But as I watched the three of them mingle, a lone guy approached. He spoke something to one of Alex’s friends, but they were too far away for me to hear, and I was a bad lip reader. His friend—I believed his name was Rory, based on hearing others call him it—nodded at the guy, his smile ever so friendly. Rory turned to Alex, who was staring back at him, obviously lost.
Don’t tell me he’s about to…
Rory’s arms gestured obnoxiously as he explained something to Alex. It was like he was trying to soften the blow of whatever he was saying by overdoing his movements and flashing a friendly smile.
Alex paused, and I could tell that what he had just heard had caught him off guard. Standing up from his seat, he nodded with a forced smile. The other guy didn’t waste a second taking the warm seat that wasn’t his, and now Alex’s eyes scanned the room for a new group to be part of.
My expression morphed into one filled with both anger and disgust. I usually loved being right, but this was the one time I wished I were anything but. What kind of friends were these?
At this point, everyone was in a group of three, except one other group and us. Standing in the middle of the room, he looked like a lost puppy, and it took a lot to call him over. I couldn’t avoid him one moment and call him over the next.
Our eyes met, but not for long. His jaw clenched before he tore his eyes away and settled on the one other unfinished group. Alex would rather do a project with strangers than with me, and I couldn’t lie; it hurt.
“Isn’t that Salem’s roommate?” Lola asked me embarrassingly loudly. “What’s his name again?”
“Uh, Alex.”
“Alex!” she shouted, catching the attention of the entire room. Waving a sporadic hand in the air, she yelled, “We have two!”
Alex rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, a blush creeping onto his cheeks. If Lola had shouted my name like that, I would have also been embarrassed. Honestly, the embarrassment he felt was most likely the only reason Alex started our way.
“Why would you do that?” I groaned.
“We have two people and need three.” Her hair bounced as she shrugged.
I slapped my hand to my forehead, and Lola shook her head, not understanding what the big deal was. I waved her off and got comfortable in my chair, already knowing this project was going to be a headache. The last thing I needed was to spend a bunch of time around Alex. Trying to keep up the memory loss act was about to become a hell of a lot more difficult.
Alex took a seat beside Lola, his hand gripping and tugging at the ends of his hair. He kept his eyes on the professor while he quickly went over the project rules, and so did I. Most of the answers about the assignment could be found on our computers, so we wasted little time.
Once we were left to mingle, Lola introduced herself to Alex. “I’m Lola, and that’s River. I don’t know if you remember us from a few days ago when we met your niece in the hallway. She was so cute!”
A small smile painted his lips. “Yeah, I do. Nice to meet you.”
“I’m glad you joined us.” Lola flashed a warm smile. “Gosh, I hate presentations.”
Feeling left out of the conversation, I said, “It’s a communications class; presentations are kinda the whole point.”
She rolled her eyes and ignored my comment. “Alex, give me your number. We should meet up tomorrow and get a head start. The project is seventy percent of our grade, so we don’t have any room to slack off.”
Lola handed Alex her phone, already opened, with the contacts for him to put in his information.
“Tomorrow is the one day of the week that I don’t have practice, and you want me to spend it doing work?” I asked dryly.
Lola ignored me again. “Alex, are you free?”
Alex blinked as he tried to remember. “If you guys don’t mind my niece being with us.”
Lola’s eyes lit up. “Of course I don’t mind; I love kids!”
“I don’t mind either,” I added, though no one asked me. Alex looked at me expressionlessly, almost as if he thought it was crazy that I had even opened my mouth.
He stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder, focused on me but speaking to Lola. “Where are we meeting up?”
“My dorm works,” Lola replied.
“Cool.” After waving goodbye, he spun on his heels to make for an exit, but he stopped himself. Turning his head over his shoulder, his gaze landed on mine. “Thanks for letting me be in your group.”
I watched his back as he left, and I wanted to go after him, but that really contrasted with the whole detached and nonchalant attitude I was going for.
