Killian’s lips tugged up slightly but barely stayed for a second. “Hey.”
And then silence. Javier was now watching Killian, the two settling for a mumble of a greeting. The way my heart was squeezing itself inside of my chest could not be normal, and neither could the abnormal amount of sweat in my palms. Would it be socially unacceptable to bury my head in the sand?
Goosebumps prickled at the back of my neck, and I awkwardly rubbed it. “Funny seeing you here, right? I mean, you’re here of all places at the same time that I am, and you also wanted a salad just like Javier and I did, even though there are plenty of other food choices—you chose the same as us because it’s a… big coincidence.”
I took a sharp inhale after my incessant rambling had finally ended, and I just knew the tips of my ears were pink. Over the years, I had gotten a lot better at keeping myself from word vomiting when uncomfortable, but it always had its way of coming back.
Killian nodded upward. “Lines moving.”
At least he didn’t acknowledge it.
There was a huge gap between the people waiting ahead in line and us, thanks to my ridiculous rambling. Taking away the chance to make a fool out of myself again, I focused on making my salad alongside Javier.
My hands shook the entire time I scooped the brown-tinted lettuce and poured heaping amounts of ranch all over to cover it. Meanwhile, Kill fixed his food as if it were just another Tuesday.
It wasjust another Tuesday, but it was also the first Tuesday we’d seen each other since the breakup. I had been doing a pretty damn good job of making sure my ex and I were not in the same place at the same time. I stayed away from the places he frequented, like the gym and the quad, and I stopped going to lunch at noon because that was exactly when he ate. This was purely an accident.
Javier and I found a table in the corner of the building away from the noise. It was near the trash cans, and the smell was anything but pleasant, but at least I was out of sight of my ex.
“Are you okay?” His nostrils flared as he analyzed my demeanor.
I stabbed at the lettuce in the bowl. “I’m trying to be.”
“I know you may not think so, but he’s missing out.”
“Not really,” I muttered. “I think he got bored of me.”
Javier mixes his grilled chicken salad. “Then he’s an idiot.”
My friend was trying to be nice, but Killian was not an idiot for getting tired of me. I wasn’t exactly the most exciting person to be around. Some would call me responsible and structured. Others would call me dull.
“You wanna talk about something else?” he asked.
I nodded once.
“Then let’s talk about epigenetic regulation,” Javier smirked. “You don’t seem to be getting it.”
My hands flew to my face as I let out a groan. “Oh, please, anything but studying.”
Javier’s laugh echoed in the noisy cafeteria. “Hey, it’d get your mind off of Kill. Wouldn’t it?”
Yeah, because if there was one thing that made me feel worse than Killian did, it was biology.
I avoided running into Killian for the rest of my time in the dining hall, thankfully. Javier and I parted ways so that he could go back to his boyfriend, and I could wind down after our studying session. After chilling in my room, the tea I drank in the cafeteria had made it to my bladder.
On my way to the bathroom, I noticed white liquid leaking off the kitchen countertop. I paused, taking a few steps forward and eventually spotting the knocked-over milk jug lying next to it. The milk was spilling off the surface and onto the floor, forming a puddle.
My roommate, Salem, sprawled out on the couch as if he were on vacation, keeping his eyes glued to his phone while stuffing his free hand into a bag of chips.
I eyed my roommate. “Salem?”
He didn’t bother looking up at me. “What?”
“What happened to the milk?”
He spared a second to glance at the kitchen before his eyes were on his phone again. “I spilled a bit when I was making cereal. I’m gonna clean it up, but I haven’t gotten around to it.”
One would think that since I was pointing out the mess, he’d get up and fix it. But if there was anything I had learned about my roommate in these past few months, it was that Salem was anything but clean.
