London Falling: Chapter Three
London Falling by T.A. Foster, Chapter Blitz
BOOK SUMMARY:
It’s London’s senior year and she only needs one class to graduate. She just didn’t expect her final assignment: fall in love.
Communication 224 has a reputation for giving out the most unique projects of the semester. When London James and Beau Anderson signed up for the class they had no idea they would be paired up together, much less spend an entire semester working on their final grade.
Professor Garcia tasks them to produce a study on the hit reality show, Love Match, a show about strangers falling in love on over the top dates. London and Beau decide to debunk the popular show’s fantasy portrayal of romance. Determined they can date the entire semester and not fall for each other, the classmates share blogs about their dates and start a website where everyone can follow their dating experiment. Resisting their growing attraction for one another is harder than they thought.
London is in for the toughest class of her college career. The headstrong and success-driven student discovers there might be more important things in life than an A.
Chapter 3
CHAPTER
THREE
“London, you’re the most
graceful person I know. You took professional ballet lessons. I’ve never seen
you fall. Like, ever.” Nina was busy preparing a homemade icepack for me with a
plastic bag and some ice tray cubes.
I managed to hobble into
our one-story brick house and plant myself on the couch. I needed more than ice
after the performance I gave today.
“I used to be the most graceful
person you knew. I can’t remember the last time I fell. Probably when I learned
to ride my bike.” I winced as she held the icepack on my leg.
“At least it’s not
bikini season. That’s going to look terrible.”
“Thanks.” She was right.
I could already feel a goose-egg size knot forming under my jeans.
“Tell me. What’s the
project? I’ve got some time before I have to catch the bus for lab.” She had
collected a few throw pillows from around the living room and handed them to me
on the couch.
Just the mention of
Communication 224 sent a wave of nausea through my system.
“It’s terrible. I don’t
know what I’m going to do. The nutty professor used an experimental computer
program to pair us off in class. Then each group was assigned
a reality show for the semester. We have to prove whether the show is real or
just part of Hollywood commercialism by living out the show. She told us to be it. Whatever that
means.”
“Really? That’s it? What
show did you get?” Nina’s eyes lit up. She would have been perfect for the
assignment. She was America’s resident reality TV fan. The only reason I had
even heard of half of the shows was because of her.
“Love
Match.”
I should have covered my
ears. The squeal from my roommate was the high pitch equivalent of a howling
banshee. “Love Match? I love that show! The
dates are so romantic and the guys are so cute. Everyone falls in love and they
travel all over the world. There are private jets and champagne. Oh, you’re so lucky you got
that one.” Nina was getting more excited with each detail she shared.
“Calm down. It’s not
that great. I didn’t tell you about my partner.”
“Oh, who did you get?
Tell me he is super hot.”
“Beau Anderson.” I moved
the pack of ice farther down my thigh.
“Wait. You mean the guy who wrote the bucket list
blog?”
“Yeah, but that’s not
all. He’s not only Bucket List Guy, he’s also Bike Guy.”
“What? The guy from last
week who plowed you down is Beau Anderson and he’s your Communication 224
partner?” Nina was laughing.
“What’s so funny? Are
you laughing at me? I’m in pain over here and panicking about this class.”
“Stop worrying, London.
But really, what are the chances you would get paired up with him?”
“It’s not going to be
that bad, right? I really need this grade.” And I needed a dousing of Nina’s
reassurance.
“You’re going to be
fine. Love Match is my favorite. I’ll
walk you through it, one candlelit step at a time. No worries.” Everyone loved
this show.
I was relieved. At least
I could count on Nina’s love for bad TV to pull me through.
“Tell me. What’s Beau
like? I’ve never seen him.”
I thought about my new
partner. With all of the confusion and theatrics in class, I hadn’t really noticed
much about him. Well, not much other than he must be a human heater. T-shirts
in icy January kind of stood out. Then there were those
perfectly sculpted arms. I could feel my cheeks warming again.
“He’s a guy.”
“That’s it?” Nina
carried her backpack to the front door. She sounded disappointed.
“Yeah, I mean he looks
like any guy on campus. Brown hair, brown eyes. Not that interested in
class—you know—a guy.”
“Huh. That’s too bad. I
thought that
maybe someone who came
up with all of that cool stuff on the list would be hot. You know, for your
sake.” She giggled and clutched her bus pass.
I wasn’t sure why I held
back on the arm details or the dark eyes—they were definitely worth mentioning,
but Beau Anderson was just like every other guy I had met in my other classes.
They were in school for things unrelated to expanding their academic horizons.
I couldn’t see how he was any different.
“No, not hot. Sorry to
ruin your little blogger crush. You better go. You’ll miss the bus.”
“You sure you’re ok by
yourself? I can skip lab if I need to stay and help you.”
“I’m good. I think a nap
is in order.” I shimmied into the assortment of pillows on the couch. The sun
still wasn’t shining and it was freezing outside. With both roommates out of
the house, a nap was a perfect end to this Bronte-esque afternoon.
“I’m jealous. Ok, I’ll
see you after class.” Nina closed the door behind her.
I nestled into the couch
and pulled the quilt nicknamed, “ugly quilt,” around my shoulders. Candace’s
grandmother had given it to her when we moved into the house last year. The
three of us spent the entire summer before our junior year planning our house
décor. We wanted it to look retro chic, which is challenging on a college
student budget. Candace did her best to fake a smile when she opened the
package from her grandmother that arrived during the first week of classes. We
laughed so hard that the three of us were in
tears making fun of the orange and brown patches sewn together with pink
thread. It was never supposed to be visible in the living room, but after a
late night movie fest, I discovered it was comfy and warm. I became the
champion defender of Ugly Quilt, and it had a spot on
the back of the couch ever since.
My eyes closed, and somewhere in my
mind’s replay of the awkward meeting with Beau, I fell asleep.
***
Through the fog of my
afternoon nap, I thought I heard the distant sound of my phone ringing. I
shoved Ugly Quilt away and fished for my cell on the floor next to the couch.
I swiped at the screen.
“Hello?”
“London? Did I wake you
up or something?” I didn’t recognize the male voice on the other end of the
call.
“Um. Who is this?”
“Beau. Your Comm
partner.”
I blinked hard. It was
dark outside and I had no idea how long I had been sleeping. My leg was aching, and the icepack Nina
had made was a bag of room temperature water.
“Oh yeah. Hey, Beau.
What’s up?” I realized that I didn’t add his number to my contacts after he
called me in Manning.
“I was just talking to my
roommate, and his girlfriend is over here. Anyway, I told them about Love
Match
and she’s a huge fan.” I was starting to feel like maybe I was the only girl on
campus who didn’t watch the dating show. “She said there’s a marathon on
tonight on the Timeless Channel. Maybe I could come over and we could watch it.
Get caught up before the new season starts.”
I shook the sleepy fog
from my head. “Ok. Sounds good. When does it start?”
“In an hour, I think. Where do you
live?”
“I’m off campus, just a
few blocks back from Franklin Street off Mallette.”
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