I’m not expecting an answer and I just want to troll him, but my phone vibrates as I’m slipping it back in my pocket.
Hazen: not stuck and not lost
Hazen: just temporarily detained
Anthony: you’re a dumbass
Hazen: weird way to say thank you for being the only one willing to do the dirty work, but you’re welcome
Anthony: how about you focus on getting out of there and then you can sass me?
Hazen: I would but you texted me so it’s your fault I’m answering
Hazen: now if you’ll excuse me, I have some walls to escape from
I slip my phone into my pocket as I come up on the main gate to the house, but instead of going to the main entrance, I head over to the western side of the building, where there’s an entrance that opens up into the side stairwell. When I get to it, I tap my card on the ID sensor, then pull the door open.
“Jesus!” a voice cries out as I step into the stairwell.
A smirk slides over my lips when I see West standing on the landing between the stairs and the door that leads into the house. “Not quite.”
The twin bangs of both doors closing one after the other are as loud as gunshots in the echoey space, and I arch my eyebrow questioningly when West jumps at both sounds.
“You good?” I ask, a teasing lilt to my voice.
He lets out a shaky laugh and scrubs one hand through his fluffy blond hair. “Yeah. I was just distracted and forgot this is a public stairwell for a second.” He shoots me a wry grin. “You scared the bejesus out of me.”
I motion toward the stairs. “Going up?”
West looks between me and the steps a few times, like he’s trying to remember why he’s here and where he was going, then nods.
I fall into step beside him, making sure to stand close enough that our arms brush with each step.
“You weren’t in class just now,” I say casually.
“Yeah, I wasn’t feeling it today,” he says, his eyes on the floor as we climb the stairs together.
“We got a new assignment.”
He shoots me a surprised look. “We did?”
“Yup.”
“But it’s the last class before the break?” He sounds and looks so confused. “I figured I wouldn’t miss anything important if I skipped today.”
“Don’t worry, you didn’t,” I assure him. “He just told us about the group project we have due after the break.”
He screws up his face like he’s thinking hard about something. “Is that the interview-style one in the syllabus?”
“It is.”
“Aren’t we doing that one in partners?”
I nod.
His thoughtful look melts away and is replaced with panic. “Did he assign them, or did we get to choose? Aren’t there an uneven number of people in that class? How can we do partner projects if there’s an odd number of students?” His eyes widen. “Did I not get a partner because I wasn’t there?”
I bump my arm against his. “Relax. He assigned the partners, and I have no idea if there’s an even or odd number of people in our class, but you weren’t left off the list.”
