POV Lin

The room was on the Upper East Side, about a fifteen-minute walk from Hunter. That was the important part. If I lived here, I could actually go to campus every day. No excuses about the train. No deciding that forty…

I woke the next morning to a knock on my door. I always slept naked, so I made sure the sheets had me covered before I called out, “Who’s there?” The door opened and Ethan came in. “Oh, you’re not…

I woke up on Saturday with butterflies in my stomach. I was going on a coffee date with Ethan. It was a very particular type of date, but a coffee date nonetheless. I got dressed and headed into the kitchen…

Two weeks later, the house felt different. Noah no longer waited for me to come to his room. He started walking into the shower while I was already under the water, turning me around, pushing in, finishing, and leaving before…

Friday was not the easiest day. I was hungover, and Sophie’s bed was not as comfortable as my own. But after a shower and some coffee, I made it to the lecture fine and caught up on my required reading.…

I woke up at around ten the following day. I had a headache, but it wasn’t as bad as I’d initially suspected. The water had helped. I looked over and saw Ava sleeping with her face toward the wall, tucked…

Ava had started sleeping over more often. I suspected she’d gotten hold of my lecture schedule and was timing booty calls so she could walk to school with me the next morning. I had started putting stuff she left behind…

My plane back to Iowa was leaving at 1 p.m., and I had packed everything for the week the day before. I was sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast when Oliver showed his face. “Hi, Lillian.” He gave me…

The phone stopped ringing, and Mia answered. “Hey, Lin? What's up? You OK?” Her voice echoed slightly. She was in some open room, maybe a bathroom. I tried to speak, but hearing Mia's voice had brought me close to tears.…