The minute Leti is out of sight, my shoulders slump and I feel like a ton of bricks has just collapsed on top of me. I don’t know where Adam disappeared to, but I hurry across the campus lawn like there’s a sniper creeping on the rooftops trying to trap me in his sights. My eyes are everywhere, and my frantic heartbeat doesn’t slow until I’ve dipped into Hoffman Hall, climbed the stairs, and am turning into Room 204.
“Ro!” Dee calls my name from the back, but I’m still in such a daze, I barely make eye contact before I slump into a chair beside her. This room is more traditional, with rows of small desks in front of a whiteboard. “How was your first class?!” Her excitement splashes me in the face, pulling me out of my own head.
“It was . . . interesting. I think I made a new friend. What about you?”
She starts rambling about the hot guy who sat next to her in biology. I nod and smile, smile and nod, add in an “oh” or a “wow” or a “that’s awesome” every now and then. When our speech professor walks in and starts the lecture, I am beyond relieved. My brain is too full. Too full of Adam and . . . Adam. Oh, God.
Dr. V is much nicer than Dr. Pullman. She starts the class by asking us to tell the class our names, our majors, and something interesting about ourselves. When it’s my turn, I’ve been too busy thinking about that girl’s fingers in Adam’s hair to come up with anything.
I stand up. “My name is Rowan Michaels. I haven’t decided on a major yet, but I’m thinking of language studies. And, um . . . something interesting . . .” I’m completely tongue-tied as the pause stretches awkwardly on. “Um . . .”
Oh my God, I’m totally blank! Something interesting, about me? There’s nothing! I made out with Adam Everest on his tour bus last weekend would be totally inappropriate, but I can’t think of anything else!
“And she can fit eleven marshmallows in her mouth at once!” Dee shouts to fill the horrific silence. She’s referring to the time we were sitting around a campfire with a group of friends, all trying to see who could stuff the most marshmallows in their mouth. I won by a landslide. When my loud laughter was muffled by all the marshmallows in my cheeks, everyone completely lost it. We all laughed hysterically until we were drowning in tears. Dee laughed like a hyena until she fell off her lawn chair, which made me laugh so hard I almost choked on a marshmallow.
The class laughs as Dr. V gives me an appreciative smile. “That’s quite the talent, Rowan.”
My cheeks are flush with embarrassment when I finally take my seat, fighting the urge to hide my face in my hands. Dee gives me a half smile and shrugs her shoulders, and I shake my head at myself, pressing the heel of my palm against my forehead. So much for first impressions.
When class ends, I’m done for the day, so I walk directly back to Dee’s dorm and flop face-first onto her mattress. She has one class left and then we’re going to meet back here to figure out dinner plans.
I want to tell her about Adam so freaking badly. But I just don’t think she’d be the best person to give me any advice. She’s still trying to convince me to light Brady’s car on fire or replace all of his shampoo with . . . well, that conversation is just not one I want to commit to long-term memory.
When she bursts through the door an hour and half later, she hops onto the bed, making me bounce. “I love college!”
“Told you you would.” I’m glad to see her so happy. She’s been waiting for this day since before I can remember, and if I’m being honest, I had been a little worried it wouldn’t meet her expectations. For once, I’m glad I was wrong.
Macy is sitting on her own bed in the opposite corner, a laptop on her lap. She looks up from it and asks, “Did you like your classes, Deandra?”
Dee freezes, eyes wide with shock that Macy is attempting to converse. In person. With a fellow human. “Yeah, I did, Mace. What about you?” Dee shoots an “oh my God” glance at me out of the corner of her eye, but I pretend not to notice and wait for Macy to reply.
“They were alright, I suppose.”
“What are you taking?” I ask.
And that’s how I lure Macy into a conversation that ends with me insisting she come to dinner with us. At a diner downtown—since Dee insists the food on campus tastes like feet—Dee rattles on like Macy isn’t even there, so I guess she isn’t put off by me inviting an extra wheel. Macy sits at the table silently nibbling on some fries. She’s small and skinny, with straight black hair, a pale face, and eyes a little too large and dark for her face. But she has a friendly smile, and I find myself wanting to help her come out of her shell a little.
“So there’s this guy in my class,” I say. “His name’s Leti.”
“Oooh,” Dee says. “Is he hot?”
“He’s . . . he’s definitely something.” I chuckle, and Dee raises an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure you two would love shoe-shopping together, if you know what I’m getting at.”
“A gay friend?! You already made a gay friend?! No fair! I want one!”
I laugh and sip my Coke. “Maybe we should invite him to hang out sometime.”
“We should definitely invite him to hang out sometime!”