“Tryallof the time. What building do you live in?” Gravlin asks, his eyes slightly squinted.
“Um…”
“I’m not going to show up at your door,” he says when I hesitate.
I shake my head quickly. “No, I didn’t think… I mean, you could come over if you wanted.” I catch myself as I continue to ramble and take a deep breath. “It’s just, I don’t live in a building. I have a house,” I admit the last part softly. I’m not ashamed, I just don’t want them to think I’m bragging either.
Both guys look at each other for a long second. “You live by yourself?” Gravlin asks skeptically.
“Yeah,” I admit, wondering what they are going to say next.
“You shouldn’t be telling people that,” comes Gravlin’s quick response.
“Do other people know that? Does that guy from the other day know you live alone? How well do you know him?” Oswald fires off.
“No. No, hedoesn’t, and I just met him,” I answer.
Memphis
Every timeshe opens her mouth, I have more questions. When she said she lived alone, I was curious. I thought maybe she had a shitty little apartment like me in an old building or even rented a room, but she said she has a house. I almost don’t want to believe her, but I don’t think she could lie to me if she wanted to.
Then it dawns on me how valuable that information is, how easily she shared it with us, two near strangers, and how easy it was to get her in my truck, and my mind goes to a completely different place.
Oz’s head works the same way mine does, and he starts asking her questions about a guy I haven’t heard anything about.
“Who are you talking about?” I ask my brother.
“Who is he?” Oz lifts his chin in Waylynn’s direction. It’s clear he’s demanding an answer to our question.
“Um…” She squints her eyes and wrinkles her nose. Her lips slip down into a pretty little pout, and she admits, “I can’t remember his name. He’s in my math class.” I thought she was just stalling, but again, I believe her.
“The south quad isn’t near the math building, and that’s where you guys were.” Oz crosses his arms over his chest.
“We had lunch there.” She takes a few steps forward, bringing us closer to the building. Why does it bother me that she went out to lunch with someone I don’t even know?
“Does he live in my building?” Oz asks like he owns the whole place, even though he barely even stays there.
“No, he told me his dorm name, but I forgot that too.”
“What’s my name and phone number?”
“Oswald Gravlin, 734-344-2100,” she replies without missing a beat.
“So you don’t have a memory issue, he just wasn’t worth remembering.” Oz smiles at her, and she looks down, then tucks a piece of dark hair behind her ear when it falls in her face. She’s shy and sweet as fuck. My dick twitches just like it did when she called me Mr. Gravlin. Oh hell.
Waylynn
My leg startsto bounce under the table. It feels like we’ve been here a while, and I need to get back to school. I don’t want to be late for class, which makes me think about the guy from math. I can’t believe I don’t remember his name.
“What’s wrong?” Gravlin touches my arm to get my attention. His voice is so familiar, it makes me feel like we’ve had this conversation before, but we haven’t.
“I’m trying to decide how crazy that guy is going to think I am when I can’t remember his name and how to tell him I’m full and don’t want to grab food after class.” I probably should have kept that to myself and just told him I was thinking about class, but it’s too late now.
Gravlin’s brows rise. “You’re that convinced he’s going to ask?”
A spike of embarrassment makes my stomach tighten, like he thinks I’m being conceded. “He asked me Monday if I wanted to get food after class again.” I ball up my napkin and push back from the table. “I need to get back to school.”
I notice when Oswald shoots his brother awhat the hellface, but I turn away and pretend I didn’t. “I can meet you after class, and you can tell him we made plans.” He catches up to me at the trash bin.
