We walked out of the room, and Josh stood in the same place across the hall he always did when waiting for me after this class.
“Ah, there he is,” Slate added. “Your knight in shining armor is finally coming to your rescue.”
His sarcasm wasn’t lost on me, and I covertly elbowed him in the side. His grunt was more for effect than from pain, and I worked to hide my smile.
“See you later, Slate,” I said in a singsong voice.
“Bye, Isla.” I could hear the smile in his voice, and I wished I could say I was unaffected to hear him say my name, but I’d be lying.
The scowl on Josh’s face as he looked at Slate made it clear the two did not get along.
Once I stood in front of Josh, he turned his attention to me, the scowl easing away.
“Hey,” he said, looking down at me.
“Hey.” I kept my greeting short. I was upset I hadn’t been able to get a hold of him last night, but I also didn’t know if maybe there was still a good reason why I hadn’t been able to. I stayed quiet, giving him a chance to explain.
He put his hands in his pockets, looking down at his feet before looking back at me. “I’m sorry I missed your calls and texts last night. I lost my phone.”
His posture was rigid, and his eyes kept bouncing around the hallway. Why was he acting weird? When you knew each other as long as we had, you could easily pick up on body language. He was uncomfortable and acting like he didn’t want to be here.
“You lost your phone?” I questioned.
“Yeah. You don’t believe me?” His voice sounded defensive.
I took a step back, confused at his sudden change in mood. “I didn’t say I didn’t believe you, I’m just confused. You’re acting differently, like you don’t want to tell me what happened.”
He rolled his eyes and scoffed. “I’m not acting differently. There’s nothing to tell. I was studying with a classmate, and I left my phone at their apartment.”
If he had been studying with a classmate, why hadn’t he just said that? What had him so jittery?
I kept my face neutral. “Who is this classmate?”
He adjusted his backpack strap. “Just someone in my finance class. You don’t know them.”
I noticed he had left out a vital piece of information. He obviously wasn’t going to volunteer the information, so I’d have to get more specific with my questions. “Is this person a girl?”
“Yes.”
When he didn’t say any more, I asked, “And you didn’t want to tell me that, why?”
“I did tell you. I just told you she is a girl.”
I cocked my head to the side. Why was he acting like I was the one who was being confusing? “But you didn’t earlier. You purposefully left it out.”
He let out an exasperated breath. “Why are you making such a big deal about this?”
“You’re the one who is making a big deal out of it,” I argued. “I’m the one who was wondering why I couldn’t get a hold of you all night and was willing to hear you out, but then you got all defensive about it and didn’t want to tell me you were with another girl instead of with me.”
“So, what? Now I can’t talk to any other girls but you?”
“What?” How had he jumped to that accusation? “That’s not what I’m saying at all. I just find it interesting that in your explanation, you wouldn’t tell me that you were with a girl, like you were trying to hide that detail.”
“Because I thought you would act like this,” he gestured at me, “and because she and I are just friends.”
How quickly it had changed from being a classmate to a friend. “If you had been honest and forthcoming about it, I wouldn’t have thought anything. But when you sit there and figure out what words to use so you’re still telling me the truth without giving me all the information, then, yeah, I’m going to wonder if you’re hiding something.”
“I’m not hiding anything,” he said. “I told you she’s just a friend. We’re both business majors, we were in some of the same classes last year, and now we’re in a class this semester.”
