“I have no idea what you’re talking about and would like to keep it that way.” But Cade didn’t think he was going to get what he wanted. Not only because Estelle seemed intent on sharing, but also because he’d clued in at least a little.
And sure enough, Estelle ignored his request and then told him what he’d expected he might hear. “Aiden St. John is beautiful, sweet, and totally into you. He tracked me down at the party—lots of fun, by the way, thanks for asking—because I guess the invitationswerepersonalized somehow? I didn’t see anything, but he seemed to know I’d taken your place. And he wasn’t an asshole about it, he was really welcoming and sweet, but we talked about me for about twenty seconds and then it was all ‘Cade, Cade, Cade’ for the next… well, probably only a few minutes. Enough for him to hear everything I knew about you, and enough for me to realize that he is crushinghardon you, Cadey!”
“No, that’s taken care of. I talked to him Saturday morning, and it’s good now. So, did you get your lab to work?”
She looked disgusted, but finally shook her head. “The whole point of the lab is that itdoesn’twork. They’re trying to see how well you can analyze and explain the reasons for failure.” She perked up a little. “You did it three extra times? You want to share those results with me? I’d credit you, obviously, but if I could include them in the discussion part of my report, it would look good for both of us. We did the lab alone, like we were supposed to, but then we tried to be collaborative problem solvers! Good work, us!”
Several profs had suggested to Cade that he needed to work on his collaboration skills. “You do it one more time and send me your results for both, and I’ll send you my results for the four times I did it.”
“Deal,” she said triumphantly. “There’s open lab scheduled this afternoon—I’ll do it before dinner.” Then she added, “And whileI’mworking onthat, maybe you’d like to head over to the pool or something.”
“What? Why would I go to the pool?”
“Maybe there’re some frat boys practicing for their intramural water polo team.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Frat boys in swim trunks, Cade!”
“Water polo? Isn’t that kind of an intense sport? They haveintramuralwater polo?”
“I think they use inner tubes or something. I don’t know. But you’re missing the main point here, Cade.”
“No.” The lecture was about to start and Cade was pretty sure he could time his pronouncement just right so she wouldn’t have time torespond. He kept an eye on the prof and said, “Thisis the main point. School. Learning. Building a future. Frat boys in swim trunks are a distraction. That’s all.”
And then, as if on cue, the professor started talking and Cade was able to turn his attention away from Estelle.
He bolted at the end of the lecture, but that was his usual pattern. He had to get to the cafeteria by eleven, so he didn’t have time for chatting. He was happy to lose himself in the mundane prep tasks—cutting vegetables, restocking the bins, making sure he had all the materials close at hand. He made and ate his own sandwich shortly before the noon rush, and he didn’t let himself think too much about his decision to put turkey, bacon, avocado and Havarti on two slices of cheese bread. Sure, it was the same sandwich Aiden had been ordering lately, but that didn’t mean anything. Well, it meant that it had sounded tasty and Cade had taken note. He liked to learn and try new things. That was all.
And when Aiden came into the cafeteria sometime after the rush, Cade didn’t let himself stare, and he certainly didn’t let himself imagine how much of the man’s golden skin would be on display if he were wearing swim trunks. Instead, Cade readied himself to take a sandwich order, and then he saw the guy who was walking beside Aiden and had to turn away for a moment to regain his composure.
The boyfriend. Cade grabbed some sliced ham from the fridge beneath the counter, even though he already had enough in the upper bins, and tried to take a few breaths of cool refrigerator air. Of course there was a boyfriend. Cade had seen him plenty of times. He’d even mentioned him to Aiden, and Aiden hadn’t denied anything. So all of Aiden’s talk, his invitations and friendliness… that had all just been about beingfriends. Or else Aiden was planning to cheat on his boyfriend, and Cade really couldn’t reconcile that with what he knew of Aiden. What hethoughthe knew.
It was all too confusing, and Cade took a moment to be grateful he hadn’t let himself get dragged into whatever the hell it was. Then he stood up with a professional smile, ready to serve. “Hi. Sandwiches?”
“Hi, Cade.” Aiden turned to the boyfriend. “Will, do you know Cade? He worked here last year as well.”
“Yeah, hi,” Will said, clearly a little confused about why he was being introduced to the help. Cade couldn’t blame him. “And, yes,thanks, sandwiches. I’ll have multigrain, roast beef, and mustard, with all the vegetables except hot peppers.”
“Do hot peppers even count as a vegetable?” Aiden asked. It was typical of his attempts to make conversation, so Cade figured they were back to normal, whatever normal had ever been. “They’re more of a condiment, aren’t they?”
“Of course they’re a vegetable,” Will said. “Peppers. They grow. They’re vegetables.”
There was something about the guy’s tone of voice Cade didn’t really like. He made it sound as if Aiden was stupid, or a child or something. And apparently Cade had forgotten all the basic rules of staying out of things, so he said, “Mustard grows. But it’s a condiment. We have oil and vinegar dressing with herbs in it—those are all derived from plants, but we wouldn’t call dressing a vegetable.” It was stupid, because Cade actually agreed with Will—hot peppers were pretty clearly a vegetable. Also stupid because Cade didn’t want to get involved in a conversation with Aiden St. John or anyone else on the other side of the counter. But if Will was lucky enough to date a guy like Aiden, he should treat him with a bit more respect.
Will smiled at Cade’s response. “Well, you are clearly the sandwich authority, here. I’ll take your word for it.”
Yeah. Cade knew about sandwiches. Will knew aboutAiden, knew things about him that Cade would never, ever see. So Will won, and Will knew it. He draped an affectionate arm around Aiden’s shoulders and smiled at Cade. The Wills of the world always won, and the Cades always lost. Cade wondered what Will’s GPA was, and then wondered if there was a single person in the room who actually thought a high GPA was enough to make up for the rest of it.
He plated Will’s sandwich and looked expectantly at Aiden.
“What do you feel like making?” Aiden asked with a friendly grin.
Cade grabbed two slices of white bread, two slices of American cheese, and smeared mustard between them. Then he slapped the sandwich together, dragged a knife through it, and laid both halves on a plate. He shoved the plate across the counter and stared Aiden down.
“Oh. Okay,” Aiden said. “Can I have a pickle?”
Cade felt his face flush and reached out for the sandwich. “I’ll make you something else,” he muttered. “You like turkey and bacon, right?”
But Cade couldn’t slide the plate, and he looked over to find Aiden’s fingers gripping it tightly. “I’ll have this. Thanks. But with a pickle?”
“You don’t want that sandwich, Aiden.” Will sounded like he was trying to be patient.
