20. Twenty-One

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Now that she was back in Springfield, trying to focus on her life, she decided to attend classes every day even though they bored her. It was her trying to be more social.

For most of the class, she was on her phone doing anything but paying attention to the professor. She was either texting her sisters or even texting her new friend Tori. She was cool, but she had not met up with her since she did her makeup.

"Hey Nola, missed you last couple of classes," Ronan said to her when he sat beside her.

"Did I miss anything exciting?"

"No, but I missed you," he said.

She smiled at him. He was flirting with her and she liked it. After leaving Brendan and not going into a relationship with him, maybe she could go forward in a relationship with someone more on her level.

"Want to hang out after class?"

"What? Nola Kelly asking me out on a date." He laughed and she threw him a serious look. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry Nola!"

"Don't let me put my mace all up in your face."

After class, she decided staying on campus with him to have lunch would be okay. She blended in with the other students, she looked like a nobody, even with her new clothes and makeup done. They talked a lot as they walked to the Student Union.

"So what are your plans after you graduate this year?"

"Grad school," he replied. "Where, I am not sure. I have some top options. You?"

"I have another year here and then I finish with both my bachelor's and master's."

"Whoa! After taking off one year of college you still seem to finish on time."

"I would have graduated last year and gone right to med school."

"Which you would have accelerated. It must be nice to have a mind of a genius. I have to work hard to keep my grades modest. I was considered a nerd in high school, but the funny thing was I didn't have the highest GPA."

"A nerd doesn't mean you're super smart."

"Exactly! Not in my case."

They made it to the Union and Ronan was a perfect gentleman, holding the door open for her.

"I'm not sure they have something super healthy for you here."

"I'm not so strict, I can eat what I want."

They went to Burger King and she ordered a whopper and fries, something she had not eaten in months. Something about Ronan made her want to just be a normal, average twenty-one-year-old girl having fun with a hot twenty-one-year-old guy who liked her.

"Tell me why you don't have a girlfriend?" she asked, munching on a fry as she watched him eat a grilled chicken sandwich and onion rings.

He thought on it a moment before he answered. "Do you know, it seems like every time I am interested in a girl, she doesn't feel the same way about me? I've settled with some girls I didn't like a whole lot, and that never ends well. It's so hard dating at our age, you know. It's all about hooking up, sex, and whatnot."

"Let me guess, but you're not like that."

"I like sex!" he said with a chuckle. "But I am interested in building a meaningful relationship."

"I'm a virgin!" She had no idea why she blurted that out to him. She was not embarrassed about it either.

He nodded his head, not at all shocked by her confession. "Gotta say I don't see that a lot."

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