What happens when the star baseball player hits a home run into the art studio window?
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All Sadie Lane Garner needed to make herself happy was a canvas and paintbrush.
With copious projects due and little studio time, she volunteers to clean t...
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"ARE YOU SURE you're alright?" Reva crossed her arms, her heavy lashes weighing down her lids. She used my bedroom doorframe to hold her drunken self upright while Penelope gave us a moment alone. From the way her body sagged, it looked like she could fall asleep standing.
"I'm fine." I towel dried my freshly washed hair. "I don't know what came over me."
"He insulted you and admitted to calling the cops on the guys. I would have punched him, too."
I laughed in defeat. "I guess I'm still in shock."
"I'm sure he will leave you alone now. Good thing Elijah was with you."
My throat bobbed. "Oh, about Elij—" I began, ready to explain why we were in the parking lot in the first place and that he was coming to stay the night. But she didn't seem to hear me because she yawned, patted the wall, and told me she was headed to bed because the room was spinning.
Well, then. I stared at my reflection in my mirror. Reva would be in the dark for another night, which meant I had to sneak Elijah into the apartment after she fell asleep.
He texted me when I got home that he would be here at quarter till eleven, which gave me enough time to shower and straighten up my room. I tossed my dirty clothes in the hamper, pulled my sheets taught like they hadn't been slept in, and fluffed my pillows. I didn't have time to clean off my desk, engulfed with pencils and paint. The end of the semester always sent me into a frenzy, because I usually kept my art area clean.
My phone glowed with a text on my dresser.
Oh my God, he was here.
I peaked into the hallway and looked left and right like I was about to cross the road. Reva's door was shut, and no light leaked from her room or sound. She and Pen were likely fast asleep, sedated by the liquor.
As if it made me invisible, I held my breath and tiptoed to the front door where he stood.
The door creaked on its hinges, and I gritted my teeth as he came into sight. Elijah slung his backpack over his shoulder, his braids hidden beneath his durag. I had to stop laughing at the pillow tucked beneath his arm.
"You brought your pillow?" My voice was barely audible.
"Hell, yeah. I did not pay ninety dollars not to sleep with this pillow."
I shook my head, amused, and stepped aside for him to come in. He kicked off his shoes, and I quickly snatched them back, telling him Reva didn't know he was here. If she saw his shoes tomorrow morning, it would be a dead giveaway a guy was in my room, and I wanted to be the one to tell her.
He followed me to my bedroom, and my heart thrummed as he stepped inside and scanned the space. I noted his surveying, trying to picture what my room looked like from his point of view. Frames filled with art and pictures of my friends and family covered most of my walls.
