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Lennox followed him out and locked the door behind them, but Auden’s mind was already looping over the things Len had said. Hehadwanted to do more with O’Neal that day in the kitchen—things that O’Neal probably didn’t even know existed—and that made him feel like an asshole all over again. He needed to apologize. And now he was going to have to do it with Len there.
Auden was quiet the whole drive over, trying to put together what he would say. When they got to the dorm, the parking lot was packed, and it took them longer to find a spot than he’d planned. He was already running late, and O’Neal was probably melting in the southern sun waiting for him. He turned off the engine and pulled out his phone to text her.
Auden: Here. Still meeting by the bench?
She replied instantly with a thumbs up.
“Come on.” He grabbed his backpack, and Lennox followed him to the lawn in front of the dorm. It looked like an anthill had been kicked over, people everywhere, boxes in random places, people shouting at each other. He didn’t miss living on campus. At all.
Lennox fell into step beside him. “I remember when we did this your freshman year.” He put his hand over his heart. “The horrified look on your face when you saw I was your roommate is one of my fondest memories.”
Auden snorted. “I remember my mom pulling me aside to make sure you were really a freshman because how could an eighteen-year-old kid already have a half sleeve of tattoos? When I told her you were a year ahead of me, you’d think I’d told her you were an alien.”
“Now she loves me,” he said with a grin.
“Because you bribe her with art.”
He shrugged. “Bribery works.”
Lennox was an art major and had started sending his poetry-loving mother pen and ink drawings inspired by famous poems. It’d worked like magic with his mom, and it’d also inspired Lennox. Some of the lines from W.H. Auden’s “Lullaby” were now etched into his skin in the new tattoo.
“Left side of the building,” Auden said, pointing. “Look for a brunette.”
You’ll know the one.For some reason, he had no doubt Lennox would spot her even if he’d never met her before. Something about O’Neal made you want to look…and linger—which Auden absolutely shouldn’t be thinking about right now.
They weaved their way through the milling crowd and rounded the side of the building. Auden tensed when he saw O’Neal sitting there all alone. Her knees were pulled up to her chest. She was looking down at her phone, scrolling through something. Her dark brown hair was piled into a messy bun, and her entire posture was curled inward like she was fighting off outside invaders. Like an Alice who’d fallen into the rabbit hole and didn’t want to look around to see where she’d landed.
“That’s her, isn’t it?” Lennox asked, keeping his voice low.
Auden swallowed past the knot in his throat. “Yeah.”
“She looks like she’s trying to disappear,” Len said, a frown in his voice.
O’Neal looked up then, her lips twitching into a tentative smile when she spotted Auden. She lifted her hand in a little wave and put her feet on the ground.
Auden raised his hand in response and picked up the pace.
“Fuck, man,” Lennox said under his breath as he kept stride next to him. “Now I know how you got yourself in trouble. She’s—”
“Off-limits,” he repeated.
“I know, I know. I’m nothing if not a man of my word,” he said quickly. “Besides, it’s not me she’s smiling at.”
Auden’s shoulders relaxed a little. Len was a wild card and could be a handful, but he was right. He’d never broken his word to Auden.
When they got close enough, O’Neal stood, hugging her elbows like she was cold. “Hey.”
Auden smiled back as he took her in with her loose white T-shirt and army green shorts. If he’d hoped that his attraction to her that day in the kitchen had been a fluke, his hopes were dashed immediately. If anything, she was even more beautiful now. Bright blue eyes, glossed lips, and legs that seemed to go on for miles.
“Hey, Shaq.”
She frowned.
“Sorry,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’m not supposed to call you that anymore.” He stepped forward and gave her a quick, totally platonic, no-chests-touching hug. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Me neither,” she said, her voice a little shaky.
Auden jutted a thumb toward Len. “This is Lennox, my roommate. He offered to help too. Len, this is O’Neal, my sister’s friend.”
