Page 107 of His Reckless Freshman

Caroline and Ben hooked up at a party. That computes. Makes sense.

Ben fell for Caroline after that one night and tried to reconnect with her. She avoided him, because she was in love with Casey, who she also must have slept with if she didn’t know who the father was.

Ben finds out she’s pregnant and might be the father, but he was really angry about it… which means—I’m guessing—that Caroline kept the pregnancy a secret from him.

Oh my gosh, did she tell Casey but not Ben?

That’s low, Caroline.

My opinion of my cousin suddenly dips in a way it never has before.

Poor Ben.

Imagine how he must have felt when he realized that one: Caroline wasn’t into him and had hooked up with another a guy, and two: She might have been carrying his child.

That is mind-blowing!

No wonder he was angry with her. And then she miscarried.

Poor Caroline.

Why didn’t she tell me?

That’s huge!

I start doodling on my page, circling Ben’s name and feeling for him, then drawing a line under Caroline’s name and a few tears around the edges. I’m not even listening to the professor as I think about what they must have both gone through.

So much emotional trauma.

But at least Caroline had Casey to hold her, help her heal and recover.

What about Ben?

Those girls did say something about a summer girlfriend. She probably helped make him feel better, but then she dumped him too?

I wonder if that’s true.

Man, if it is, how sucky for him.

First he gets burned by Caroline, and then he gets dumped after what was no doubt a wonderful summer with whoever this girl was. I wonder if she goes to Nolan and he still has to see her around campus.

It must be hard enough seeing Caroline.

My heart aches for him, bending and twisting out of shape.

After everything I’ve just heard, I kind of like him even more than I did before.

He’s a sweetheart, and if he treated these women with the same care and consideration that he treated me, then they’re complete idiots for not wanting him.

I want him.

He’s the only one I want and⁠—

A thought strikes me like a bolt of lightning, and I actually end up gasping in the middle of the lecture. I blink down at my paper and⁠—

“You okay there, Miss Carmichael?” The professor smirks at me, and I glance up with another gasp.

“Uh…” I sink down in my seat. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”