As if he can feel our eyes on him, he turns my way, and I swear I stop breathing for at least ten full seconds. He notices. His lips draw up in his signature smirk, and I hate how it makes my body tingle, starting right in my toes.
“Holy shit.” Talia elbows me. “I swear he got better looking over break. Looks like he got a few new tattoos, too. God, look at those arms. How can anyone not think that man is hot?”
“Stop it,” I whisper harshly, and not just because I don’t want to hear the details. “He’s going to know we’re talking about him.”
“So what? It’s obvious he has a thing for you.”
I laugh, then grab her arm and drag her toward the food. “He does not. Not even close.”
“Oh, please. Remember last semester when he sat next to you every single class and flirted with you the entire time? Or how about at his last game, when he lookedright at youfrom the ice? He issointo you.”
“First of all…” I pick up a tray, then a bowl I’ll fill with yogurt and way too many sugary toppings. “He wasnotflirting with me.He was just being annoying. Secondly, there were hundreds of students at the game. He could have been looking at anyone.”
“Right. Sure. Which is why he very clearly looked right at you and mouthedHi, Clover. I’m sure there are plenty of other people he calls that.” Sarcasm drips from every word, punctuated by the eye roll she gives me.
“I wish he’d stop it with the whole Clover thing.” But even as I say the words, I don’t mean them. As much as I’m irritated by the nickname, there’s a part of me that loves it.
“You do not,” Talia calls me on my lie as I sprinkle chocolate chips over my yogurt, then move on to the gummy worms. “You think it’s cute, and I think it’s cute too. Even if boys are dumb.”
Dan, the guy with the magical hands, quickly became a thing of the past when, just before Thanksgiving break, Talia started seeing Shawn Hicks, a hockey player. Things wereveryhot and heavy between them, only for him to dump her out of nowhere before the end of the year. We spent most of winter break—including New Year’s Eve—either curled up in my bed or hers as I helped dry her tears.
“You were fun for a while, babe, but it’s just not that serious,”he’d said to her.
Though she won’t admit it, it crushed her, and I had to fight the urge to throw my first ever punch when I saw him the first day back at classes. She’s been in a sour, man-hating mood ever since. Not that I blame her, of course. That guy deserves all the hate and more.
“Still, I think he’s into you,” she insists, grabbing an apple, then tossing it back into the bin with a grimace.
While my tray is stacked with a yogurt parfait—or at least my version of one—half a turkey club sandwich, and a bag of pretzels, she has just a pack of Oreos and peanut butter on hers.
I frown down at Talia’s mostly empty tray as we reach the end. “Is that all you’re getting?”
She shrugs. “Not really that hungry.”
I want to tell her that’s the same excuse she used last night when I microwaved us noodles during our study break, but I don’t have the chance to before she barrels on.
“He’sstilllooking over here, just so you know.”
“Stop it. He is not,” I say, but I find myself peeking in his direction anyway.
Talia is right—Callum is looking over here. Not justover here, either. He’s looking right. At. Me.
I snap my gaze away. “Probably because you’re staring at him, so stop it.”
“He’s staring because he wantsyouto stare back. Because he likes you.” She sings the wordlike, and the guy in line in front of us turns around, brows crinkled together.
I give him a tight smile, then shoot a dirty look at Talia. “He’s really not, so can we drop it.Please?”
She must hear the desperation in my voice because she sighs and nods. “All right. Consider it dropped. But wewillbe finishing this conversation in our room later.”
I accept her answer, though I have no plans of doing so, and we continue shuffling through the line. I finish my tray off by grabbing a chocolate pudding pack for later, a bottle of water, and an apple juice before we make our way to the checkout.
“Thanks,” I say with a smile as the cashier hands me back my student ID. I wait for Talia as she runs her card, then I turn to her. “Where do you want to sit?”
“How about over by the windows?”
It sounds like an innocuous suggestion, but it’s far from it.
“That’s where Callum is.”
