She paced the sidewalk a few minutes, then stood still when his class poured out the propped-open door. No Jeremy. Weird.
One of the last to leave was her old roommate, and she hurried over. “Hey, Jodi, was Jeremy in class?”
“Nope,” Jodi said with a shrug. “Whenever you see him, let him know there was a pop quiz. First time he’s ditched.”
That felt…off. “Okay. Thanks.”
“Did you hear about the excitement earlier?”
“Um, no?”
“Oh. I was hoping you could fill in the details for me…. I guess somebody got cut on some broken glass in A and P. Had to get stitches. No clue who or how. I mean, what glass? How did it break?”
“Sorry, I couldn’t tell you.” And didn’t really care right now. The mystery she wanted solved was where her maybe-boyfriend had skipped off to. She pulled out her phone to text him.
Before she could, Jodi said, “How’ve you been at your new place?”
“Really good.”
“I’m glad.” Her smile warmed her eyes, sincere in a way a lot of Lucy’s female classmates hadn’t been when they wished her well on her departure from the dorm.
A deep breath filled Lucy, and then words poured out. “It wasn’t you. You were a great roommate. I just needed somewhere new, somewhere Liam hadn’t ever been. I should’ve told you this months ago, and instead every time I run into you I’ve just been trying to look fine and be fine, and…and I’m sorry.”
Jodi walked right up and hugged her. Lucy dropped her book bag and returned the hug.
“That guy took you for granted, Luce,” Jodi said. “I’m glad you dumped his entitled butt. I miss you like crazy, but I get it.”
They stepped apart. Lucy blinked away a few tears. “You knew why I moved out?”
“Well.” Jodi shrugged. “I wasn’t totally sure. I knew he was the main problem. Vampires, right? Thinking they’re too gorgeous for us mortals. But I always wanted to ask if I’d maybe done something to make it all worse, like…if maybe I was the last straw.”
“You didn’t do anything. Not anything. Look, will you come over to my new place? We could make pizzas and catch up.”
They made a date for that coming Wednesday, then hugged again.
“Thanks for not being mad,” Lucy said.
“I was never mad. A little sad, but I’m not anymore. And I can’twaitto see your very own studio apartment.”
“All thanks to the parents.” She gave a little laugh. “Couldn’t manage it alone right now.”
“I hear that.”
Jodi nodded at Lucy’s phone, dormant in her hand for the last several minutes, and grinned. “I guess you’re itching to find out why Jeremy ditched. Go ahead. I’ll see you Wednesday if not before. And hey, I want all the details on this guy while we fix dinner.”
“For sure.” A blush seeped into her cheeks. “He’s…well, he’s sort of great.”
“He must be. Remember when we were packing up your design stuff—your portfolio and your pencils and everything—and you were like, ‘men aresooverrated’?”
“Um, I might have been a little unfair, broad-brushing every single male on the planet.”
“You might have.” Jodi cocked an eyebrow as though it were equally possible Lucy hadn’t been unfair at all.
Lucy laughed. “Jeremy’s not overrated. Details to come.”
As Jodi strolled away a few minutes later, Lucy began typing a text message.
Hey, you weren’t in class. Anything wrong?
