It’s Dante. Pick up the damn phone.
Why the hell is Luca’s father calling and texting me? I glance at Luca, who is still preoccupied in the kitchen, and opt to take the call in my bedroom.
My cell phone rings again, and this time, I answer the call just as I step into my room, closing the door behind myself. “Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”
Three
Harper
I head to class and walk by Kensley on the way to Econ 101. We don’t have any classes together this semester, but we spend lunch together almost every afternoon.
“You’re not answering my texts,” Kensley says with a playful glare in her eyes.
I reach into my pocket and glance at my phone. “You didn’t send me anything.” I show her my phone and the lack of text messages from her.
She snags it from my hands and pauses outside. She has to head east since we’re going to different buildings. “Weird. Maybe reboot your phone.”
It’s been a while since I restarted my phone. “I’ll try that,” I say and shut it down, shoving it in my pocket in the meantime.
“Let’s grab lunch later. Same time?” she asks, like I’ve been avoiding her, which I haven’t.
Although I didn’t text her this weekend, either. I was busy dealing with the aftermath of Nova’s birthday party.
Sunday, I spent it lounging around, trying not to panic when I called my parents and didn’t even gather enough strength to tell them I had a fake boyfriend, let alone a fiancé.
How am I going to tell Kensley I’m engaged?
She’ll never buy it. She’s been around me long enough to see that Luca and I aren’t constantly all over each other.
A wedding would be absolutely insane.
“Of course, lunch later.” I force a smile. I have so much that I want to tell her, but I’m not sure how. The last thing I want is to put her life in danger too.
I head through the heavy wooden doors and into the auditorium. There’s no sign of Luca. Although he usually shows up after I get to class, choosing to sit next to me.
Something tells me he’s going to choose a different seat today.
I sit in my usual spot, open my laptop, and grab my most recent notes, reviewing the lessons. Most of them make very little sense when I review them until Luca helps unjumble the information for me.
He’s a good teacher.
And a really great friend.
But he doesn’t show up for class. I grab my phone, turn it back on and send Luca a text.
Where are you?
It shows that he’s read my message, but he doesn’t respond.
He also doesn’t show up for class. Is he avoiding me, or is something else wrong?
After class, I walk alone to my next lecture across campus. I hate to admit how lonely it feels without Luca walking with me. It always helped pass the time, and he is really good company.
At least class breezes by, and unlike economics where I completely suck, the English course is an easy A for me. After I finish, I swing by to grab lunch with Kensley and retrieve my phone from my bag.
There are still no messages from Luca. There also aren’t any messages from Kensley, which is weird.
“I saved us a table,” she says and waves to me. She’s already grabbed a sandwich. I drop off my backpack and get in line to grab one too.
