Becoming Us

still glaring at me.
“What the

I unzip my purse and pull out a new book I got in the mail the other day by Marian Keyes. It’s an old one called Watermelon, but I got it used for a penny on Amazon. Can’t beat that!

g. Not wanting to deny my body what it so badly wants, I look up and see one of the most gorgeous men in all existence. Jake LeShae. Jake LeShae, oy—just his name uttered in my head makes me weak in the knees.
Okay, so maybe I don’t just walk to Chaz’s for the coffee.
Jake walks toward me with his familiar saunter I’ve literally had wet dreams about. I never even knew wet dreams were a possibility before I laid eyes on Jake LeShae. He’s a senior like me, and a point guard for K-State’s basketball team. Bigge

morning,” I reply, laughing slightly.
I smile to myself at Alex’s accent. There are quite a number of people at K-State from the more southern parts of Missouri and Kansas, and they most definitely have thicker accents, like Alex’s. My hometown of Marshall is almost smack dab in the middle of Missouri, so it’s a tossup whether or not people from my area have an accent. I don’t have the drawl most of my classmates do, but certain words do seem to have a mind of their own on their way out of my mouth.
I push down the tab on the dark-roast blend and begin filling my mug, glancing around as I wait for the cup to fill. It’s the summer before my senior year, so there are not nearly as many students around. I love Manhattan in the summer. Without the entire student population mulling around, it’s quiet and peaceful.

only thing that gets me through tests, papers, midterms, finals, last minute cramming—you name it. Coffee is now a vital necessity of my day-to-day life.
I still remember ordering my first cup at the University Plaza dining center. I was a green-behind-the-gills freshman and had no clue what I was doing. I just knew that the shower I took that morning physically hurt my skin and I needed something—anything—to get through the day. I had a huge slug of classes and a raging hangover. I needed to find the will to live.
I walked up to the counter and repeated somethin

Dedicated to my friends and family
for supporting me on this writing endeavor.
I couldn’t do this without you.