Raw Deal (Beauty for Ashes: Book One) (46 page)

There was no way this guy’s notes would be as good as Emily’s. I watched him take a file out of his bag.

“I’m Sam Foster by the way.” He handed me the file.

“Thanks.” I took the file and opened it. His writing was legible. “How do I get this back to you?”

“You can give it to Emily. She knows where I live.”

“Okay, thanks.”

Sam got up and went to sit at another table. I put his file in my purse.

I went to the library after my burger and copied the notes, then I went to where I knew Emily would be studying. “Hey, girl.”

She looked up hopefully. “Did you bring me anything to eat?”

“No, did you ask me to?”

“I sent you a text.”

“You’ve probably got my old number. Sorry.” I sat down. “Do you know Sam Foster?”

“Yeah, why?”

“He just gave me his notes to copy.”

“Sam’s a great guy. He’s got the library’s last copy of the
Political Communication Handbook
, but he let me have it for a few days last week to finish my assignment when he needed it too.” Emily picked up her purse. “Watch my stuff. I’m going to get a sandwich.”

Emily left, and I started reading through my copied notes. Okay, I’d missed a lot, but I could still pass if I put my mind to it. When Emily returned, she packed up her books, and we went for our next class.

Emily and I were walking back to the library after the class when Emily spotted Sam Foster. “Sam,” she called.

“Hey, Emily,” he called back.

“Lexi’s done with your file.”

Sam came over, and I handed him his file. “Thanks.”

“She’s gonna need that political communications book,” Emily said.

“Am I?” I asked. “I’ve already missed the assignment deadline anyway.”

“Yeah, but it’ll help for the exam,” Emily said. “I’ll show you what parts to photocopy.”

“It’s in my room,” Sam said. “You can come and get it now if you want.”

I nodded. “Okay. Are you coming, Em?”

“Nah, meet me back in the library.”

“Studyholic!”

Emily grinned and walked off, leaving me alone with Sam. I rolled my eyes. “That girl lives in the library.”

“I know,” Sam said. “I prefer to study in my room where I have unlimited access to food.”

I studied Sam briefly. Could I trust him not to try anything funny if I went to his room with him? He looked decent enough, but then again freaks rarely had ‘freak’ written across their forehead. “You live on campus, right?”

Sam seemed to read my mind. “Yeah, my room is five minutes away, but if you want to go with Emily, I’ll go and get the book for you.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll come with you.”

Sam looked amused. “Well, you’re looking at me all suspicious.”

“Really? Just giving you the once over, making sure you’re okay.”

“So you’re married?” he asked. He started walking, and I fell into step beside him.

“Yeah, I got married just before Easter.”

“I’ll be getting married soon, too, I think.”

“Nice.” Let’s hope it wasn’t because she was pregnant.

“So, how’s it going?” Sam asked me.

“How’s what going?”

“Your marriage.”

“It could be better,” I said honestly.

“Isn’t a little early to talk like that? You should still be all starry-eyed with love.”

“I’ve always been a realist.”

“A realist or a pessimist?”

“A bit of both.”

“So who’s the lucky man? Anyone I might know?”

“Probably not. He’s an accounting student.”

“Really? I know lots of guys in accounting. What’s his name?”

“Carl Layton.”

“Carl Layton!” Sam exclaimed. “We play soccer. I didn’t know he was married!”

“Yeah, he’s always with a different girl every day, isn’t he?”

Sam looked uncomfortable. We walked in silence for a while, and I regretted the heeled shoes I was wearing.

“How much longer?” I asked Sam.

“Just round this corner.”

We turned a corner, and an enormous apartment complex loomed into view.

“You live in Ashwater House?”

Sam nodded. Ashwater was the best accommodation on campus, a step up from Marigold. Sam led me to the gates. There was an intercom on the wall, and he pushed a few buttons and said his name. The gate heaved and started to open.

I followed Sam to the huge building, and I had to sign in as a visitor. He then led me to his apartment, which was on the ground floor.

“You can wait here,” Sam said, showing me to the den. “The book is in my room.”

I nodded and sat down on the chocolate brown sofa.

A few moments later he returned. “You can use the photocopier in my study if you want. Do you know which chapters you need?”

“No.”

“Well, they’re listed on the reading list. Do you have that?”

“Yes, I copied yours before.”

Sam led me to his small study room. Each wall was lined with bookshelves, and the photocopier he had mentioned stood in a gap between a computer and a bookshelf.

Sam walked to the study table and flipped through a file. “Do you only need the notes for this semester, because I’ve got last semester’s stuff here too if you want it?”

“Yeah, I could probably do with copying some of it.” I’d missed quite a few classes last semester too.

“Okay, you go through the file and choose the parts you need, while I start copying this book.”

I grinned at Sam. “Thanks.”

I sat at his table and went through his file, extracting any pages that didn’t look familiar.

Sam handed me a wad of papers. “Those are all the chapters you need. Apparently, Professor Jackson is gonna base some of his exam questions on them.”

I put the papers in my purse.

“Is that all you need from last semester?” Sam asked, taking the pile of notes I’d extracted from his file over to the photocopier.

“Yes.”

He started copying again, and I got up to look through one of his bookshelves. “You have so many books on religion,” I commented after I scanned a whole shelf and all its books had titles like,
Proof That God Exists
,
How to Win Your Friends for Christ
, and
Lifestyle Evangelism
. One entire row was filled with Bibles. I picked one up.

“Are you a Christian?” Sam asked, turning from the photocopier to look at me.

