“I guess I’m not that much better,” she said. “I mean, there are certain gender issues. It wouldn’t be safe for me to introduce myself to total strangers the way Aiden does. But you’re not a stranger, right?”
“Look good?” Cade asked. And before there was room for another misunderstanding, he pointed a glove-covered finger directly at her sandwich.
“Looks delicious. And I’d definitely like a kosher dill, please.”
Cade handed the food over, but Andrea didn’t slide her tray along. Instead, she pulled out a folded sheet of cardstock and passed it across the counter toward him. “Aiden’s frat and my sorority are having a party together this Friday. It’s not fancy or anything, but it’s not a huge public bash. Invitation only.” She nodded toward the cardstock, making it clear what it was. “If you wanted to come, that’d be great. We’d both like to get to know you better.”
“I’m busy Friday,” Cade lied. “You should keep the invitation for someone who can go.”
But apparently Cade wasn’t going to get out of things quite that easily. Because Louisa was on the hot lunch station and nobody seemed to be too interested in whatever slop she was serving, so she’d been listening in on Cade’s interactions. Now she stepped forward and plucked the invitation off the counter.
“Busy doingwhat?” she asked scornfully. “Studying?” She looked over at Andrea and shook her head. “He’s too serious! Always working or studying, never having fun!”
“Louisa, how the hell would you know what I’m doing when I’m not here?” But all this was distracting Cade from his real job, whichwas making sandwiches as quickly and efficiently as he could. He leaned to the side so he could see around Andrea and said, “What kind of bread?”
“Bro, we all came in together,” the guy said. “We’re all Greeks. There’s no hurry.”
Cade didn’t have time for this crap. “So, what is this? Some hazing thing? Some dare? You’re picking random people from all over campus and trying to convince them to go to your thing? And then what happens when we get there?”
“We socialize!” Andrea said, her eyes wide. “We get to know you!”
“Why?” Cade demanded.
No one answered right away, but finally the guy behind Andrea shrugged, and for the first time Cade saw one of them look a little uncomfortable. “It’s one of our initiatives for the year. We want to broaden our horizons. Get to know people we wouldn’t ordinarily know. So we look around for people who seem cool, but, you know. Who aren’t really a part of the Purdue scene.”
“And what is it about me that makes you think I ‘seem cool’?” Cade asked. He waited a moment for an answer, then shook his head and said, “What kind of bread do you want?”
The guy sighed as Andrea slid off to the side. “White,” he said. “Please.”
Cade realized that the original golden boy hadn’t gone far along the counter. He was standing there in front of the self-serve dessert bar, watching everything, and Cade didn’t want to turn to see the expression on his face. He finally got shuffled along as Cade worked his way through the orders of the rest of the Greek crowd.
The whole thing was a bit awkward, all the more so when the last guy in the group made his way up to the counter and Cade glanced up to realize he wasn’t a stranger. Suddenly it all made a bit more sense. “Oh,” he said. “Hi.”
Paul, Cade’s freshman-year roommate, nodded back. “Hi.” He tried a bright smile. “Still determined to be antisocial, huh?”
“What kind of bread do you want?”
“There’s no one behind me in line, Cade. Can you not take a second to talk?”
“About what? Me being antisocial? You want me to be more social about my antisocialness?”
“Why don’t you come to the party on Friday? It’s low-key, not a big deal at all.”
“That’s why I don’t want to come. I really prefer high-key activities.”
“Oh, yeah, I noticed that about you.” Paul shook his head, then leaned in a little. “Did you know I applied three times to get a new roomie last year?”
No. Cade hadn’t known that. He’d never thought they were best friends or anything, but he hadn’t known Paul had actually tried to get out. “I guess it didn’t work.”
“They said that having a roommate who studied too much wasn’t grounds for a room change.”
“Oh. Do you want a sandwich?”
But Paul just glanced over his shoulder to be sure no line was forming, then added, “Do you know everyone on the floor called you the Monk?”
“Because I wore that hoodie too much,” Cade said quietly. He hadn’t knowneveryonecalled him that, but he’d heard the name.
“Because you acted like you’d taken a vow of silence! I mean, yeah, the hoodie didn’t help, but come on, Cade! This is college! You’re supposed to be out there partying, meeting people. Having fun, getting laid….”
