“Thanks,” he muttered, crouching to pick up a stack of books.
They worked in silence for a moment before Hans asked, “Have you seen Adrik today?”
“No,” she said. “He skipped class.”
Hans tried to keep his voice neutral. “I guess he got busy.”
“I don’t think he works,” she said casually, like she’d been thinking about it.
Hans shrugged. “I don’t know whether or not he does.”
Amelia paused, holding a pen between her fingers. “He’s… interesting.”
Hans looked up. “Interesting?”
“Yeah.” She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately. He’s mysterious. Kind of intense. And honestly?” She gave a small, nervous laugh. “I think I want to ask him out.”
Hans froze.
For a second, he forgot how to breathe. His mind blanked, then flooded all at once—shock, jealousy, panic, something sharp and possessive he didn’t want to examine too closely.
Amelia kept talking, oblivious. “Do you think he’d say yes? You’ve spent more time with him than anyone else.”
Hans swallowed, trying to keep his face neutral even as his stomach dropped. “I… don’t know,” he mumbled.
And he really didn’t. Not about Adrik. Not about himself. Not about any of it.
But he knew one thing for sure: He did not want Amelia dating him.
Hans stacked a few books on the shelf, trying to look like a normal, functioning adult instead of someone who’d barely slept because he couldn’t stop thinking about a certain man. Amelia, meanwhile, was sorting papers like she owned the place.
“Do you have his phone number?” she asked casually, like she was asking about the weather.
Hans froze mid-reach, a pen dangling between his fingers. “No. Why would I?” His voice came out sharper than he meant.
Amelia shrugged, still kneeling on the floor. “Well, you brought him to the university, didn’t you? You had to make a plan. That generally requires a phone.”
Hans blinked. “We didn’t plan anything. I just… ran into him.”
Which was technically true. Mostly. Sort of.
Amelia gave him a look over her shoulder. “You ran into him? On his motorcycle?”
Hans stared at her. “His what?”
She laughed. “Oh, come on.”
Hans’ brqain short-circuited. “Motorcycle? He—he has a motorcycle?”
Amelia paused, confused. “Yeah? You didn’t know?”
Hans sat down hard on the edge of his desk, the pen still in his hand. “No. I didn’t know.” His mind raced. Adrik. On a motorcycle. That image alone was enough to knock the air out of him. The fact Amelia knew before he did? That stung more than he wanted to admit.
Amelia kept talking, still completely oblivious. “He said he rides it everywhere. I figured you two talked about it.”
Hans shook his head slowly. “He never mentioned it.”
Not once. Not even a hint. And Hans had been hanging on every word the man said like an idiot.
