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“She’s halfway in love with you. And the last thing you should do is lead her on. You can’t flirt with her like you do with other women, okay? She thinks flirting means you’re interested. She’s seriously naïve.”
“Look at you, all worried about your roommate. I thought you weren’t friends?”
“We aren’t. But I don’t want to see her hurt, either. Because I’ll be the one who has to listen to her cry for the rest of the semester if you break her heart. She thinks you like her, Eli, and she wants to be your girlfriend.”
He starts to laugh, but when he sees the serious look on my face, stops abruptly. “Yeah, I don’t do the girlfriend thing.”
“No kidding. She doesn’t care, because she’s hellbent on making you her boyfriend. You need to rethink how you interact with her. She’s oblivious to a lot of things.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Anyway, this is my dorm.” I nod toward the building ahead of us.
He walks me to the double doors, and we stand there awkwardly for a few seconds.
“Are you going to be okay?” he asks.
“Sure, I’ll be great. Right after I finish plotting Linc’s murder.”
He laughs. “Yeah, well, get in line.”
“Thanks for walking me home,” I say reluctantly. He’s studying me with those big brown eyes, and I’m not sure what else to say.
“Well, friends look out for each other, right? No need to thank me.”
Wait,whatdid he just say?
“Oh, so we’re friends now?”
He grins. “Sure. I’m only friends with fucking cool chicks who aren’t ugly, you know?”
“Uh-huh.” I roll my eyes. “Goodnight, Eli.”
“Goodnight, super cute Holland,” he says with a wink. “I’ll see you in class.”
As I make my way up the stairs toward my dorm, I can only shake my head. What a weird fucking night.
Even though I don’t want to admit it, he’d made a terrible situation a lot better. And he was the only one who followed me out of the diner to make sure I was okay. The only one who tried to make me feel better and walked me home.
It was a classy thing to do, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me a little swoony. Especially when he told me I was super cute.
Hmm.
Friends, indeed.
6
“Psst, Holland!”
Mandi tiptoes through the campus library toward me while I’m busy working at one of the available tables.
Her long, dark hair hangs down around her shoulders, and she’s wearing pink leggings, black boots, and a white sweater. It looks cute on her, but the pink is so bright it’s blinding.
“Hey,” I say, confused. Mandy hates the library with a passion due to her supposed dust allergies, so I’m surprised to see her. “What are you doing here?”
She clutches a stack of white envelopes in her hand as she slides into the chair directly across from me. “Delivering invitations. I’m throwing a Halloween party.”
Mandi hands me an envelope, and I pull out the card. The front is a happy smiling jack o’ lantern, and the glittery orange text proclaims,You’re invited to a spook-tacular party!
