When In Rome...Find Yourself: A Sweet New Adult Romance by Lena Mae Hill Page A

you know, I’m only showing you around because Theresa won’t. So I’m really doing it for her, not out of the goodness of my own heart.”
    Mostly, this gave Rory a release from her guilt. She was glad that he was doing it as a favor for their house mother and not for her. Now she didn’t feel so bad about wasting his day, not that he seemed to do much besides lock himself in his room and listen to stoner music when she wasn’t around to ask for rides. But a tiny part of her sank with the relief. Because he wasn’t doing it to spend time with her, or even to be nice to her. He was doing it to be nice to Theresa. It had nothing to do with her.
    “Because, you know, she’s a generous Italian and would show you around if she could, but I’m a stingy American,” Ned said when she didn’t answer.
    “Right,” Rory said, forcing a laugh.
    He parked Jelly and they made their way along the narrow, uneven street. She loved just walking in Rome, how everything was so different. So small. The streets were narrow, with buildings crowded up to them. The cars were small. The businesses were small. Everything looked vintage or ancient. This city had been around for centuries, one of the oldest, greatest cities in the world.
    What had once been an empire was now this city that was always busy but somehow never in a hurry. Cars puttered along night and day, blasting their horns, but never seeming to drive very fast even when they could. People meandered through the streets, arm in arm, browsing and eating and drinking and kissing near fountains. Cats lazed in the sun on windowsills and crumbling, ivy-draped walls. It made her feel as if she were witnessing something of great importance while no one else realized it mattered.
     
     
     
    CHAPTER Six
     
     
    After walking a while, Rory stopped to photograph some people eating in a café across the street. She zoomed in, snapping a picture of a girl taking a bite of pizza, the cheese stringing from her mouth like taffy. Suddenly, the girl turned and waved, and Rory dropped her camera, embarrassed. It took her another moment to realize the girl wasn’t just a random Italian waving to her out of friendliness. It was Maggie. Another glance at the table confirmed it—Kristina, Cynthia and Nick were there, too.
    “You know her?” Ned asked.
    “Yeah,” she said. “I mean, no, not really. She’s one of my study abroad group. Or they are.”
    “Let’s go say hi.”
    “Oh, no, I couldn’t.”
    “Why not?”
    “I don’t want to interrupt.”
    “They’re waving us over,” Ned said, as if now he was included in the invitation. “I’m going to say hi.” Before she could argue further, Ned had started across the street. She hurried to catch up, sweating in the heat and with nerves. She couldn’t just walk up to the cool girls and act like she was one of them. They knew as well as she knew that she was definitely not one of them. The stink of loneliness hung around her, followed her like a bad fart. No one wanted her hanging around, with all her insecurities and anxieties, ruining their good time. She’d learned that a long time ago, and her few friends, if you could call them that, hadn’t done much to dispel that suspicion.
    To her surprise and discomfort, the party inside asked her and Ned to join. It seemed more like a pity invite than anything. They sat and ordered pizza—Ned said it wasn’t as good as the place he’d been taking her, but they’d get a rain check on that—and Maggie talked to Rory like she was anyone else. Rory was so grateful she could almost cry, or hug Maggie, or something equally humiliating. She managed to keep herself from doing either, and ate her pizza as quietly as possible, very aware of the crunch of the crust that seemed to echo inside her head as she chewed.
    But no one noticed. Kristina was having some sort of drama with her ex, who had texted her. Rory couldn’t help but think Kristina had it lucky that her ex would want to text