She’d taken all her stuff and Syd now lived in a room that was completely decked out on one side and totally empty on the other. Jane had said Syd should spread her stuff out, but Syd said she’d feel weird if Megan just showed up and Syd had squatted all over her area.
At the very least, Jane had put a sheet, a blanket, and a pillow on Megan’s empty bed so we’d have somewhere to veg when we came over to Syd’s side of the suite.
Which is what I did now, flopping down on the bed opposite Syd where she was propped up, textbook open on her lap.
“Hey,” she said, pushing the book off her lap, curling her legs underneath her.
“Hey. I can leave if you want to study.”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I need a break anyway.”
I toed my kicks off and curled up on my side, adjusting the pillow under my head.
“So, what did he have to say about not calling you Sunday or Monday? A good excuse, at least? Did you let him have it before you kissed and made up?” She was smiling, not at all thinking that the situation was unresolved.
“None of the above. He took Andy and left before I even got out of the locker room. I never even talked to him.” Stupid voice, cracking as I said the last.
“Oh, shit,” Syd said, getting off her bed and crossing the small room to sit next to me. She placed a warm hand on my back, rubbing it. “Sorry, Lily, that sucks.”
On some level I was glad Jane had been on the phone and that Syd was available. Jane would not have the sympathy and comfort Syd did. Which is surprising, since Syd is a pretty tough chick herself.
“Yeah,” I said, “it does kind of suck.”
“Of course it does,” she said, now rubbing her hand up and down my back in a motion that made me really miss my mother.
“What a douche,” she added, reminding me nothing of my mother.
“But that’s the thing,” I said, sitting up, crossing my legs, and facing Syd. “I don’t think he is…a douche.”
“Is your barometer trustworthy?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know anymore. I always thought so.” I had always been pretty dead-on with the guys I’d dated in the past. I knew which ones had the potential for jerkery, and was proven right most times. I also seemed to sense truly good guys, and had not been proven wrong on that front yet.
But maybe Lucas was my first major misread.
I shrugged again. “Who knows? I guess Schoolport douches read differently on my barometer than the Maryland ones I’m used to.” I smiled, trying to make light of my words.
Syd went along with the facade. “Well, I can’t speak for the Schoolport locals, not having met them, but Iknowthe Bribury boys’ douchery is much more polished than that of the guys in Queens. Maybe you just need to recalibrate your mechanism?”
“Yeah, maybe.”
She pushed herself from the bed and went to her desk and picked up her phone. “Let’s put some feelers out for the best parties this weekend. You just need one good hookup to get your mind off this guy.” I didn’t ask whom she was texting. Syd had networked a lot more than I had during our time at Bribury.
I let her do her thing, and didn’t disagree with her, though I didn’t have much faith in what she said.
I slept in the next morning, not having Montrose’s class until eleven. I skipped going to the caf for breakfast with Jane, just having an apple and a cup of coffee from the room.
I considered blowing off class altogether, but that felt like self-pity and I didn’t want to give Lucas that much power over my actions.
As I left the dorm, I heard, “Lily?” from a voice that zoomed through my body, sending sparks of awareness and self-protection.
Lucas stood to the side of the doors, leaning against one of the pillars that held up the overhang. He had his phone out, his fingers poised, as if he stopped mid-text when he saw me.
“I was just texting you,” he said.
“Why?” I said. There must have been more anger in my voice than I realized, given the way Lucas’s eyes widened.
“I…I was hoping we could talk.”
