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“Don’t worry, babe.” She laced her arm through mine and tucked herself into my side as if she belonged there. Unease trickled through me. “Stick with me, and I’ll make sure you ace this class.”
“I…”
She had a point. I needed all the help I could get. But letting her help me meant spending more time with her. The very thing I wanted to avoid.
I couldn’t afford to screw up this semester, though.
“Yeah, sounds good,” I said, gently nudging her away.
Sam’s whole face lit up. “Perfect. We can plan a study schedule and get to work right away.”
“Perhaps we should meet at the library or Joe’s.”
Her expression dropped, but she quickly recovered, painting a smile on her face. “Don’t be silly, Noah,” she said. “We can study at my place. We’ll have no distractions there. It’s the perfect solution.”
Fuck. My. Life.
CHAPTER 17
AURORA
Ryan waved when he spotted me.
“Hi,” I said, shucking out of my jacket. “Sorry, I’m late. I got held up.”
I didn’t tell him that Connor had staged a date-rvention after I’d told him that Harper had tracked Ryan down and given him my number. The whole thing had been bizarre, to say the least, culminating in Connor giving me his three golden rules of dating.
Number one: Limit myself to two drinks max—no one liked a white-girl wasted date; Number two: Let the guy order—guys liked to feel important. And number three: Don’t put out on the first date—guys, despite what they said, enjoyed the chase.
Then he’d wished me luck and told me that if I needed bailing out at any point, he could provide an escape plan, no questions asked. I’d almost asked why he was giving me all the dating advice and not my brother—who was nowhere to be seen—but I didn’t. Austin was… Austin. He’d missed me. He wanted to fix things. But he hadn’t really changed.
Noah wasn’t around when Connor waved me off, but I was hardly surprised. He’d made it perfectly clear where we stood the other night.
For the rest of the week, I’d replayed the conversation over and over, trying to dissect it. To read between the lines. But there was no hidden meaning, no secret message. He couldn’t have made it any clearer.
“Noah?”
“Yeah, shortcake?” He looked back at me.
“Why did you kiss me?” I asked with a defiant tilt of my chin.
His expression guttered, and then he said four little words that crushed me.
“It was a mistake.”
“Oh, that’s okay,” Ryan said, pulling me from my thoughts. “I was running late too. Can I get you something to drink?”
“Sure, I’ll have a skinny vanilla latte, please.”
Ryan headed for the line, and I dug my phone out of my purse. I already had three messages.
Harper: I want to know EVERYTHING. Call me as soon as you get home.
I rolled my eyes, not deigning a reply. The other two were from the group chat.
Connor: Remember: two drinks max, let him order, and do not under any circumstance put out on a first date.
Austin: Jesus, Morgan. That’s MY SISTER you’re talking about!!!