“No, but I have a Bible. My best friend and my ex-boyfriend at high school became Christians in our senior year. My ex gave me the Bible.”

“That’s great. So why aren’t you a Christian then?”

“Because I’m just not.”

“Why?”

“I don’t see how it’ll help me. My dad died two years ago, and my mom and I had to deal with that. So, if God is really there, I definitely don’t want anything to do with Him if He could let something like that happen. I’m not interested in a God like that.” I opened the Bible. “Anyway, let’s talk about something else, because nothing you say will change my mind.” I looked at his numerous books on evangelism and ‘winning others’ to Christ. “No matter how many evangelism techniques you know.”

Sam turned back to the copier. “Why did you break up with your ex who gave you a Bible?”

“He broke up with me. He got saved and decided he couldn’t date a sinner like me anymore.” I moved to the next shelf. It mainly contained textbooks on media, mass communication, and writing.

“You sound kinda bitter about it.”

“Well, I was really hurt at the time, but I don’t care anymore. He’s at college in New York now, which is good, because it means that I don’t have to see him.”

“I’m from New York. I want to transfer back there, but I’m still thinking about it,” Sam said. “What about your best friend who got saved?”

“She’s in New York, too, in Med School. For all I know, they could be together now.”

“Yeah, but like you said, you don’t care, do you?”

I decided not to answer that question. I looked at the Bible I was holding.

“Lexi, I want to make a deal with you.”

I groaned, knowing it was going to be related to religion. “Depends what the deal is.”

“Well, I want to tell you about how I got saved—” I raised my hand in protest, and Sam smiled. “Wait up. The deal is that if you let me tell you about my personal journey to salvation, I will promise never talk to you about God again if you don’t want me to.”

Sam’s cell phone rang, and he dug it out of his pocket. “Hi, Shawna, haven’t you got your key?” He paused. “Yeah, I’m in the study.” He hung up and smiled at me. “That’s Shawna. I think you guys will get on really well.”

“Who’s Shawna?”

We heard the front door open and then close again, and light footsteps approached in the hallway. A bubbly looking red head appeared in the doorway.

“I didn’t want to use my key and just come in if you’re not in. That’s why I thought I’d call first,” Shawna chirped. She perched on the study table and smiled sweetly at Sam. Then she looked at me questioningly.

I looked back at her for a moment. She reminded me of Sandy in many ways, with her petite frame and ivory skin that offset her fiery hair and huge aqua eyes. I felt a slight tinge of envy, although I didn’t really know why. As a model, I was used to meeting unusually pretty girls, and I was never usually jealous of anyone.

“This is Lexi,” Sam explained to Shawna, and she nodded, her hair catching the light and shimmering like red gold. “She’s on my course, but we only met today. She needed to copy some of my notes.”

Shawna grinned. “Hi, you look really familiar.”

“Maybe you’ve seen me on campus.”

“Yeah, maybe.” She dug a pink flyer out of her pocket and passed it to me. “What do you do on Thursday nights?”

I looked at the flyer. It was for Alpha and Omega sorority meetings. “It depends on the week.”

“Well, it’d be great if you would pay us a visit.”

“Okay.” I hadn’t joined any sorority yet, so I might just check them out. I put the flyer in my purse.

Shawna snapped her fingers. “Did Sam just say your name is Lexi?”

“Yes.”

“Are you Lexi Dixon?”

I gave her a curious look. “Yeah.”

“How cool!” Shawna said with a tinkling laugh. “Sam, you’ve been alone in your room with a swimsuit model. Should I be suspicious?”

Sam switched off the copier and handed me another wad of papers. “All done. So you’re a swimsuit model, and you didn’t tell me?”

“I’m not a swimsuit model,” I said rolling my eyes. “But I have done swimsuit before.”

“Well, I only know because just last night, how funny, I was watching the fashion channel, and there was a short biography about you.”

“Really?”

“Yes, it was just like ten minutes. But it showed some of your pictures and some runway footage too. I thought you were really beautiful. I can’t believe the coincidence that I’m meeting you today. They said you were based in England.”

“I used to be.” I picked up the Bible I’d taken from Sam’s shelf to return it.

“So how is it being a Christian model?” Shawna asked interestedly, her blue-green eyes darkening with intensity. “A lot of Christians don’t agree with it, but I haven’t decided where I stand on the issue. I know you model swimsuits and lingerie as well, so how do you justify that?”

“Did they say on TV that I’m a Christian?” I asked surprised.

“No.” She looked at the Bible I was holding.

“This is your boyfriend’s Bible, not mine. I am no way a Christian.”

“Actually, Lexi and I made a deal just before you arrived,” Sam said. “I promised never to talk to her about God again if she’d let me tell her about how I got saved.”

Shawna fixed her gemstone eyes on me. “Sounds like a fair enough deal.”

“I didn’t agree to that deal,” I said. I looked at my watch. It was about time I headed home.

“How about Shawna tells you how she got saved then?” Sam asked. “Her story is actually even more riveting than mine.”

Shawna chuckled. “True, true.” She looked at me. “Are you sure you want to hear my story though? Maybe I should get you some tissues in case you cry.”

“It can’t be that moving,” I said offhandedly, sure that she was going to harp on about how she went to a church, immediately just felt an atmosphere of love, and just
knew
that there had to be a God somewhere. I’d heard enough of that from Michelle and Monica.

“Shall we move to the den?” Sam suggested.

I placed the Bible on the shelf and picked up my purse. It was heavy from all the notes. I gave Sam a hug. “Thanks for letting me copy your notes and everything. You’re a star.”

“I know. That’s why Shawna loves me,” Sam joked.