The four of us enjoyed a drink together, then went our separate ways. For the next week leading up to final exams, it felt like we were all holding our breath to see what Jerry would do.
Then, on Thursday, he came to the bar to collect his free drink. He was back on Friday, and I was thankful that Lila was laying low, otherwise their paths might have crossed. Jerry was back at the bar on Saturday, taking up a booth with half a dozen open textbooks while he studied for his own exams.
I texted our group chat and told them that Jerry wouldn’t be giving us any trouble.
“What’s the deal with him?” Kayla asked, nodding toward Jerry in his booth in the corner. “What do you owe him?”
“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
She looked sideways at me. “Does it have anything to do with your professor girlfriend?”
I spun around to face her so fast I almost got whiplash. “What?”
“Okay, first of all, you need tonotreact like that,” Kayla said. “Because I meant it as a joke, but your reaction just told me that there’s something there.”
I exhaled slowly. “Shit.”
“Relax. I love you as much as a lesbian can love a man,” Kayla said. “I would never get you in trouble. Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thanks. Now please never mention this again.”
“Deal.”
A few minutes went by while we served customers at the bar, then Kayla casually leaned closer to me again.
“You two are really cute together,” she said. “She pretends to grade papers when she’s here, but when your back is turned, she checks you out. I was going to mention this before now, but I realized she was a professor and didn’t want to coax you into making bad decisions.”
“What happened to you never mentioning this again like I asked?”
“I just want you to know I’m rooting for you!” she added. “That’s the last thing I’ll ever say about it.”
“Lila says my drinks are better than yours,” I teased.
Kayla rolled her eyes. “Since you twoaretogether, she’s required to say that. If we ever have a blind taste test, I know you’ll lose.”
“Keep dreaming,” I replied.
She playfully shoved me, then went down the bar to flirt with one of the members of the women’s basketball team.
Sunday was my day off, and I spent it at the library with Jace. We studied together for our Criminology class for a while, thenmoved on to our own individual classes. Cam arrived sometime in the afternoon.
“Nice of you to join us,” Jace said. “We said we were meeting at ten.”
Cam dropped into the seat next to me. “Cut me some slack. I was up until three in the morning.”
“Hacking into someone else’s email?” I asked.
“Studying!” Cam replied with indignation. “I’m a night owl. I do my best work when everyone else is asleep.”
“I used to be that way when I was your age,” Jace said.
I snorted.
“What?” Jace asked.
“You sound like an old man.” I took on the tone of a decrepit grandfather. “Back in my day, we stayed up until sunrise before taking the L-train to the soda fountain! Milkshakes used to be two for a nickel!”
“That’s a good impression,” Cam said. “Jace sounds exactly like that.”
