Page 24 of All the way home

“Yeah.”

“Did you drive out, then?” Kieran asks. “If you’ve never flown before.”

“Yeah.” Side-stepping a luggage trolley, Zach explains, “My sister has a car, and she road-tripped out with me on her way to Vancouver in September. Even if I was the type to hijack somebody else’s car, I don’t feel like getting stranded in a ditch in Manitoba.”

Truthfully, Zach would probably take being stranded in a ditch over flying, but he’d rather not open a line of inquiry into that. It’d be grand if Kieran could remain blissfully unaware of how awful a driver Zach is for however long their paths cross.

“You said you go to U of C, then?” Kieran gestures at Zach’s hoodie.

“Yeah.” Running his fingers over the embroidered logo, Zach opens his mouth to say something more, and then totally clams up.

What if it goes poorly? What if Kieran gets to know him and thinks he’s a total loser and has to find a polite way to escape? Or worse, what if he’s not polite about it?

The girl Kieran had been with in the security line had been in a university sweatshirt too.

With a tiny sigh of relief, Zach rolls out his shoulders. It’s not like he ever sees Mount Royal kids, so if this goes horrifically, no big deal. He won’t even have to see Kieran ever again.

But he’d better double check just to be sure.

“The girl you were—”

“My sister,” Kieran interjects.

“Right. Your sister—she was in MRU gear.”

“Yeah.” Kieran nods. “She’s in engineering. Chemical.”

“Cool. And what about you?”

Shooting him a small smile, Kieran lifts an eyebrow. “Guesses?”

Oh no. This sort of thing is not Zach’s forte.

“Uh, business?”

Kieran laughs. “What? I’m offended.”

“Sorry?” Wincing a little, Zach says, “Fine. Accounting.”

“Oh God.” Kieran claps a hand against his forehead. “Do I seem like a numbers guy? Tell me what it is about me so I can fix it.”

Torn between mute horror at how bizarrely this whole interaction is going and amusement at Kieran’s melodrama, Zach tries again. “Theatre?”

At least Kieran rewards him with a grin. “It would be a good fit, wouldn’t it?”

Zach’s never met anyone in his life who would be better qualified, but he doesn’t say so. “What is it actually? I give up.”

“Kinesiology.”

Unexpected. Interesting.

Tilting his head, Zach considers him. “Huh.”

“Let me guess yours.” Kieran rubs his hands together, turning to Zach, expression going suddenly so shrewd and analytical it might be a pantomime.

Self-consciousness crawls up his spine. Skin prickling under the intense scrutiny, Zach crosses his arms over his chest.

“You do seem like a numbers guy,” Kieran says.