I smiled and rolled my eyes. “Well, lucky for him, he’s about to spend four years there.”
Charlie stayed silent and then admitted that he hadn’t wanted to leave either before returning to our blueprint. But I caught a hint of a smile, the curling of his lips—a secretly proud smile that out of nowhere, made me think of Nick.
Who I found myself walking with to Addison for lunch. “How was dispatch this weekend?” I asked after telling him about the Poconos. “Did your parents check in at all?”
“Yeah,” he replied, zipping up his hockey jacket. “But it was me who called them. Mom, actually. I wanted to talk to her about…” He trailed off.
Emma, I figured. He wanted to tell his mom about Emma.Ouch.I started fiddling with my mittens, feeling awkward. Not that their breakup had anything to do with me, but…
Did it?
Maybe?
Just a little?
Nick changed the subject before I could ask any follow-up questions. “Did Charlie send you that other rotunda picture?” he asked. “Of him and Luke together?”
“Yes.” I nodded, trying to seem upbeat—even though my initial reaction to Charlie’s second Snapchat had been pure jealousy. Seeing him smile so widely and openly with his arms around Luke…well, it made me wish for a picture like that, of me and Nick.If he came with us, I’d thought, sitting on my hotel bed.If he’d come skiing with me…
He wouldn’t have ended things with Emma, I reminded myself, a bounce back in my step.If I’d convinced him to come, Emma would still be in the picture.
But she wasn’t. Not anymore.
“It’s an epic shot,” Nick said as I snuck a peek at him, heart twisting at his handsome face. He dug his iPhone out of his pocket and tapped its screen. “Isn’t it?”
“Oh my god, Nick!” I gasped at Luke and Charlie’s matching grins. “Thatcannotbe your wallpaper!”
“Why not?” he asked. “I ship them.”
I gave him a look. “You ship them?”
“Of course. Luke’s cool and I’ve never seen Charlie that amped…” He paused to gauge my face. “I mean, don’t you?”
“Well, duh!” I glanced around, to see if anyone was eavesdropping. “They’re adorable, but you still have to change it. Charlie wouldfreak the fuckout.” I imagined Nick getting a text notification and someone catching sight of his wallpaper. One of the things I loved about him was that he wasn’t a guy who casually passed his phone around, but you could never be too sure.
We walked wordlessly for the next few yards, past Knowles. “Has he said anything to you?” Nick asked, adjusting his backpack straps. “About telling everyone?”
“No,” I said, and sighed. “No, he hasn’t.”
Nick nodded then swiped into his phone. I stared straight ahead at the dining hall, remembering Luke’s slumped shoulders this morning, until I felt Nick elbow me. “This better?” he asked, and showed me his new wallpaper: the two of us at a Vineyard bonfire, years and years before spin the bottle. Sixth grade, maybe—we both had braces. Wearing fluorescent orange necklaces, we were smiling and holding up freshly toasted marshmallows.
A wave of something suddenly rocked me.I ship them, I thought.I ship those two so much.
“Yes,” I told Nick. “Way better.”
He smiled, white teeth now perfectly straight.
The next day, I texted a still-subdued Luke asking if he wanted to get Pandora’s after track practice.You read my mind, he replied, and was already in our favorite booth when I arrived at the café later. A few open notebooks and his MacBook were keeping him company.
“Hey.” I smiled, taking off my backpack and putting it down on the bench opposite him. “You want anything?”
“Regular coffee, please.”
So after getting him his coffee and me my usual latte, I cut right to the chase: “Did you not have a good time this weekend?”
“What?” Luke’s eyes went wide. “Why would you think that?”
“Because you’ve seemed kinda out of it lately.”
