How We Found Us | ✔️

Chapter Two

The Rimmer was crowded, nearly overflowing inside and outside. Before ten P.M. it was all ages, after that time us youngins under twenty-one were kicked out for the booze to flow. I didn't mind. Though I'd had my first alcoholic drink at fourteen, I wasn't much of a drinker.

While The Rimmer was one of several bars on campus, it was by far my favorite. Unlike regular bars, it was open all day. The early morning and afternoon hours were quiet, the bar converted to an espresso bar. I knew it would be my go-to study place during finals. Board games, arcade games, pool tables, and air hockey gave students plenty of ways to relax after studying.

It was at the pool tables where Georgie found Cassie and me, nearly an hour after I'd left him at the dorms.

"Look who decided to show up," Cassie said, sweeping a lock of black curls out of her face.

"Sorry. I swear, I was off the computer ten minutes after Chloe left."

Cassie grinned and leaned over to line up her next shot. "Right, and I'm the Queen of Sheba." The pool balls clicked together when she released her shot. Watching her nose crinkle in frustration when no balls sank in the pockets was satisfying. Cassie, as smart as she was, was a lousy pool player. Playing her was almost unfair since I'd been playing pool since I was ten. My grandpa had one and after mom died and they moved into my house to raise me, I had easy access to the table sitting in half of the two-car garage. I played daily.

"Imagine that, I'm dating a queen." Georgie curled his arm around her waist and pulled her in for a kiss.

"So what's the excuse this time?" I asked. My eyes scanned the table for my next shot.

"I was helping Riley bring in the last of his things. His brother met a bubbly blonde and got distracted."

Cassie grunted when I sank the last of my balls. I tried to hide my smile when the next shot sank the eight ball in a corner pocket. She was still shaking her head when I skipped to her side and put an arm around her shoulder.

"It's not whether you win or lose—"

"I swear to god, Chloe," she grumbled, "I will shove this pool cue up your butt."

My lower lip quivered as if she'd pained me deeply. I knew she was joking. It was one of our running gags with each other to pretend one of us angered the other. From the moment Cassie and I met last summer during a weekend trip to visit the University, we were as tight as sisters. She was from a small Kansas town of less than three thousand people and her first trip out of the state was to visit that school. While she never admitted it, I suspect Georgie is the reason she picked the school out of the several local ones she visited. I didn't believe in love at first sight, I thought that was the biggest crock ever invented, but her and Georgie were the closest I'd ever seen to proof it existed. They spoke daily after the trip and officially started dating toward the end of the school year. She was his first real girlfriend after years of being the butt end of many jokes.

I grinned when Georige began racking the balls for another game. "You know." I snapped my fingers as I spoke. "With me standing here on your right, and Georgie on your left, this makes us. . ."

"Do not call us a vanilla Oreo cookie," she said, sighing.

"I was going to say a reverse Oreo, but a vanilla Oreo makes so much more sense!"

Cassie's eye roll was practically audible when she handed Georgie her pool cue. He twisted the chalk against the tip and walked to one end of the table. Shaggy curls of red hair coated his eyes when he leaned over to place the white ball and ready his cue.