The Neighbor #2 (The Neighbor Romance Series - Book #2) (2 page)

I walked faster and soon Max dropped back. I nearly
blew it when I almost laughed at his preposterous proposal. I was already
thinking about how I would approach getting into another school. “Hello, I’m
Jenna Walsh. I am hoping you will give me a second chance. I promise not to give
any of the professors oral this time.” I put my head down. I wasn’t going to
cry. I was more astonished than upset. All I could do was shake my head in
disbelief. I saw the exit a few yards away. I had made a clean getaway –
almost.

“Jenna. Wait up. I want to talk to you,” Ryder
called from behind me.

I shot back a confused glance. God was he as hot as
ever. I picked up the pace.

“Jenna, Jenna Walsh. Stop. I’ll call you.” Ryder
stopped trying to keep up with me.

Finally, I was out of Tobin Hall. I found an
enormous live oak to sit
beneath
. I was out of breath.
I collapsed and threw my head in my hands. I opened my bag where I had stashed
some healthy snacks. Carrots and ranch dip were not going to cut it. Suddenly I
didn’t care about the freshman 15. I wanted an ice cream sundae or perhaps a
wedge of apple pie. I peeled off my sweatshirt. Maybe I would not be recognized
from class if I were wearing different clothes. I closed my eyes for a moment.
My phone started vibrating.

Chapter
Two

It was the beginning of long series of texts from Ryder.
My butt was tingling as my phone vibrated every 5 minutes. Ryder had gone from
crotch tingling to butt tingling. Apparently, he was covering his bases. Actually,
he was covering
my
bases.

I arrived back at my room, which seemed smaller
since the arrival of my roommate Kelly from Kansas. I had to begin referring to
her as Kelly Womack, as she was a real person. For months, the only thing I
knew about her was that she was from Kansas. I imagined some cardboard cutout
of a girl standing next to a bale of hay. She was actually more cosmopolitan
than I was. She was from Wichita and she did not live on a farm. Her parents
were aeronautical engineers and she was not a member of 4-H. That was a
disappointing because I was looking forward to visiting her farm. I thought
pigs were cute. She was not what I envisioned but I was pleased with the job
housing had done in putting us together. She did not think she was a llama and
we were different enough that we could learn from each other.

“Hey Jenna.
You look like you have seen a ghost. Was your first day that bad?” Kelly asked,
welcoming me home.

“In a way I did see a ghost. And yes, my first day
was horrendous.” I continued to give Kelly an abridged version of the story
after she asked me more than a dozen questions. I did not get down to
specifics, although I suspected she could have handled the details.

“I am glad I’m not in your shoes. I think you are
paranoid regarding being thrown out of school. I do not mean to belittle our
University but we are not enrolled in Harvard. Plus, you are not a child. You
and Ryder are free to be with each other in the eyes of the law. They probably
don’t encourage relationships between a professor and his or her students but I
doubt it is prohibited. I can’t be sure. I am just talking out of my ass,”
Kelly said.

“Well, at least you didn’t call me a slut. I
appreciate that,” I said. I hardly knew Kelly and she could be plotting to have
me thrown out of school. She would have the teeny space all to herself.

“Yeah, I’m not about to judge. You can’t be expected
to trust me yet but you can.”

It was as though Kelly read my mind. I was being
paranoid.

“Thanks for listening Kelly. I hope you are not a
vegetarian, vegan or some other special eater. I feel the need to indulge and I
don’t want to do it alone,” I said as I started going through my wallet to see
if there was a spare twenty dollars for junk food.

“I am actually on a no-sugar, no carbs diet and I
try to eat Kosher. I am also a vegetarian,” Kelly said with a frown.

“Oh, so you’re Jewish,” I commented.

“Does it matter?”

“Nope, not at all.”

As I was thinking about how the hell I was going to
survive with a picky eater, Kelly walked to a Rubbermaid container. I had
wondered what she stored in the thing. In our small room I noticed everything.

“I brought some snacks from
home
that are
safe for me to eat.”

Kelly opened the box. I expected an assortment of
rice cakes. Kelly smiled and started to laugh. She revealed a cache of sweet
treats. It looked as if Willy Wonka himself had paid us a visit. There were chocolate
chip cookies, macaroons and peanut butter sandwich cookies. There were peanut
butter cups, an assortment of Dutch and German chocolates, gummy bears and a
couple cartons of cake frosting too. That was just the first layer.

“I have died and gone to heaven.” I was in awe.
Kelly had managed to get my mind off Ryder. It was a momentary escape but at
that point, it was just what I needed.

“I had you going there Jenna. I am a girl from the mid-west
so of course I eat meat. My Mother travels to Germany and the Netherlands quite
a bit. They have excellent chocolate. She has a major guilt complex so she
always brings me some home. As far as the frosting goes, I eat it by the
spoonful. I do love kosher pickles but I’m not Jewish. In the end, it’s better
than drugs or alcohol. I will run off the calories.”

“All this and you run too? I think we are going to
get along just fine.” I breathed a sigh of relief. She was on her way to being
a good friend. In the back of my mind, I thought of Sayler. I had to check-in
with my best bud.

“There is one thing that is really bothering me,”
Kelly said and I panicked because I thought she was going to start lecturing me
about morality and shit.

“What?” I asked. The tone of my voice was defensive.

“Your damn phone won’t stop buzzing. In these small
quarters, I will not be able to sleep unless you shut the thing up. Aren’t you
afraid it’s an emergency because someone is trying to get in touch with you?”

“I am sure it’s Ryder, my professor. I am just not
ready to speak with him yet.”

“Um Jenna.
Why don’t you simply turn your phone off or block him?”

