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“It’s okay. It’s just ten minutes from here.”
“Yeah, and it’s on my way.” I was lying, but she didn’t need to know that. I just couldn’t bear the thought of her walking home in the dark.
“Fine,” She grumbled, but didn’t slow. In fact, she sped up, so I was walking behind her, trying to keep up. All that progress we made seemed to disintegrate when we weren’t in the comfort of that little study corner.
It was quiet on campus for a Friday night, but as we were nearing the end of the semester, people were opting to party off campus. As we got closer to the housing section on campus, it livened up, and I noticed the glares of guys as Aster walked past, which immediately stopped when they saw me walking behind.
Aster ignored every single one of them. She just strolled past with her head held high. That was until we were standing outside Alpha Delta Theta’s Sorority’s house. It was a warm, borderline hot night in California, so the party there was spilling out into the street. Music played, and people were laughing. Everyone except Aster, who was just staring at the house, emotionlessly.
“That’s the sorority you’re rushing with, right?”
“Not rushing. I missed out on that. My mom is trying to get me in through some loophole because she was president when she attended Covey.”
“No way your mom was president of Alpha Delta Theta?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?” Her shoulders shifted in a surefire sign that I’d ticked her off again. And here we were, back to square one.
I raised my hands and took a step back. “Woah, I didn’t mean anything by it. I just meant that I thought your mom would be like you. Too determined and focused to worry about things like that.”
“Yeah, well, I think the sorority has changed over the last few years. They were apparently very focused on the community when she was a member. I should have been there tonight. I received an email asking me to go, and I know they’ll ask questions next time they see me.”
“Then why don’t you?”
“Because I was busy working with you.”
“Would you have gone if you weren’t tutoring me?”
“No.”
“Then don’t use me as an excuse. If you really want to join, you should go.”
She blew out a breath. “Yeah, no.”
“Why not?”
“My ex will probably be there.”
“Your ex?” I raised my brow and was confused about the unsettled feeling in my stomach. I didn’t know why I cared, but maybe it was my protective nature coming out. “Who’s your ex?”
She rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath, but I think she was more annoyed at herself than anything. She was the one that mentioned her ex, after all. “Connor McKibbon.”
That name sounded familiar, and then it suddenly clicked. “The hockey coach’s son?” She nodded with her eyes closed. “I thought you said you hated athletes?”
“I did,” She stressed, her voice reaching a pitch only dogs could hear. “I do.” Then she looked at me and probably registered my offense. “I mean I don’t. Urgh, I can’t speak when you look at me like that.”
“Like what?” I was holding back the smirk that was threatening to grow across my face, because it suddenly hit me. Maybe she was as affected by me as I was with her.
“Like you want to reach inside my eyeballs and stir my soul up.”
“I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be a compliment or not.”
“It’s not.” She shook her head. “Anyway, I better go.”
As she tried to walk past me, I grabbed her arm, and she stopped, glared down at my hand before looking up at me when she realized I wasn’t going to let go. “Let me take you to that party.”
“Huh?”
“For five minutes. Let’s walk into that party with your hand in mine, and show Connor, and Rachel and all those other people in there that you upgraded.”
