Chucking my balled up straw wrapper at him, I laugh. “Whatever. And besides, I never said anything about you meeting her.”
Corinne looks up from her phone and lifts her shoulders. “You’re probably the most mysterious person I know.”
“Oh come on, is everyone going to start piling on me?” I clear my throat uneasily, and Harrison holds up his hands and shakes his head. Rubbing my tongue over my teeth, I heave a deep sigh and glance from Nathan to Corinne. “One thing. Ask me one thing and I promise I’ll answer it.”
Nathan jumps all over my invitation before Corinne has a chance to process it. “Why’d you come to Founders?” At the hesitation that must be obvious on my face, he shakes his head impatiently. “Don’t look at me like I just sprouted a damn horn. You said one question, so there it is. There are so many colleges around Bristol—why this one?”
Twisting my napkin, I tilt my head to the side. “Because I went to one of those colleges last year, and I flunked out,” I admit matter-of-factly, surprised that I don’t feel any of the shame that used to come along with owning up to the bad situation I’d created for myself.
“By the end of the first semester I lost my scholarship, and then when my final grades came through we found out that I was put on academic suspension. My parents freaked, of course, and they gave me a choice. I could sit this semester out, stay at home with them and try again next spring, or I could see if there was another school that would take me. My aunt went here and I grew up listening to her praise this place like it was Hogwarts or something, so I applied. I guess it’s bad to admit I didn’t think I’d get accepted.”
“You’re not going back to that other place next year, are you?” Nathan demands, narrowing his clear blue eyes into thin slits. “I’d miss hearing you give Rhys Delane smart ass answers in class every other day.”
Grinning in spite of the rush that goes through me at the mere mention of Rhys’ name, I start to tell him I have every intention on coming back but then Corinne mutters a curse.
With every eye at our table now directed on her, she offers me a contrite smile. “I suck at messages,” she explains, bowing her curly head. “One, that guy Rhys is gorgeous—like I-couldn’t-figure-out-what-to-say-at-first gorgeous. And two, he came by looking for you this afternoon.”
I shoot her a warning glare in hopes she’ll get the hint and finish giving me this message later, when we’re alone, but I have no such luck. “He wanted me to tell you to check your email when you get a chance. I wrote a note and put it on your laptop, just in case I forgot.”
“Thanks.” I pretend my half-eaten sandwich is the most interesting thing I’ve ever laid eyes on. I hear Nathan’s low, questioning rumble. “Don’t touch it with a ten foot pole,” I warn.
Signaling for our waitress and the check, he pulls his wallet out of his back pocket. I can tell he’s holding back a huge smile as I glare across the table at him. “Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it.”
I personally don’t touch the email until more than twenty-four hours later after Rhys doesn’t even make eye contact with me when we brush up against each other in passing. I’d turned around and followed him with my gaze until he disappeared from sight, instantly feeling a bitter twist in my stomach when he didn’t spare me a second glance. I spent the rest of the day struggling with the urge to go track him down, but in the end, I figured I’d wait to see if he came to me again.
When it’s obvious that he’s not going to do that, I open his email.
From: rhys.delane01@founders.edu
To: evelyn.miller13@founders.edu
Date: Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 5:08 PM
Subject:
This is far from over. Far from it. If you want to figure it out before our next session, you’re more than welcome to call me.
Plus, I have your books and music. You left them when you raced off.
Even though I’ll see him tomorrow in class and I know I’ll be able to get my stuff back then, I realize I won’t be alone with him again until Friday afternoon since Professor Cameron has claimed my time on Thursday afternoon. I massage my temples. I’m not sure I can wait until Friday to clear the air with him. He’s already affecting my thought process, so the sooner I talk to him the better.
When I shut my computer and start to go through the stacks of papers on my desk in search of my Sight Singing and Dictation syllabus, Corinne glances up from where she’s lounged across her bright teal comforter working diligently on a paper.
“Lose something?” she shouts over the sound of the music streaming from her ear buds. It’s so loud that even I can hear Demi Lovato singing about skyscrapers from the opposite side of our room.
I finally spot the syllabus at the bottom of the pile. I flip through it until I find Rhys’ number and plug it into my iPhone. “Nope. I just found it.” I scoot the syllabus back to the bottom of the stack. I change out of my ratty old choir fundraiser tee and into a pair of jeans, a soft black flutter sleeve t-shirt, and a pair of flats. As I dab gloss over my lips and check my appearance in my mirror, I see Corinne pluck out her ear buds one by one behind me.
“You’re going out?” She checks the time on the bottom of her laptop screen and then stares back up disbelievingly at my reflection as I drag a brush through my hair. “It’s a Tuesday. You don’t even go out on the weekend.”
Grabbing my bag and keys and shoving my phone deep inside the back pocket of my tight jeans, I flash a quick smile. “I just have to grab something for one of my classes tomorrow. It shouldn’t take me long.”
Her green eyes follow me to the door. “You look really awesome for a Wal-Mart run,” she calls after me.
My stomach is tangled into a mess of nervous knots as I text Rhys from the elevator, asking him where I can met him to get my books. Before I reach the bottom floor, he responds with an address. A few seconds later, another text comes through.
10:39 PM: I’d meet you somewhere, but my roommate’s having a going away party tonight. This time, you come to me, Evelyn.
That last line—that’s the one that screws with me all the way there.
My GPS has me getting to his place in five minutes, and I realize pretty fast that he lives only a few blocks from Ippy’s, which is probably convenient for when he’s bartending. Thanks to the cars filling the driveway and parked along the street, it’s simple to determine which side of the duplex he lives on. I park my Hyundai about a hundred feet down the street, hoping I’m not taking someone else’s usual spot as I walk up the sidewalk to the brick two-story building.
Although the door is wide open and I can see right in through the screen door, I can hear my mother’s voice yelling how impolite it is for me to just prance right in someone’s home without an invitation. I ring the doorbell. A few seconds later, a huge guy built like an offensive lineman answers.
“Damn, I don’t know you either.” He looks behind him at a dark-haired woman with bright red lipstick who’s just as tall as him and model thin. “Another one of your friends?” he asks, and she pokes her head out the door to stare at me inquisitively.
“Nope, not this time,” she informs him in a surprisingly sexy, deep voice. “You lost, honey?”
I move my head to either side, trying to get a peek inside. “I’m actually here to see Rhys. He’s expecting me.”
“Ahhh, Delane. Why didn’t you say that?” The big guy moves aside so I can come in and turns his attention on the ruby-lipped woman. “Do me a favor, babe, and tell Rhys there’s someone here for him.” He looks me over carefully and then shakes his head, changing his mind. “You know what, just take her directly to him.”