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Unless he found something else to focus on when the time came. But what?
He stood struggling to keep his balance.
If he was being honest with himself, he already knew nothing would let him forget about Blondie. What he really wanted, more than anything was to find her. Try again. And maybe he would.
Before he could do that he had to get better.
But first, he had to pee.
Chapter 12
After being holed up all weekend in her dorm room, food stores were running low. And as much as Katie would have loved to live off marshmallows and pretzels, she needed something more substantial in her stomach.
Most of the people on her floor had already left for their own spring breaks on Saturday and Sunday. Only Stephanie had waited until today.
No one would have believed Katie if she'd told them why Stephanie had stuck around. She wasn't entirely sure she believed it herself. Knowing her own luck, if Katie had dialed a wrong number, she probably would have ended up with some cranky old lady on the other line. Stephanie, on the other hand, got prince fucking charming.
Shut up, brain.
Katie couldn't be jealous of Stephanie. It wasn't Stephanie's fault Katie had turned down every opportunity to pursue a relationship. And none of this would have phased Katie if she hadn't just rejected the one guy she'd actually thought could be worth the risk.
Focus, Katie. Focus.
She'd let her brain wander too long. No way would she get any work done unless she gave it a proper break. Maybe a change of scenery. The student union would be dead silent this time of night on a normal day. With most everyone gone it would be deserted. She could grab dinner and a couple more hours of work before getting groceries and circling back to her dorm.
Perfect plan.
The tension she'd been holding in her neck for the last couple of hours eased a bit. She'd always been able to scare away her stress with immediate and attainable goals. Especially if those goals had to do with food or shopping. In this case, both.
With renewed purpose, Katie packed her laptop, charger, notebook, textbooks, and her last bag of marshmallows into her backpack and headed out.
???
The change of venue did the trick. At her current speed, she'd finish her game with time to spare.
Oh. Time.
Katie glanced at the clock in the corner of her laptop screen.
How was it already after ten o'clock? A lot later than she’d expected and she still needed to go shopping.
Katie shoved her stuff into her backpack then slung one strap over her shoulder before pushing her arm through the other.
"Excuse me," someone called out before she stepped into the hallway heading toward the exit.
There hadn't been anyone else in the common area, so it had to have been her they’d called to.
Katie turned back meeting one of the baristas—Kyle—from the cafe. But the cafe had closed hours ago. Before she'd ever arrived.
"Hi," she said. "Everything all right?"
"Sorry," he said. "No problem. Well, unless you count having to call my boss to open the shop so I can get my phone and she's not here yet a problem."
"Oh, shit. That sucks." Katie wasn't sure what that had to do with her but she didn't want to be rude. "Is there something I can help you with? Or…"
"I'm not sure. I've asked about a dozen or so people already but to be honest, I thought all along it was you who I needed to ask. But I haven't seen you in the cafe in over a week."
"Yeah. I've had a lot going on."
