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“Yeah? How many siblings do you have?” he asked, genuine curiosity shining in his blue eyes.
“Only one, but my mom has only been a waitress my entire life, so we didn’t have a ton of money growing up.”
“No dad?”he asked, eyeing me speculatively.
I shook my head. “Not that I can remember.”
He nodded his head gravely. “Well, don’t feel bad. Sometimes having a dad isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It might be a blessing that your dad took off.”
I was oddly touched by Drew’s words, especially considering some of the role models in fatherhood I’d witnessed in the last couple of years—specifically Nikolai’s crazy father, Yuri, and his second in command, Sergei, who sold his daughter, Katya, to Yuri.
Jesus, maybe I was lucky I didn’t have a dad.
My phone beeped with a text notification. I looked at the screen hopefully, but it was only a text from a group with Hannah, Katya, and Anya.
“Your boyfriend?” Drew asked.
I smiled. “Nope. Girls thread.”
“How long have you been dating him?” he asked.
“Not long. Since the end of summer,” I replied courteously, but I wasn’t really interested in trying to explain the confusing nature of my relationship with Ivan. “How are you doing on your essay for English Comp?” I asked.
“Oh, fine. I think Laney is going to help me with it.”
“That’s really nice of her. You guys make a great couple,” I said for lack of anything better to say.
“You think?” he asked with a sheepish grin.
“Sure, you don’t think so?” I asked, surprised that Drew seemed so insecure.
He looked at me intently for a moment, as if performing some internal assessment, then smiled gently. “I think her ideal boyfriend exists in a romance novel. It can be hard to live up to. I think she’d have us married tomorrow, if she could. Sometimes, that freaks me out. I mean, I doubt you’re ready to march down the aisle with your boyfriend, right?”
“Well, no, of course not,” I said, once again lying through my teeth in order to not look completely pathetic. I didn’t know if I would marry Ivan right now, but if he asked, I definitely wouldn’t say no.
Drew broke out in a wide smile. “Yeah, see, with Delaney, she probably has a China pattern picked out already.”
I laughed at his undoubtedly accurate characterization of Laney. Before I could respond, Delaney flew back into the room. “My mom is so crazy, I swear. She thinks I’m going to be serial murdered if I walk down the hall to the bathroom,” she said, throwing her phone on her bed in exasperation.
I stood up from my desk, suddenly exhausted. “I’m tired guys, sorry,” I said apologetically.
Drew stood and walked over to Laney, his hand gripping her hips. “Maybe I could crash here tonight? I don’t feel like heading back to my place and my class tomorrow is two minutes from here.”
Laney bit her lip in indecision, though she knew my position on this topic. It was a hard no. She darted a quick look to me, and I shook my head. She blew out a breath. “We can’t Drew. It’s not fair to Emmy,” she said, and while I didn’t love that she plopped the blame in my lap, I didn’t care at the moment.
“Doesn’t your boyfriend sleep over?” Drew asked, frowning. He seemed genuinely surprised.
“Of course not,” I said emphatically, probably sounding like a Victorian dowager, when the real reason was because I couldn’t imagine Ivan agreeing to a sleepover.
I couldn’t even get him to kiss me right now.
Drew seemed pacified with that answer, that it wasn’t just him, but a policy between me and Delaney.
“But you know what? Maybe I could move in with you next semester,” Delaney suggested excitedly.
I rolled my eyes. Good lord, Laney. You’d been dating this guy for two months and you’re suggesting moving in together? Now I kind of understood what Drew was saying before.
He gave Delaney an indulgent smile as he headed for the door. “Yeah, maybe.”
