The Boy I Love (Falling for You #2) Read Online Free Page A

then looked back down at Payton’s last text. “Maybe I should go back and call him?”
    Alexis was already shaking her head. “No. You’ve done nothing wrong, Keri. Stay and finish your drink, and then we’ll all go back together.”
    “Okay.”
    “Good,” Alexis said, and then she picked up her glass. Todd picked his up, too, and before I knew it, we were ordering another. Todd and Alexis were fun people to hang out with.
    An hour or so later , we were all back in the room, chilling out in front of the TV and watching Netflix.
    “Want some popcorn?” Alexis asked as she stood up from the couch. I was sandwiched in between her and Todd, making sure that the slurping was kept at a bare minimum.
    “Yep,” I said, and then looked at Todd; he was already nodding his acknowledgement. “What are we going to watch?”
    “I was thinking ‘Chuck’,” Todd stated, and then looked toward Alexis. Alexis nodded, and I did, too.
    “Great show.”
    “Want to start from episode one, and make it all the way through?” Alexis chimed in from beside the microwave. She was hopping back and forth, shaking her rear to some non-existent music.
    I grinned, and looked toward Todd whose eyes were already focused on Alexis’s great ass. “Really, Todd?”
    Todd laughed, and Alexis turned around. “What?”
    “Todd was checking out your goods,” I said, laughing. Todd shrugged and Alexis grinned.
    “Good. He should always check them out.”
    I shook my head and then looked down toward my cell. I still hadn’t called Payton. I sighed. “Since I’ve already seen the first episode, I’m going to go out in the hall and call Payton, okay?”
    Alexis came back to the couch with the popcorn freshly popped, and the smell was amazing. I inhaled once, and then stuck my hand in the bowl and pulled out a handful of kernels. “This looks so good.”
    “Don’t be too long, okay?” Alexis said with a worried glance.
    “I won’t. I just want him to know that I’m going to make it home for Christmas, and alleviate all of those Payton worries he has up in his noggin. You know how he is.”
    Alexis nodded. “Yeah, he’s got it bad.”
    I smiled softly. I knew what she was talking about, but wasn’t sure if it was as serious as she and Todd were. They were in the ‘everything is wonderful’ faze… Payton and I were in the ‘wtf’ stage. Everything was questioned, everything was passionate—but to a point, and everything was uber complicated. Too complicated. Life should never be this complicated. That’s the stage we were in.
    “Yeah,” is the only thing I said before walking out into the hall, leaving the two lovebirds on the couch to their slurping.
     
    I pulled up Payton’s number quickly and pushed send. He picked up on the first ring.
    “Where have you been?” he asked, sounding worried.
    I sighed. “I told you. I was at Woody’s Tavern with Alexis and Todd. We were just celebrating my new job.”
    Payton didn’t say anything for a few seconds and then blew out a deep breath. “I know…I’m just…I was worried. That campus doesn’t seem the safest.”
    I smiled. It wasn’t the safest university in the world, but it wasn’t the worst either. “I was perfectly fine. I was with a group of people.”
    “Yeah.”
    “So, how was your day?” I asked, hoping to get the subject firmly off of me.
    “It was okay. Dad’s got me doing doubles. I don’t mind though. It keeps my mind off of things.”
    “Things?”
    “You,” Payton replied.
    “Oh.” I didn’t mean to sound defeated, but I did. Completely.
    “I worry about you all the time, and working helps me to concentrate on something else other than that,” Payton said, trying to ease my saddened tone.
    “There’s nothing to worry about, Pay. It’s just the same old me,” I said, only it wasn’t. I wasn’t the same. I was without a father, with a boyfriend for the first time in my life, and I wanted to experience things, have adventures, stories