Love's Back Pocket Read Online Free Page A

students. “While I assist Mister Nye outside, I am trusting you all not to cheat. If I find that you actually partake in such a juvenile activity, I can assure you that you can say good-bye to any option of becoming a psychologist.” With that said, she smiled brightly at Tommy and led him outside.
     
    A couple of students murmured to themselves, and though Holly’s eyes were focused primarily on her paper, she could feel the burning stares of the majority of her classmates. Focus, Holl. Come on. After another five minutes, she regained her attention and began filling out the rest of her scantron. In fact, she was so enthralled in her test that she didn’t notice O’Sullivan’s re-entrance in the room until she turned in her test.
     
    “Professor?” Holly began in a whisper. “I just wanted to thank you for this class. It has been incredibly informative. I had fun.” She paused and swallowed when Professor O’Sullivan looked up at her with a cool stare and a knowing but demure smile. “Um, also, I just wanted to apologize for the interruption. I had no idea he was actually going to show up. So—”
     
    “Give me your test,” she said, reaching out her arm. Holly perked her brow, obviously surprised, but did as she was told. “I’m going to grade it right now.” Holly’s mouth dropped, but her professor already had a Sharpie in her hand and an answer key adjacent to her test. It was rather awkward for Holly to be standing in front of more than half of her class. Hadn’t she been humiliated enough? After five minutes, give or take, Wendy clicked the marker and glanced up at Holly. In a hushed tone, she said, “Congratulations, Holly. You did as I expected; you passed.” She handed Holly back her scantron, which had a fat, green A on it. “I don’t know how you know Tommy Nye and I kind of don’t want to know, but he wanted to know if you could spend your thousand hours with him and his band as they tour.” She paused, and though Holly felt she should speak, she just couldn’t formulate the words. “I told him it was highly improbable. The reason we want you students to do a thousand hours at a practice is so you get guidance, as well as a variety of different clients. However, he assured me that a licensed psychologist would be on hand who would be signing your hour sheet, and your primary focus wouldn’t be solely on Nye. With his guarantee and some free concert tickets, I agreed, but only if you gave your consent.” She paused, looking at her pupil seriously. “Would you like to try this?”
     
    Holly stood silent for a very long moment. “What do you think?” she asked, unsure of where to go from there.
     
    “I think if you’re up for it, it would give you good experience, Holl,” O’Sullivan replied. “It’s not every day that rock stars seek out help, especially from a grad student. Opportunities like this are incredibly rare. I would take it if I was in your position.”
     
    Again, Holly thought seriously about it. She didn’t like the fact that she would probably be alone with a bunch of strangers she didn’t know. “Okay,” she said finally. “I’ll do it.”
     
    “Good job,” her professor told her, and smiled encouragingly. “Good job, Holly. I’m proud of you.”
     
    Holly smiled in return, and turned, walking out of the classroom. Surprisingly, she found Tommy, Tanya, and Mitch waiting on a park bench nearby. When Tanya saw her, she dashed over to her friend and pulled Holly into a tight hug.
     
    “So?” Tanya asked. “How’d you do?”
     
    “What are you doing here?” Holly asked her friend. “I thought you were …” Upon seeing both men’s heads turn toward the two of them, she lowered her voice. “… indisposed.”
     
    “Well, I was,” Tanya said with that mischievous smirk of hers, “but then Mitch got a call from Tommy about wanting to talk to you about going on tour with him as his personal psychologist and Mitch invited me to come. You