met yourself?”

I had, that was the problem. I had been a hopeless romantic for way too long in my life and look where that had got me—cheated on and left alone in New York City. “I don’t know that I can do it again. The last time… it broke me. How can I put myself back together again if it happens all over again?”

If Matthew broke my heart? I wasn’t sure there was a way to recover from that.

“Just… give him a chance to show you not all men are like Jake,” Gabbi said reassuringly. “See where it goes. And when you realize he’s the perfect man, and you’re head over heels in love with him, I will totally be here to say I-told-you-so.”

The other girls laughed, and I retreated further into my thoughts.

Did I want this? A relationship with him? Something more? Was I being stupid trying to protect my heart because I wasn’t sure if I could survive if he broke it? Was it stupid for me not to at least try? “You’re right,” I finally said. “I owe it to both of us to at least try.”

And I smiled, even though anxiety and the fear of the unknown were almost overwhelming.