“Wait!”
Luca manages to grab my attention, and I pause, letting silence envelop us.
“Are you still there?”he asks when I haven’t spoken a word for several long, drawn-out seconds.
“Regrettably, I haven’t hung up yet.”
“Can you let me explain?The girl who you saw me with earlier?—”
“You don’t owe me an explanation.You’re free to hook up with whomever you want,” I say.
Just because he invited me to the party doesn’t mean he was asking me on a date.He was just being friendly, suggesting that I come to the event.
“She’s practically a sister to me.We grew up in the same house.Nothing happened between us upstairs.I gave her a sweatshirt because I didn’t like what she was wearing.”
“Wow,” I say.“Judgmental much?”
“She’s seventeen!I don’t need the guys drooling over her.She’s like my little sister.”
I sit up in bed, pulling my legs to my chest.“Seventeen?What’s she doing at the party?”
“Long story,” Luca says, and this time, I do feel like he’s avoiding telling me everything.
The jealousy that courses through my veins seems to dissipate.He doesn’t owe me an explanation.“Okay, I’ll see you in class.Bye, Luca.”I end the call and toss my phone onto the mattress.I’m not in the least bit tired, but continuing that phone call seemed like a bad idea.
We’re just friends.Barely even that, and we kissed.It’s no big deal.It’s not as though I haven’t kissed other guys before.But with Luca, it feels different.
I head outside, down the stairs of the dorm, and feel his eyes on me.Luca.
I walk past him, not wanting to assume anything.He could be standing here, waiting for anyone.
“I wanted to walk you to class,” Luca says.
“You came all the way down here to walk me to class?”I ask.
“How do you know I wasn’t already at the dorms?”
I bite my tongue.I don’t know what he was doing or who he was doing it with.“Were you?”I raise an inquisitive eyebrow as I head toward the sidewalk.I’m not sure I even want to hear his answer.
He follows beside me.“No,” he says and laughs.
He almost sounds nervous, confessing the truth to me.
I glance at him as we walk before returning my attention to the sidewalk in front of me.It’s chilly outside, but at least the snow has mostly melted by Monday.
“Do anything fun over the weekend?Aside from attending the party?”he asks, his attention completely on me.
His stare is overwhelming, and my breath catches in my throat.“Yeah, I had a date last night.”
It’s a lie.I spent the afternoon hanging out with Kensley, and then we watched movies until I left for bed.
His jaw twitches, and he forces a smile.
“Anyone from the party?”There’s an obvious sense of discomfort in his question, like he’s curious but not sure he can handle the answer.
“I don’t kiss and tell,” I say with a smirk.We stand at the corner of the street, waiting for the light to change.
He shifts on his feet and shoves his hands into his coat pockets.“Please tell me it’s not Ashton.”
