“Okay,” I agree again, following him to the small hall where we’re supposed to place our used dishes.
We walk quietly to the front of the dorm, and he pushes the door open for me, urging me to pass in front of him. I duck under his arm, and he follows me out. There’s a small group of guys jogging up the walkway, and I step to the side to make room, but one of the guys stops short, and the guy behind him bumps into his back. There’s some cursing, but the guy who stopped just ignores it and stares at me.
I know those clear blue eyes. I thought his face was blurry in my head, but the moment I see him, I remember every detail I thought I ignored—short dark lashes, bright eyes, and an easy grin on full lips. My stomach does a flip-flop, and I get that same woozy feeling I had earlier when I was in the auditorium. Could he be the shoulders I saw disappearing behind the curtain and the same guy I almost ran into in English? I stop there because I don’t want to think about how his voice was familiar to me.
A touch on my arm has my thoughts scattering. When I look up, Liam is watching me with a furrowed brow. I don’t have a chance to explain why I stopped and was staring at the other guy, because the other guy comes right over and steals my attention again.
“Twice in one day. And here I thought I was going to have to wait until Wednesday to see you again.” His eyes roam over my face, but it’s his voice that gets me—so familiar yet so foreign to me at the same time.
My tongue is glued to the roof of my mouth. I have no idea what to say to him, and I can feel Liam’s eyes on the side of my face as if he’s waiting too. I have the urge to run again, but then I really would look crazy, and that’s something I would like to avoid.
“Did you want me to walk with you?” Liam finally says, breaking the stare off between the other guy and me.
“Where are you headed?” the voice asks.
“Home,” I tell him without reservation.
His blue eyes finally leave my face, and he meets Liam’s gaze. I watch the two of them size each other up the way guys do for just a blink of an eye before he says, “I’m Gravlin.” My stomach does that funny summersault again. It’s part nerves, part I don’t know what.
“Oz Gravlin?” Liam asks as his lips curl up in a grin.
Oh man, he and the TA must be brothers, that’s the only explanation that makes sense.
“Yeah. And you are?” he inquires with his head tilted to the side as if he’s surprised he knew his name.
“Liam. I caught your game in Bloomfield. You guys had a fantastic night.”
Gravlin is smiling now too. “You guys can go,” he hollers over his shoulder to his friends waiting a few feet away.
I take one small step back, thinking this will be the perfect time to escape, but Gravlin pins me with a stare the moment I twitch. “Thanks, man,” he says, but he’s looking dead at me. “Mind if I talk to her about English real quick?” Gravlin gestures to me.
“Oh yeah,” Liam says slowly as if he just remembered I was here. “See you Wednesday?”
“Um,” is all I get out before Gravlin shifts his footing and basically shuts Liam away from us.
“I need to know your name,” he says almost urgently.
“Waylynn Graff,” I answer without hesitation. His mouth moves as if he’s repeating my name, but no sounds emerge. “You’re Gravlin?” I say his name slowly.
“Oswald, but I don’t tell most people that, everyone calls me Oz,” he admits. There’s this stillness around us that I can’t fully describe, but it feels significant.
“I’m sorry I almost ran into you,” I tell him when I can’t think of anything else to say. The way we’re just staring at each other is starting to feel strange.
“I’m only sorry you left. My brother can be a dick,” he replies, confirming my suspicions.
I wince. “I think he knows I bumped into him. I swear it was an accident, and I did say sorry.” The confession flies from my lips.
“Have we met before?” he asks, and I’m not even sure he was listening to me explain about his brother.
“No, but I know what you mean.”
“Gravlin, we’ve got to go,” a guy yells near the dorm doors.
“Do you live here?” he questions hurriedly.
“No, I’m over by Hill.”
“Yo, Oz,” the guy calls more urgently.
