“I love having all this freedom.”  Sage commented. We were finally in our dorm away from our parents and family.

“It is awesome.”

“You wanna go to the dorm social. We can go meet some hot guys.”

“Yeah. I’m ready.” I grabbed my keys.

“You’re finally going to move on. I’m so proud of you.”

“Shut up. I got some good advice. I’m not going to wait on Nick anymore.”

We walked into the lobby. It was filled with a bunch of people. People were dancing, playing pool or just chatting. There were hot guys everywhere. It was going to be a fun night.

“Hey girls. I’m Pete and this is Marc.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ashton.” I smiled at Pete. He was hot. He had dark brown spiky hair. Pete was tall and muscular.

“Where are you from?”

“Originally from Kentucky.”

“A southern belle.” He flirted with me.

“Hardly. Where are you from?”

“Well, I’m from Pennsylvania. My major is psychology. I’m a junior and I play soccer.”

“Nice. I’m majoring in elementary education and I don’t play sports.”

We continued to chat. Pete seemed like a great guy. He was funny and charming. We never ran of things to talk about. Sage was busy talking to his friend. I think college was going to be a lot of fun.

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The next day Pete had invited me to go out for ice cream. Of course, I said yes.

“So Ashton, I really like hanging out with you.”

“Same here Pete. You’re a lot of fun.” I felt giddy.

“You have some ice cream on your lip.” He brushed his lips against mine. He feathered light kisses on my lips. It felt amazing.

“Wow!” Pete laughed at me.

“I take it that you liked that.”

“More than you ever know. You’re a good kisser.”

“Back at you, Ashton. You’re so refreshing. I’m tired of all this overly made up girls that are fake. You’re genuine.”

“Thank you. I think you’re pretty special.”

“I know we just met, but I can’t take my eyes off of you. Let’s go for a walk.”

My mind was on Pete. He was all I could think of. As I walked toward the door I ran into someone.

“I’m sorry.”

“Ashton.”

“Nick. I didn’t mean to bump into you.”

“It’s ok. Who’s your friend?” He looked at Pete.

“This is Pete. Pete this is Nick. He works with my brother.” Pete kissed the top of my head. Nick looked surprised.

“Nice to meet you, Nick. Ashton you ready.” I nodded my head.

“It was great seeing you again Nick.”

We walked out of the ice cream parlor. Nick watched us from the window. I detected a bit of jealously. Now he knew how I felt.

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“Ashton, you seem really happy. These past few weeks have been great for you.”

“I’m enjoying college. My classes are easy.”

“I think you are enjoying more than just your classes.” Sage remarked.

“I love spending time with Pete. He is so sweet. Yesterday we had a romantic dinner on the beach.”

“I’m glad you found a nice guy. It’s nice not hearing the name Nick.”

“Yeah! It is.” I said quietly. I liked Pete a lot. He was everything a girl could want, but…there was always a but. I was still in love with Nick. I tried to keep it on the down low.

“Don’t tell me you still have a thing for Nick.” Sage sighed.

“Fine. I don’t have a thing for Nick.” She threw a pillow at me.

“Ashton you have to get over him. Pete and you have a great thing going. Don’t let Nick ruin it. He’s happily in love with Kalla. You need to free yourself from the ghost of Nick.”

“How can I just stop loving someone?”

“I dunno, but I talked to Alex this evening. He said Nick was talking about you.”

“What did he say?” I knew it wasn’t going to be good. He had seen me and Pete together a number of times in Tampa.

“He said that you were all over Pete in public. That is was really disgusting to be that way in public. He also said you’re acting like a bitch.”

“Whatever I don’t need him. I have Pete. He likes me the way I am.” I smiled.

“Are you going to sleep with him?”

“Sage, I’ve only being dating him for three weeks. We’re not even a couple. I haven’t even thought about sleeping with him.”

“He’s such a sexy guy. I already slept with Marc.”

“Sage, you will sleep with anyone. I mean you slept with Alex just because you wanted to.”

“Alex is fine. It was a mutual thing. I really like Marc. If you were with Nick, would you have slept with him?”

I knew the answer, but I didn’t know if I was ready to share that information. It was kind of weird to be talking about sleeping with him, when I was dating a fantastic guy.

“Well, I always thought Nick would be my first.” That was the safest answer I could give.

“Now you have a real man. Pete is older and most likely knows how to please a woman.” Sage and I busted out laughing.