The next moment, he disappears around the side of the dorm building.
“What do you think he’s planning?” Cody asks, his eyes narrowed as he stares sightlessly at the wall of my dorm room.
I invited him here as soon as Tristan left. I needed to work through my thoughts aloud. Cody is always honest, even when it hurts my feelings.
“I don’t know,” I say, “but I have a feeling he wants to embarrass me again. This is similar to when he told Harper my pseudonym. He sought me out in the library that day. Approached me. He wasafterme.”
Cody’s jaw ticks. “I want to kill him for it.”
I wave a hand. “I’m over it now.”
But it’s not true. Thoughts of that day in the quad make my skin hot and my stomach churn as violently as if it were happening all over again.
I had just started to recover from all the drama in high school. The pain of losing Harper. Having them both attend the one college that happened to grant me a hefty scholarship was like a slap in the face. I had hoped I could move on and forget everything that happened. Instead, I was forced to attend this tiny private university where I could never escape either of them.
“Maybe he wants me to develop a crush on him so that I’ll break down when he chooses someone else for the homecoming dance.”
Cody frowns. “But you wouldn’t develop a crush on him.”
He doesn’t sound as certain as he ought to be, and it makes my cheeks heat. I scowl at him. “Of course not. I hate him.”
“The opposite of love is indifference.”
“What a dumb cliche. Passionate people like me aren’t indifferent to anything, even mundane things. I have a passionate hatred of green olives, for example. I hate them even when I don’t have the misfortune of having to pick them out of my Greek salad. I hate that they exist in the first place.”
He groans. “Tristan isn’t a green olive. He’s the homecoming king, and don’t lie and say you aren’t attracted to him.”
“I can admit that he’s objectively hot. But I’m never attracted to people based on looks alone. I’ve known this man since my freshman year of high school. I know what kind of cruelty he’s capable of. I’ve also had enough conversations with him to know he’s about as interesting as a documentary on rock classification.”
Cody’s eyes sparkle. “I don’t buy it. I think you’re just telling yourself that to make yourself feel better.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “I’m done with this conversation. Tomorrow is the opening ceremony. I need you to help me prepare.”
“Why are you even doing this? You should just drop out.”
I adjust my pillow behind my back as I lean against the wooden headboard of my bed. “I’m not dropping out. That would be letting him win.”
“No,” Cody says immediately. “It would be thwarting whatever plan he has.”
“And I’d rather thwart his plan in a more spectacular way. I want to show him once and for all that he has no power over me.”
Cody rolls his eyes. “By giving him what he wants.”
“Initially, yes. Now stop being a pain in my ass. Give me ideas for what I should do tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is the five-minute dates with all ten contestants?”
“Yep. I want to really throw him off during my time with him. I’ll show him he can’t break me.”
Cody’s quiet for a long moment, and I can almost see the thoughts working behind his soft brown eyes. “You should act bored. Try to yawn a lot.”
I shake my head. “Not good enough.. If he tries to touch me—and you know he will—I’ll act repulsed by him. He’s always touchy with the contestants. I’ll cringe and pull away.”
Cody sighs. “You’re not that good an actor.”
“I won’t need to act. Iamrepulsed by him.”
Cody huffs, clearly not believing me, and I wish I could believe myself.
