Chapter 26: SHE – Close
Her first few weeks attending a university has been quite productive.
Her confrontation with James and his friends has given her a boost of confidence going into the new year. Her high school self would be praising her now of her past self had seen how she took care of Edward's bullies. It's not right for college students to be acting high and mighty, as if they are royals and everyone else are peasants. She isn't someone that easily conforms to other people's demands. With those four boys, she's disappointed that there are still people that act like immature kids.
Aside from James and his friends, she didn't involve herself in any more social drama. She balanced her time between school, her relationship with Edward, and her friends. In fact, within those first few weeks, she made friends with some of her classmates in the university's nursing program.
One of them, in particular, was Riley.
Riley Biers reminds her of a combination of Jacob and Rose. He was a band member (Jacob was in band in middle school, but quit in high school) and the president of his drama club in his high school (Jacob was in the theater club of their high school). He loves dogs (Rose's animal weakness since she has a dog named Bruno) and battled with depression in high school (so did Rose, and if it wasn't for her, her best friend would still be dealing with depression). When she met Riley, she instantly clicked with him. He was just as creative and imaginative as she is.
While she writes, Riley draws. Their artistic minds brought them closer than she normally did with regular friends. She reminds herself that she has got to introduce Riley to Edward and the rest of her friends when they have time outside of school and their jobs (Riley works as a barista at a local café called Midnight Sun). Riley is like her brother, although the label of fake brother still belongs to Sam.
And she won't lie. Riley is drop-dead handsome. As one of the small number of guys in the university's nursing program, she has seen numerous girls subtly flirt with him. She's amused when he feigns innocence and pretends he doesn't notice.
"I guess I'm just that friendly," Riley teased after he turned down a girl that tried to ask him out on a date.
"Friendly guys don't flirt back."
"Friendly guys also don't give them little gifts. Only Bree gets those."
Bree is his girlfriend. The two are high school sweethearts and they are one of the few couples she has seen that she is certain will last. Bree is majoring in photography, and she often uses Riley as a subject for her assignments. And, ever since she met her, has even taken a couple photos of her to use as her next project.
For a semester she expected to pass by a blur, she's glad that she's able to make friends in a new college setting. She's socially awkward, so bonding with people isn't usually in her comfort zone. But meeting Riley and Bree gave her a chance to do so. She was able to bond with people that share her scientific and artistic mind.
They are people she can relate to, and that to her is something that makes her cherish the moments she has this semester.