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“Interesting,” I said with a nod. “We moved right before my junior year, so that pretty much sucked. It felt good to come back to Illinois.”
“How long have you been back?”
“We moved back last summer, right before I started here.”
“Culture shock?”
“Yeah, sometimes. I think I was the only kid at my school who listened to Snoop or Dre.”
Ruben tilted his head up in a quick nod. “Yo. What were the girls like?”
“Ru!”
Ruben rolled his eyes. “Chill out. You know I look but never touch. C’mon, bro, Norwegian chicks? Are they hot?”
I chuckled. “Some of them, yeah.”
“Leave anyone special behind?” Dahlia asked, and it felt like a rock fell into the pit of my stomach.
Yes, I did. But not in Norway.
“Are you seeing anyone here?”
Ruben cleared his throat and teased her, “You seem awfully interested in his love life.”
She rolled her eyes and pushed on his leg. “Oh, relax. I want to set him up with someone.”
I shook my head. “That’s okay, you don’t have to do that.”
Ruben ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m sure the man has no trouble getting girls.”
“I didn’t say that,” she said, putting her arms up in mock surrender. “I was just thinking it could be fun to hook him up with someone…like Marissa or Jeanine.”
“Jeanine? Please, God, no,” Ruben scoffed, shaking his head. “That girl’s annoying as hell.”
“Ru!”
Ruben looked me square in the eye. “You’ll thank me later.”
“Oh, my God, you’re ridiculous. What about Marissa?”
“Sure. She’s cool.”
“Who’s Marissa?”
“She lives next door to me. Super cute, freshman. I think she’s from Indiana.”
I had to laugh at watching two semi-strangers planning my next date, hook-up, or whatever. Admittedly, I hadn’t dated anyone seriously since starting school at Lurie’s. I’d made out with a couple of girls at parties and took one out for coffee a couple of times, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t constantly looking for Tilly.
I was always looking for Tilly.
She and I had so many plans. The most important being that we’d go to Lurie’s together. Since she was a year ahead of me in school, I’d assumed when I applied for admission that she was already here. But if she did attend Lurie’s, she wasn’t in the phone directory for the dorms. And after six months of living on campus, I hadn’t caught a glimpse of the girl who still haunted my dreams.
Dahlia pulled me from my ruminating thoughts.
“Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Next weekend, we’ll get a group together and have a movie night. I’ll invite Marissa.”
“Here we go,” Ruben said, grabbing his sketch pad. “I take no part in this.”
