I keep my tone light, and dare I say, a little hopeful. “Maybe another time.”
“Another time,” he echoes as he adjusts his glasses. “I’ll see you Thursday, Olivia.” My name comes out as a purr, and the damn butterflies are now on overdrive.
He walks in the opposite direction, and I watch him for far too long. Since I have the luck of someone who opened an umbrella inside, when he glances back, he catches me staring while I’mstill stuck where he left me. Cheeks hot, I quickly pivot and walk the other way.
It’s most definitely going to be a long semester.
2
Isaac
“You finally talked to her?” Lance laughs, sipping his cinnamon whiskey. How he can drink the stuff is truly beyond me.
The bar is quiet, and I glance around to ensure no one is in earshot. With how today’s luck is going, Olivia will miraculously appear out of thin air and overhear me.
“Yeah, at the coffee shop, and again in class.”
He shakes his head, grinning. “I still can’t believe you’re sticking around for a girl! You could’ve graduated last semester.”
“You know it wasn’t just because of her. I was offered the internship of a lifetime. How could I say no?” I remind him, and take a long pull of my beer. The only way I can remain in the States and do the internship I was offered is with my student visa—this is my only shot. It’s just a bonus that I have one more chance to properly get to know the one woman I’ve been obsessing over for years.
“But why the hell are you taking International Politics?”
“About that,” I sigh. “I may have overheard Olivia telling her friend that she was taking it, and Ethics and Transparency. I got into International Politics, but when I tried to add Ethics, I was waitlisted. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop when class schedules were posted. It just sort of happened.”
“A little ironic that you’re talking about ethics and transparency when you just admitted to listening in on her conversation. Damn, you really do have it bad for this girl.”
I can’t help my smirk. “Only a little.”
There’s something about Olivia that’s always stolen my attention. We’ve had at least one class together for the past three semesters, but I’ve always kept my distance—she’s brilliant and entirely out of my league. To say it’s a crush is putting it mildly. She normally keeps to herself in class, and I loved seeing her speak up today.
While my dating life isn’t as busy as Lance’s, I typically have no problem asking a girl out. Olivia? It’s taken me years to work up the courage to even say hello to her. Now that I’ve finally braved the impossible, I’m desperate to get to know her. I’ll only have a semester, but it’s better than nothing.
“Also,” I hedge, “I may have asked her out for coffee.”
He sputters a cough. “You what?”
“Yeah, I asked her out. Gave her my number and everything.”
“You? Gave Olivia Harris your number? Are you feeling okay? Do you have a fever?” He reaches to check my forehead. “Should I call a doctor?”
“Fuck off.” I huff a laugh, mindlessly peeling the label off my beer. “I’m tired of dating women who are only interested in mebecause of my family or have the personality of an unsalted pretzel.”
“You’re leaving after your internship, right? So how exactly is that going to go? I’d put a hundred bucks on you falling in love with her within a week. You’ll have to break up when it’s over or do the dreaded long distance thing that never works.”
“I know,” I groan. “I had to shoot my shot. It’s not like Olivia will ever—” My phone vibrates on the wood bar. I turn it over, and my heart stops. “Call.”
212-555-9753
I know it’s late, but I just got out of class and was wondering if the offer for coffee still stands.
This is Olivia, by the way.
“Don’t worry too much about it if she doesn’t call,” he offers, his attention fixed on the game playing on the TV behind the bar as I read the text. “I give out my number a hundred times a week and only about a tenth of them text or call me. If it gets weird in class, you can always play it off like you gave it to her as a friend.” I hand him the phone and he takes a moment to read it before chuckling to himself. “No fucking way.”
He passes it back to me, and I save her number before I reply.
Hey. I thought you don’t call boys.
