“Dorothy?” Jacob whispers in my ear. “TheDorothy? Dude, she’s kinda hot. In a nerdy sort of way.”
I glare at him. “She can hear you.”
Jacob cringes and looks back at Dorothy. “Sorry.”
Fiddling with her fingers, she shrugs. “It’s okay.”
I frown at her. “No, it’s not. You don’t have to be nice to him.”
“Everyone’s nice to me. I’m just that guy,” Jacob defends.
I rake a hand over my face. There’s no helping him. Instead of giving him the attention he wants, I turn it to Dorothy. “I haven’t seen you around campus.”
“Yeah,” she says, clearing her throat. The awkwardness is so thick that Dustin starts chuckling. “I haven’t seen you either.”
I shrug. “Always on the go, I guess.”
She nods. “Me too.”
We stand there for a few unbearable moments, saying nothing, until I ask, “Are you going to class or going home?”
“Home.”
As far as I know, Dorothy is living with her parents. They wanted to keep their daughter close, but she has to have friends on campus, right? Maybe somewhere to escape? Study?
I point behind her. “The parking is over there.”
“Oh,” she says, attempting something that should sound like a giggle but comes out as a distressed goose. “Actually, I came over here hoping to bump into you.”
Dustin elbows the frown off my face by hitting me in the gut. “How long have you been waiting here?” Because she couldn’t have known my class schedule.
“About a half hour,” she admits with a shrug. “I tried yesterday but never saw you.”
“Stalker much?” Jacob murmurs.
I shift to the other foot, ready to be done with the conversation but not sure how to end it. “What did you need from me?”
“I…um.” She looks at Jacob and Dustin. “I was hoping we could talk.”
“About what?”
“The other day, at the golf course.” She pushes hair behind her ear and briefly glances at my feet.
I tense. “What about it?”
“Golf course?” Jacob asks. “You went golfing without me?”
“No, we never went golfing,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“We?” Jacob fully turns to me and Dustin. “You both went?”
Dustin laughs. “It’s not what you think, but it’s one hell of a story. I’ll tell you later.”
“Thanks, guys,” I grumble under my breath. “Ignore them,” I add to Dorothy.
She flicks her gaze back to mine. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry about our parents. I hope that…I hope they weren’t too pushy with you.”
“You and I both know that they were.”
