What Happens Abroad (11 page)

“Okay, you two, I'm glad you made up, but cool it down, will you? There are other people in the house now.”

Hunter stood up. “Actually, I should get back to my place.” He looked down at me. “What did you want to do tomorrow?”

I shrugged. “Anything sounds good.”

He leaned down and kissed the tip of my still-peeling nose. “Sleep well, princess.”

After Hunter sauntered out the door, I sat back on the sofa, grinning like an idiot. Sarah came and sat beside me, and Joelle perched on the chair.

“Well?” she asked, her dark eyes intent.

I paused, trying to find the words that could express everything I was feeling. Finally, I settled on, “I think we're going to give it another try!”

Sarah squealed in delight. “Oh, that's awesome!” But then her face fell. “Are you ditching us?”

I hadn't thought about that. “I don't know. I mean, we didn't talk about anything like that.”

“You're cool, girl. Whatever you guys decide to do.” Joelle smiled. “It's good to see you happy. I don't think I realized how down you've been.”

I nodded. “I am happy. But seriously, I'm not ditching you guys.”

Joelle shrugged. “But if the hot man asks you to travel with him, you better say yes!”

I laughed. “I don't know if that will happen.”

Sarah grinned. “Don't be so sure.”

“Well, for now, I already have my travel buddies. I'm so glad we met.”

Sarah squeezed my hand. “Me, too. Actually, I've been thinking. When our month is up on the apartment, I think I want to go back to London and see if I can talk to Carson.”

“Sarah, that's great!” I glanced at Joelle. “Isn't it?”

Joelle shrugged. “I guess. I mean, you go girl, but it sort of sucks that we won't be traveling together anymore.”

“You could come back to London with me,” Sarah offered.

Joelle shook her head. “No, I don't think I want to do that. Besides, I need to head home eventually; the fall semester starts in late August.”

“But we've still got two more weeks in this apartment!” I said lightly. “It's not like this is good-bye or anything.”

Joelle smiled at me. “Still. If Hunter asks you to go somewhere with him, don't worry about two more weeks. You've gotta do what you want to do!”

I laughed. Secretly, I hoped she was right; I sort of wanted to spend as much time as possible with Hunter, and the idea of traveling around Europe with him was amazingly romantic. “For now, I think we should plan our next excursion. Are you girls ready to check out Venice?”

Sarah stood up and put her arms around me and Joelle. “Wherever we go, I'm just glad we'll be together.”

We hugged in a tight little knot for a moment, a jumble of collarbones and elbows, and when I pulled back, I had tears in my eyes. “Let's promise to stay in touch, no matter what happens at the end of the summer, okay?”

Joelle nodded, her eyes bright. “We have to. I know it's only been a few months, but you girls are really special to me.”

Sarah smiled. “It's almost like we're sisters!”

I looked at both of them, a big grin spreading across my face. “We're sisters abroad. And that's forever.”

From: CamieLuvsArt222

To: SarahGirl18; JoJotheGreat

Subject: Guess Where?

Oh my gosh, you guys, you'll never guess where Hunter and I are.

SPAIN!!! Can you believe it? I've taken a job teaching English to preschoolers in a teeny-tiny little village outside of Madrid, and Hunter's actually tending bar at the restaurant down the road from our apartment. Yes, you heard me right; we liked it so much that we've decided to stay here, for now at least. And you'll never guess what else; a waiter caught me doodling at the restaurant while I was waiting for Hunter to finish up, and he showed my picture to the owner. She asked me to do a few more of the restaurant, and she said if she liked them, she'd buy them from me! I still can't believe it.

I know what you're thinking, and no, I'm not dropping out. Just taking some time off to figure things out. I called my mom and told her the whole mess with the scholarship, and even though she's upset, I figure she'll come around. She doesn't mind me skipping a semester or two of school as much as I was afraid she might; evidently, falling in love in a foreign country strikes her as a better choice than getting an art degree!!

Hunter says hi, and you're always welcome to crash with us. We should be here for at least six months (that's how long the school hired me for), but after that, who knows? It's a big world, and I guess it's true what they say about only living once!

Wherever you guys end up, keep in touch, okay?

Hugs forever,

Camie <3

First and foremost, my deepest thanks to Meredith Rich for believing in these stories, and for helping me fall even more in love with Sarah, Joelle, and Camie…not to mention their flings! Huge thanks to the entire team at Bloomsbury US and UK for, once again, giving me a chance to tell the stories I long for. Special thanks to the talented Ashley Poston for covers that make me swoon.

To the lovely Ally Malinenko, for turning her eyes on an early draft of these stories; infinite chocolate! As always, thanks to Jaye Robin Brown for unfaltering CP advice. Gratitude to Lory Cupero for always being ready to read and offering constant encouragement along this wild journey. Thanks to the fabulous Lisa Burstein for telling me these stories are adorbs, and for finding time to read. Tremendous thanks to the wonderful folks at Inkslinger PR for helping me celebrate these stories. Love and virtual cupcakes to the Witcherific street team, and all my friends on FB and Twitter; y'all ROCK!

This series was born out of my wanderlust, so a huge shout out goes out to all the tour guides, hostel employ
ees, waiters, flight attendants, shopkeepers, taxi drivers, and charming Italian men who made my travels something to remember. Thanks to
Lonely Planet
for never leaving me stranded, no matter where I wandered. A special thanks to the Western Michigan University study abroad office and Santa Reparata in Florence for the most amazing summer of my college years…Camie would have loved to attend!

Deep gratitude to my family, not just for supporting my writing, but for encouraging all the random trips over the years; biggest thanks to Mom for only freaking out the first time I ran into travel trouble.

And thanks to my favorite traveling companion, Matt; I can't wait to see where our wandering will take us next.

To each and every one of you reading these books: thank you, thank you, thank you a million times! I'm so glad I get to share these stories with you.

A Michigander by birth, Jen McConnel now makes her home in the beautiful state of North Carolina. She writes NA, including the
Isobel Key
series (Bloomsbury Spark), YA, and nonfiction. When she isn't writing, she can be found on her yoga mat or wandering off on another adventure. Once upon a time, she was a middle school teacher, a librarian, and a bookseller, but those are stories for another time. Visit
www.JenMcConnel.com
to learn more!

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Copyright © 2015 by Jen McConnel

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This electronic edition published in 2015 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in June 2015 by Bloomsbury Spark, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, Inc.

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