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Music from Greek Row penetrated her words. “I don’t blame you,” I replied, tilting my head toward the row of trees separating the infamous street from the bike trail.
“It’s not all bad over there. Just... loud. It was fun when I was in my undergrad but now...” She tapered off and shrugged, adjusting the weight of the three textbooks she carried. “I’m thinking about moving, actually, over fall break. Jessica lives in one of the graduate dorms and said there was a unit opening up in her building.” Her eyes creased as she smiled. “It’s a studio, but I’d be closer to the library.”
She’d be closer to faculty housing, too, not that that mattered. “I think that’d be great for you, especially next semester while you’re working on your thesis.”
She frowned at that. “Don’t remind me. I haven’t even started it.”
We started walking toward the center of campus toward the fork in the path that led to either the library or faculty housing and the dorms. After a few minutes of silence, she stopped and looked up at me. “Are you doing anything over fall break?”
“I’ll be here, I suppose.” Fall break was only ten days long. Most students and the faculty members with family who lived off campus would leave to go celebrate Thanksgiving with their families. I assumed Whitney would as well, but when I mentioned I’d be here, her eyes seemed to light up.
“Me too.”
“You’re not going home for fall break?”
“Fortunately, no.” She didn’t go into the details about why, and her expression didn’t give me any clues to the truth of the matter, either. “Maybe I’ll see you around.”
“I’m sure you will. We’ll be some of the only people on campus.”
A heavy, electric tension settled between us, something that reminded me of the moment she’d asked me to kiss her and I almost had. I regretted not kissing her. I thought about kissing her right now, actually, in the center of campus still crawling with students either looking for entertainment or a quiet place to study.
Her eyes dropping to my lips confirmed she’d been thinking about it, too.
“I’m sorry about the other night,” she whispered.
“Don’t be. Nothing happened.” It should have. I should have kissed her, tangled my fingers in her hair, and kissed her like I’d been fantasizing about since the moment I saw her for the first time.
“I was drunk. I had far too much to drink at the bookshop.”
“I—I have your books at my house. Everything you won playing cards.”
The charged spell broke, and part of me felt glad that it had. Whitney, too, looked relieved. She took a step back, turning toward the trail leading to the library. “We should get coffee during the break. That’s... that’s appropriate, right? You could give me all my winnings then.”
“I’d love to,” I said with hesitation.
She smiled softly, then turned and walked away. I waited until she reached the library steps before I continued my walk home.
I WOKE IN THE PRE-DAWN hours of the morning with a jolt. I glanced at my watch, seeing it wasn’t even five in the morning yet. Rubbing my hands over my face, I sat on the edge of my bed and stared blanky at the door leading out of my snug, stone-walled bedroom into the living room. The outline of the couch was just visible in the dim, yellow light coming from the kitchen area. It was a small house with a wood burning stove and just enough room for a couch and a bookshelf along one wall, but that was pretty much it.
The bedroom was even smaller with a dresser and a full-sized bed I barely fit in tucked up against one of the walls. The single window frosted over during the night, and through the icy glass panes I could see flickers of snow falling.
November already.
I got out of bed knowing I wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep. It had taken me ages to fall asleep last night, and it was all because of Whitney. Something about her had me transfixed, and it was a feeling I couldn’t shake. I couldn’t bring myself to lie in bed and go over every conversation I’d ever had with her, so I changed into running gear and pulled on a sweatshirt.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t had crushes before. I’d dated and thought I’d fallen in love a time or two, but being out in the field and jetting across the globe on research projects hadn’t been the best in terms of carrying on relationships.
Still, I’d never had this kind of magnetic attraction before. This was new, and dangerous if either of us acted on it.
I was under the impression Whitney might feel the same way, especially after the other night. She didn’t strike me as someone who just entered into flings or tried her luck with a professor for the thrill of it. No, she was different. Every decision she made was calculated and sure.
Which is why I had no idea why she was with Christian Brockford.
I put my headphones in and started out on a brisk run. I ran harder than I’d set out to do, and soon I’d done my first lap around the entirety of campus without realizing it. The trails and sidewalks were slick with ice and a fine, powder-like dusting of snow as I finished a second lap and decided to cut through the quiet residential streets that butted up against campus and the town of Gatlington.
I ended up a little lost, unaccustomed to the area, and cut through thicket of trees thinking the bike trial was directly behind it.
Instead, I found myself on Greek Row.
