They nod, and he cocks his head to the side, motioning for me to follow him a few feet away from where they stand. When we’re out of earshot, he stuffs his hands in his pockets, turning to me with his broad shoulders hunched, almost as if he’s tryingto shield me from the windchill. “What’s going on? Why are you out here by yourself?”
“I’m fine,” I lie, grateful when the words don’t get stuck again. “Really.”
“No, seriously.” He reaches out as if to brush my arm but seems to think better of it, instead letting his hand drop. He blinks those glittery, dark eyes at me. “Come on, Partner. Tell me. Pretty please with sugar on top?”
I exhale a sigh and then attempt to explain around my chattering teeth. “I accidentally locked myself out. I was trying to get a key from my roommate.”
His frown deepens. “Oh, shit. Where’s your roommate?”
I glance at the row of fraternity houses with uncertainty. “Pike, I think.”
His eyes light up at that for reasons I can’t comprehend. “Oh, great! That’s just down the street!” When I don’t respond, he searches my face, growing more confused by the second that I don’t seem to share his enthusiasm. The crease between his brows returns. “Wait, why are you upset?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to figure out how to articulate my hesitation. “I don’t…I’ve never…I don’t know which frat house that is,” I finally admit. “I’ve never been.”
Wes grins, the earlier concern forgotten. “No worries,” he says. “I’ll take you.”
My eyes widen. Now,thatseems like a horrible idea. “Well…who knows if she’s even still there?”
Wes doesn’t take the hint. “Let’s go find out!”
This time I take a step back. I notice an immediate drop in temperature once I stop using him as a human shield. “I’m, um, not sure that’s the best idea.”
He frowns. “Why not?”
“Your friends are waiting for you,” I point out, glancing nervously toward the two guys hanging back, staring down attheir phones and shifting on their feet. They’re not as big as Wes, but I can tell by their height and strong builds that they’re most likely student athletes, too.
“They’re my housemates. They don’t need me to babysit them.” Abruptly, he turns and calls, “Can I meet you guys back at the house?”
The two glance up at the same time and look unabashedly between Wes and me. “Sure,” says the shorter one.
“See you later, man,” says the other.
And that’s that. Wes’s friends turn and head in the opposite direction, but not before shooting me curious looks over their shoulders, probably wondering what a guy like Wes is doing talking to some nobody freshman.
I try not to die from the mortification of it all.
And then it’s just the two of us, standing on the corner of frat row in twenty-five-degree weather, only one of us wrapped in a coat. I wait for the warning bells to kick in, for my brain to register that I’m basically alone out here in the dark with some random guy I hardly know, but they never come. Maybe because what’s waiting inside that frat house is way scarier to me than the giant of a human beside me.
“Shall we?” he asks, tipping his head toward the houses down the street. “Pike is the fifth on the right.”
Sighing, I mutter a very unconvincing, "Sure."
What choice do you have at this point?
“So, who are we looking for again?” he asks, after we walk for a bit.
“My roommate, Ava.” I halt in my tracks and look at him. “You really don’t have to do this. It’s stupid.”
“You know what’s stupid? Me, Kaden, and Ben were going to go back to the house and continue our re-watch ofGame of Thrones.That’swhat’s stupid, especially considering the ending.This,” he gestures around, “is not stupid. How else are you goingto get into your apartment?” I search for an answer and come up empty. “Exactly.”
“It’s just…you barely know me,” I mutter.
And I barely know you,is what I don’t say.
“You’re right. I barely know you. Except for your major and your hobbies and your insecurities and your fears and how you’d spend your last twenty-four hours on this earth eating mac and cheese, alone?—”
“Okay, okay,” I cut him off. Even in the cold, my face warms at the reminder of my pathetic answers. When we start walking again, I peek up at him out of the corner of my eye and find him smirking playfully at me. My shoulders relax an inch.
