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Chapter 67: Feed it to the dogs
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Keeping Score Chapter 68: Memories
LEOI'd known Quinn since she'd slept in a toddler bed. I remembered her canopy bed with the pink ruffled bedspread, and I remembered when her walls had been covered with posters of boy bands. But at first glimpse, her college room struck me as the most quintessentially Quinn room yet. Her bed was made up with some kind of fluffy white comforter covered with a patchwork quilt I recognized from her bedroom at home. On the wall over the bed was a large framed poster of the sun coming up over the ocean, a shot I was pretty sure she'd taken herself. Several pictures sat on the top of her dresser, including one of her father, one of me from the summer before college, and one of the three of us: Nate, Quinn and me. Off to the side sat a small wooden box, a little worn-looking where some of the varnish had rubbed off. I knew deep down I should respect her privacy and leave it alone, but still, I flipped open the lid and examined the contents. I couldn't explain why, exactly, but over the
Keeping Score Chapter 69: Surprise
LEO"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Her scream echoed off the walls of her room as her hand flew to her throat and she backed up against the door jamb. "Oh, my God, Leo! You scared the shit out of me! What the hell are you doing here?" I stood up, hands on my hips. "Well, I told you I was going to celebrate a little different tonight. I thought maybe I'd do it with you." I drank her in, from the oversized hoodie that hung below her hips to the worn jeans encasing her legs. My girl was so fucking beautiful, it made my heart skip a beat.For a nerve-wracking minute, I wasn't sure if Quinn was annoyed that I'd taken her by surprise or overcome with joy. And then she launched herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck and hugging me tight."I'm so glad you're here. Thank you, thank you, thank you."I pulled back enough to kiss her, my lips smothering the last few thank-yous. She moaned a little, opening her mouth to welcome my tongue with strokes of her own."How did you do this? And how lo
Keeping Score Chapter 70: Lion goes viral
QUINNSUMMER BETWEEN SOPHOMORE AND JUNIOR YEARS"Quinn, did you do laundry last night? I need a T-shirt for today."I rolled over in bed and groaned. "No. I was up late working on that article for class."Leo's voice became louder as he came back into our bedroom. "Shit. I need a shirt, and I'm running late." I opened one eye and caught sight of him running a hand through his damp hair. "Sorry. I thought you were putting a load in yesterday afternoon. You don't have anything clean to wear?""It's not that I don't have anything clean. I need my uniform shirt, specifically. I'll have to get one out of the dirty clothes and hope for the best." He dumped out the hamper in the middle of the floor and began sorting through it.Guilt threaded through me. "I could toss it in the dryer real fast. It might help.""No, I don't have time." Leo snapped out the words. "If I get there late, I have to park way out in the far lot. And then . . ." His voice trailed off. "It's just a mess."I h
Keeping Score Chapter 71: Delayed gratification
QUINN"So aren't you going stir-crazy?" Zelda sounded curious and mildly amused as I updated her on the latest Lioness craziness."Surprisingly, no. I don't mind being here, as long as I have something to do." Holding the phone between my shoulder and ear, I pulled a pile of wet laundry from the washer and dropped it into the dryer. "I'm not sure I'm cut out to be a housewife, but I really don't have anything to complain about. I can write whenever I want, and three of my articles have been picked up so far. No classes, no homework, and tons of privacy.""And quality time with Leo the Lion? That's got to be an added benefit.""Of course." I answered quickly, and I knew Zelda probably picked that up. "So everything's fine and dandy with you two? Sunshine, rainbows and sparkles?" She was teasing, but I knew enough of Zelda now to realize that her snark hid real concern. She just didn't want anyone to realize that she actually had feelings. "Mostly." I hesitated. "I love Leo, Zeld
Keeping Score Chapter 72: Making promises we can't keep
QUINN"This is the best pasta I've had south of Philadelphia." I laid down my fork and sighed. "And the company's not bad either."Leo flashed me a smile, but there was something under it, something not quite complete. All night, his laughter hadn't seemed to reach his eyes, and he'd been preoccupied. "All right." I rested my elbows on the table and leaned my chin in my hands. "Tell me what's going on. You've been giving me lip service all night. Did I not live up to your shower expectations?" This time, real heat flared in his eyes. "Hardly. As a matter of fact, you exceeded them. I'm lucky I can sit still here with the boner you gave me.""Hmm. Okay then, what is it? Don't forget, Leo, I've known you forever. You can't hide this shit from me."He fiddled with his knife where it lay alongside his plate. "I got a call today from a guy who works for Football Sunday.""What's that?" I frowned. "It's an online sports magazine. I think it still has a monthly print component. Any
Keeping Score Chapter 73: Temporary?
QUINNThe next morning, I woke up with gritty, swollen eyes, a pounding head and a sense of doom I couldn't shake. Leo was already awake, sitting on the edge of the bed, his clean T-shirt in his hands. He stared down at it, turning the gray cotton over in his hands. I pushed my back against the pillow, sitting up and wrapping my arms around my knees. "What time is it?""Just after seven." He stretched the shirt wide, the way he always did right before he pulled it over his head. I watched the interplay of muscles on his back, tempted to trace the ridges and ropes."Leo." I took a deep breath. "I think ...I think we need to take a break. I'm going to head back up to New Jersey. I should spend some time with my mom anyway, before classes start again.""What the hell are you talking about?" Leo turned around, his eyebrows drawn together. "Quinn, what are you saying?""Everything is so screwed up." I flexed my feet, intent on the movement of the sheet over them. "What they want fr
Keeping Score Chapter 74: Friends. Whatever.
NATEJUNIOR YEARFALLOne thing most kids who are sick a lot have in common is that we don't take for granted long stretches of health. For the first seventeen years of my life, a regular hospital stint was part of life, just as much as my birthday was-only less predictable about when it would fall. I'd gone almost four remarkable years without a serious illness, from the autumn of my junior year in high school to late summer before my junior year in college, but I never got used to it. Every time I had a tickle in my throat or an odd pain in my legs, I waited for the inevitable.When it finally came, the timing wasn't as bad as it could have been. In early August before our third year of college began, I woke up at home and realized I was running a fever. Before the end of the day, I was in the hospital, and by the next day, I was in the ICU. Quinn had come home early from her summer with Leo. She'd told me a little about what everything had been like down there, and how it had
Keeping Score Chapter 75: Girlfriend by default
QUINNSENIOR YEARSPRING I wasn't sure exactly how it had happened, but by the beginning of senior year, it seemed that Nate and I were in a relationship.It began at the homecoming dance, and then things happened slowly and gradually from there. Nate held my hand as we walked to class. He kissed me good-night when he left my apartment at night. His kisses weren't long or involved, and they didn't feel like they were leading anywhere more complicated, but still, I was uneasy. I tried to ignore all that, until one day, when I was meeting him at the student union after a class, I heard Nate talking to someone I didn't know. "Yeah, I'm just waiting for my girlfriend, and then we're going to the movies."For a brief second, I actually thought, Nate has a girlfriend? And then I realized he was talking about me."Honestly, Quinn? You and Nate have been dating since last fall." Zelda shook her head at me as she dried a pan. "You're just the last one to notice." "And maybe you didn'
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