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You keep stealing your brother’s bike, he might lash out.

Then I’ll have to keep riding it until it’s not his anymore.

I can’t stop replaying his words, but I’m here to win an internship and carve out a spot in this world.

The second race is just over a week away, and exams are looming, so we head to the library to study during our hour off.

We get settled around a table with our laptops and books. The place is overrun with engineers, all trying to absorb the impossibly comprehensive information covered by our classes.

“You really have to learn all that?” a voice murmurs by my ear.

I jump. “You need a bell.”

Theo grins, dragging a chair next to mine and straddling it. “That takes all the fun out of sneaking up on people.”

Megan lifts her phone and snaps a picture.

“What?” Theo asks.

“Documenting a rare sighting of a driver in the library.”

Theo wads up a sheet of paper from the table and tosses it at her.

“Those were my notes!” Raj protests.

Theo ignores him and bends closer to me. “I haven’t seen you since the race.”

I twist the cap on my water bottle, noticing it’s empty. “I know.”

I push back from the table and stand, heading for the fountain on the wall tucked between two rows of stacks. He follows, leaning against the wall like he belongs there. “I thought we had something, New Girl.”

The honesty in his voice throws me. “We did. Do. I just think we’re better off as friends.”

“Because you’re allergic to distractions?”

“Because I’m kind of…in it with someone right now.”

His smile falters. “If you’re talking about Jamie, don’t get sucked in by that brooding, self-sacrificing act. My brother isn’t boyfriend material.”

I fill my bottle and screw the cap back on. “I didn’t know that’s what I was looking for.” I look him up and down. “Are you auditioning for the part?”

“For the right girl.”

My chest tightens at the earnestness in his voice.

“I just don’t want to see you get hurt,” he adds.

My phone buzzes in my pocket. I glance down at it, careful not to tilt the screen too far toward Theo.

Jameson: You look like you need a break.

My head snaps up.

I scan the library. No sign of him at any of the tables.

Then I see him.

Through the windows beyond the far side of the stacks. He’s outside, his face just visible, but he’s mostly hidden from the tables where everyone is studying.