Academically Yours (Best Friends Book Club, #1)

by Jennifer Chipman

Dreams. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt like I had any. What was I searching for? What did I want in life? I didn’t know.

I was happy. Yeah. I just needed to repeat it enough times that I would believe it. Absolutely.

“Would you leave me, if there were real aliens?” I turned to look at my best friend. “Absolutely not.” I rolled my eyes at her, and she stuck her tongue out at me. Not my genre, I wanted to tell her.

I knew, that once I found the right person, I was going to be in it for the long haul. Once I met her, I was going to do whatever it took to keep her in my life, and make sure she knew that I was hers, forever. And she would be mine. Absolutely, unequivocally, mine. I was just waiting for her to walk into my life.

She was standing in the middle of the quad, looking up to the sky: eyes closed, chin tilted up like she was absorbing the few seconds of warmth the sun provided—and then she smiled.

And for some reason, her small smile just did something to me. Because the pure and utter bliss on her face… It stuck with me.

she basked in the glow. Because as soon as the ray of sun had come, it was gone, and so was she.

I was confused because I felt… weak. Like if my feet weren’t firmly planted on the floor, the wind could topple me over, just from the sight of the sun shining on a head of red hair. And why was that, anyway? I didn’t think I was imagining the rush in my chest as my eyes had settled on her.

She just seemed like… warmth. It felt like it oozed from her like she could be the light in any dark, bringing a place to life with just a smile.

it was a reminder that even throughout everything—life could still be good.

And for the first time in my life, I thought to myself, is this what it means for fate to exist?

this must be one of those moments. It was determined by destiny, here to change your life and sure to make you re-evaluate everything you’ve ever known.

“I’d much prefer to meet the love of my life in more of a… Unique way.”

All I knew was that she was in front of me, and for the first time in my life, I thought, what if? And when she had asked me how I wanted to meet someone, I almost said it. Just like this.

It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought about it before—having a family, settling down, having two kids, the white picket fence, and the big house. Yet I couldn’t help but worry because I knew the truth: once you had everything, you could also lose it, just like that. And I didn’t think I could survive losing everything. Not again.

Girl of your dreams? Oh god, Matthew. You need to rein it in buddy, I tried to scold myself.

If there had ever been a girl that I had seen just once and been so easily… bewitched by before. It wasn’t like she was even trying to cast this spell over me; she just was.

She carried herself as if the very world depended on her light, the warmth of her smile. Maybe it did.

“Well,” Charlotte just smiled, “I think it sounds nice. Meeting the one, being swept off your feet, falling madly in love, and living happily ever after. Where do I sign up?” “That’s a fairytale, Char,” Angelina said. “Not real life. Like, do you really think someone’s going to swoop you up and ask you to get married to them tomorrow?” Charlotte just frowned and mumbled under her breath, “Well, it could happen.”

Angelina just scoffed. “I think it’s more likely that I’ll fall into bed with my enemy than you getting married just like that.” She snapped her fingers.

Because if you didn’t believe in love, in a happy ending, how could you write it, right?

But one day soon, I’d tell the story I wanted to tell. Maybe I just had to sort out the rest of my life first.

“At least fictional men don’t let you down,”

“Love is for everyone. And you never know… maybe you’ve already met the right person and you just don’t know it yet.”

Because no matter how gorgeous he was and how much I wanted to see him smile at me all the time, he and I weren’t going to be some crazy love story, some fated pair who fell in love.

“Good thing you were there to swoop in like her knight in shining armor.” I scoffed. “She’s not some princess from a book, Bryan.” And I’m wasn’t her knight. Or her prince. Just her friend.

“Don’t make a big deal about this. It’s not like I was going to stalk you.” I laughed. “No, because I’m the one who always does the stalking, right?” She nodded solemnly like this was a very serious topic. “Exactly.”

I threw a pillow at her head. And stuck out my tongue at her, for good measure. Who said twenty-five-year-olds had to act dignified? Not me.

He shook his head and flicked my nose. “You’re so…” “Charming? Alluring? Momentous?” I did a little flip of my hair and stood with my hands on my hips.

I was speechless and breathless, and I knew that if I wasn’t careful, I was going to fall hopelessly for this man. Maybe I already was.

How did I explain to her that her presence had always had some sort of magnetic pull on me? Like she was the sun, and I was destined to orbit around her for the rest of my life. And maybe I just needed her sunlight in my life. You’re like the sunshine, I wanted to tell her. And I can’t help but want to be around you and absorb every bit of it.

“You are quite incredible, Noelle; do you know that?” “Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded,” she murmured under her breath,

and I knew, right then, that she hadn’t been told how special she was enough, and I vowed to do everything in my power to make her believe it. To make her see what I saw in her. A strong, brave woman who was doing everything she could to pursue her dreams.

“Sweet dreams, Noelle.” Oh, they’d be sweet, indeed. And… Wicked. Very, very wicked.

“This… attraction. Sometimes I think it’s going to drown me, Noelle, the pull I feel to you. I know you know what I’m talking about. I know you feel it.”

“Isn’t it? Just man up and tell her you want more with her, dumbass.”

“Don’t let your fear of losing her keep you from going after what you want, Matthew. And if that’s her… just tell her.”

“You vex me,” Matthew said, and then he crashed his lips onto mine, once again giving in to the pull we felt between us. “You enchant me.” He placed a kiss on my lips. “I think you’ve placed a curse on me because all I want is you.”

“Sunflowers.” I smiled. Of course, she would pick one that was as sunshiny and bright as she was.

I hummed. “What’s your favorite book?” “Not a fair question. There are too many answers. You can’t expect me to pick one.”

Had she noticed the way Matthew looked at me? Like I was his, and he would destroy anyone who tried to take me from him?

“No dates,” Matthew growled at me once they were out of earshot. His hand slipped over my knee, and I could feel the possessive touch under the table—but I didn’t mind. Not when it was him: this grumpy enigma of a man, this guy who showed me so much care and warmth even when he was short and cold with others. I had to admit, I kind of liked it that way. Liked knowing that I was the only one who he was fully himself with. I layered my hand on top of his, returning the gesture. “Only with you?” I teased.

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.

I don’t know what overcame me,” he started. “You were just there, bursting into my life, and you were always making me feel like I was going to have a heart attack when I looked at you…” Matthew trailed off, eyes narrowing, the glint in his eyes obvious to me as I watched the emotions flash through his face. How he had always seen me, all of me, even from the first day we met.

“I feel the same,” she finally admitted, “like I saw you, and something in my heart stopped. My soul said it’s him, and no matter what I do, I just can’t forget about you. Like I… I was meant to be with you.”

“And what did you feel with us?” The glint in her eyes was unmistakable as Noelle stood up on her tiptoes. “Hmmm…” Noelle stood up on her tiptoes so she could look into my eyes better. “I felt like you were going to eat me. You’re a wolf, after all.” she batted her eyelashes. “And I’m just a little kitty.”

And I had made a vow to myself right then. I didn’t need a man to heal what another broke. I could—I would heal myself, put myself back together stronger than I ever was before. I am enough, I thought to myself that day at the beginning of the semester as I watched the world shuffle on with their daily lives. Because I had to be. Because the alternative—being broken? I didn’t know how to live with that.

I loved the girl standing in front of me—every quirk, every little part of her that she had laid bare with me, shown to me—I loved every piece of her. She had captured my whole heart, and she didn’t even know it yet.

I smiled—all teeth, feeling quite like the big bad wolf, here to eat my little red riding hood.

I needed to splash myself with freezing water. Holy shit.