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Shifting the gear into park, I take a deep breath. The parking lot is shadowed from the rising sun behind the building. I reach into the backseat, grabbing my bubble jacket, putting it on before booking it across two lawns to the Student Center building that houses several restaurants.
As soon as I walk into the café, Logan and Harper wave me over. God, I hate being the fifth wheel.
“Why is the electricity out?” I ask, but no one answers.
Logan shuts his menu. “Does everyone know what they want? I’m starving.”
“You? I’m pregnant and usually eat as soon as my feet hit the ground,” Harper says as she pushes on his biceps.
“Well, Adalee’s feet never hit the ground.” Hagan wiggles his eyebrows and flashes his dimples that help him get whatever he wants.
“That’s not true,” Adalee says, kissing his cheek.
“You two are ridiculous. Do you ever fight? Or are you always so mushy?”
Hagan’s grin doubles. And everyone, including me, stare at those deep dimples. Harper has dimples too, but they’re smaller, more like commas, whereas Hagan’s are like the parenthesis symbol.
“We fight over who’s on top.” Hagan bumps Adalee.
Harper reaches over and covers Hagan’s mouth. “Too. Much. Information.”
I look over the menu, and the waitress stands by me at the edge of the table.
“May I take your order?”
Unsure if I’m imagining the voice from last night, I look up, and our eyes collide. Her face turns ten shades past rosy to the color of fire.
“Brooke, right?” asks Adalee. I think the rest of us are shocked. What are the chances? Fifty thousand people go to this university.
She nods.
“Hey.” We stare until it gets uncomfortable.
Harper thinks she’s jumping to the rescue when she says, “Reed is so hungry. He just got back from pra…”
I kick her shins under the table. “I just went for a run. I’ll have the Slam Dunk and a six pack.”
After everyone orders, and Brooke waits on another table, Harper asks. “Why didn’t you want me to say hockey practice?”
I shrug.
“Maybe because he wants her to think he’s a football player. We get more action.”
Hagan reacts. “Bullshit. Baseball players…”
Adalee gives him the side eye.
“I don’t know if I want her knowing who I am. Scrolling through social media and finding out things about me that won’t give the full story. I don’t know if I’ll even see her again.”
Harper’s eyes twinkle like she’s freaking Santa as she smirks. “You can’t hide from me, Reed Bauer. I know you like her.”
I do like her. I more than like her. Right now, I’m sporting half wood, just seeing her again.
Another waitress accompanies Brooke with all of our plates balanced on their arms. Brooke’s steady hands place each plate in front of us gracefully.
“Anything else I can get you?”
We all shake our heads, but Harper says, “Are you good at English literature?”