“It is a little comforting knowing he is there,” I
said shyly. I wished I had a better excuse.

“At least look at what the guy has to say.” Kelly
shoved a cookie in her mouth. I grabbed a container of double chocolate
frosting and picked up my phone.

“Jenna. Can I grab you a spoon.”

“I prefer my fingers but thanks.”

I ran through the list of texts that I had received
from Ryder.

Talk?

Call
me

Sorry.
I had no idea

Miss
u

Call
me

Call
me

Call
me

I
had no idea

Miss
u. Call me

I counted 75 messages from Ryder. There
were a couple
from Max too.

“Kelly, I have a new favorite food. This frosting is
freaking superb. Do you happen to have some in vanilla?”

“I have French vanilla.”

“Perfect.” I sucked the white stuff off my fingers
and dirty thoughts popped into my mind. It reminded me of Ryder. Everything
reminded me of him. I had to stop thinking about him…and stop having dirty
thoughts.

I decided to nap for a couple of hours and then call
Sayler. She would be able to provide some much-needed advice. I slept hugging a
container of frosting. I kept my phone in my back pocket. In some way, it made
me feel close to Ryder as it continued to buzz.

****

“Hey Jenna,” Sayler answered.

I was calling to find out what to do. I couldn’t
call Max. He was busy preparing for his directorial debut.

“What is the crisis? Today was your first day of
class. Have you been kicked out already?”

“Not exactly.”
My voice was quivering.

“Are you okay? If someone hurt you, I will drive up
there and kick his ass. He will wish he was never born,” Sayler said. She was
beyond agitated.

“Calm down Sayler. I have a story to tell that you
are not going to believe. Do you have a minute or perhaps ninety?” I asked.

It was great to hear my friend’s voice. Kelly had
gone out for a few hours, which gave me time to chat. I propped my phone up and
put it on speaker. With my frosting in hand, I was ready for girl talk. I
filled Sayler in. I started with the moment I realized Ryder was my Sex Ed
Professor and continued until I reached the present. Sixty minutes later. My
throat was parched.

“I thought it was a good story before. Now it’s
outrageous. Who knows, maybe you will have some fore play with Ryder in the
future.” Sayler started laughing uncontrollably. “I can’t believe it has taken
me so long to say that. Get it Jenna – F-O-R-E play.”

An uncomfortable laugh came from my mouth.

“I get it Sayler. It all makes sense now. The books
in his house were
not boxes misplaced
by the movers.
Sex is his business. Safe sex is his business, which makes it a bit odd. Do you
agree?” I asked.

“Well Jenna, this whole thing is bizarre. First, he
ends up living next-door to your mother. Next, you find out he is thirty-three
when you figure he is closer to twenty-five. Now he is your Sex Ed professor.
Didn’t you discuss what he did for a living?”

“I was...I don’t know. I guess it didn’t matter to
me at the time. I had my head in the clouds and then I was embarrassed that he
wanted nothing to do with me. I still don’t know what that is
about
. I thought he inherited his wealth or rather I didn’t care.”

“I have to ask this Jenna.” Sayler was quiet for a
moment.

“What?” I wondered what the hell she was thinking.

“Do you think Ryder is a woman?”

“Oh god!
I would know if I blew a chick. I studied his anatomy very carefully. I would
have known if had been altered or one of those strap on things.”

“Speaking of
those strap
on
things, my Aunt Jean has one that she uses with her wife. It is how Uncle Jim
knew his wife was having an affair with a woman. Now she is happily out of the
closet. Turns out, he is gay too. He is with a guy who is transitioning into a
woman so I guess he is a gay man in transition to being a straight man. Jim and
Jean have two kids who are still deciding what they are.” Sayler stopped to
take a sip of water.

“Shut up Sayler. This is about Ryder. I will listen
to your twisted family tree another time. He has very detailed books although
he teaches abstinence. He is like the campus sex police. All
freshman
are required to hear him preach about the possible dangers of sex. All the time
he is getting a blowjob from an underclassman. It presents quite the
conundrum.”

“Come on Jenna. Don’t use words like
Condomdrum
.
One day of college and I have to pull
out my Webster’s Dictionary to understand you.”

“You don’t own a dictionary. And it’s not
condomdrum
but it should be a word. I like it.”

We were both laughing which is just what I needed.
While I was on the phone, the texts kept coming although I ignored them. I was
flattered by the consistency and increased urgency of his messages.

That sealed it for me. Ryder was getting under my
skin.

“Is there anything else before I let you go dream of
Ryder?” Sayler asked.

“I guess not. I doubt I will sleep at all. I’m too
worried about getting kicked out of school. I pretend college is no big deal.
But it is Sayler. It’s a very big deal. I am going for a walk.”

“That’s a stupid idea. It’s dark and you are on a college
campus,” Sayler warned.

“I took self-defense in high school. I took it with
you. We kicked ass,” I said as I was putting on my sneakers. I put my hair back
in a ponytail and threw on a cap.

“Okay, I am going to call you in thirty minutes.
Answer the phone or I’m sending in the posse.”

“Will do Sayler.
Thanks for listening and making me laugh. Love you.”

“Love you Jenna. Talk to you in thirty.”

****

I walked out of Leach Hall through the commons. I
planned to head to the Campus Center and do some people watching. I was
thinking about Ryder. What would I do if I had to choose between Ryder and
continuing at South Carolina? It had not gotten that far yet. Maybe Ryder just
wanted to end things civilly. We would part ways. I would continue to be a
student and he could keep teaching Sex Ed. In the back of mind I knew it would
not happen quite like that.

I passed by a lot of students who were jazzed up on
caffeine and others who were high on other things. I ran into a familiar face
from class though and the last thing I wanted to do was talk.