Emma
“I’m goingto kill you, Carley.” I’m hiding in the small office behind the desk with my phone to my ear, whispering my empty threat into my cell phone.
“Why? What’d I donow?” Carley sounds a little miffed.
“You said I’d never see him again.”
“Uh-huh.” She sounds a little distracted. That is until she practically screams in my hear. “You saw him?The guy from last night?”
“Yes,” I hiss. “He came to the library. He’s a student here.” And I’m pretty sure an athlete of some sort because he was wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt that did nothing to hide his big arm muscles. Not only that, it had our school logo on the front and “Hockey” printed below that.
“No. Way.” Her voice is sort of breathless. “Did you talk to him?”
“I had to. He wanted a study room.”
“On a Saturday?”
That’s what I thought too.“He’s a nerd. So, yeah.”
Carley begins to cackle, which makes me regret calling her on the phone. Now that she’s started laughing, she’s not going to stop. “A nerd,” she says wistfully. “Oh, shit, Em. You’re hilarious.”
“He’s a com sci major. He knows all about computers. He’s a nerd.”
“Well”—she’s decided to calm down—“a nerd, huh?”
“I also think he may play hockey.”
There’s silence on the other end of the line.
“Carley? You there?”
“Yes.” She breathes into the phone. “I’m processing.”
So I wait. I peek out into the room to make sure nobody needs me. When she finally speaks, I want to roll my eyes. “He’sthe one.” Her words are weirdly enthusiastic. “And it makes perfect sense.”
I’m gonna go ahead and ignore the second sentence. I know what’s coming. “What one?” I know what she meant, but I can’t just agree with her now, can I?
“The one you need to bag and tag.” She rushes through that sentence then adds, “Your horoscope said—”
“First of all…gross.Bag and tag? I don’t want to hunt him down like some poor, defenseless animal.” And she has my curiosity piqued. I didn’t have time to read my scope today. “What did it say and which one was it? Pisces or Aquarius?”
“First of all,he’snot defenseless and it was Pisces. Aquarius was way too stuffy today. It said…” I wait for her to do whatever it is she’s doing. “It says, ‘Try new things today and you may find sexy fun where it never existed before.’”
I don’t know what to say to that. “So my new job is trying new things and because I had the misfortune to run into the guy I humiliated myself in front of last night… you’re calling that potential sexy fun?” I mean…
“Of course.”
“Did I happen to mention that he’s here with a woman?”
“Uh, no.”
“Well, he is––so that blows your whole theory to bits.”
“Oh, ye of little faith….”
I’m about to argue when I hear the bell on the desk chime. I already hate the thing. When I hear it, my body stiffens and I feel a little like shoving the silver bell thing down the throat of whoever rang it. “Thank you, Pavlov.”
“Pavlov? What are you talking about?”
