“Careless? This weekend?” I massaged my aching leg.
Corey’s face went stony. “I’d rather not talk about it, okay? I know you just did me a huge favor, but…” she shook her head.
“Alright. I’m just saying that we could have come back a day early. You only had to say…”
She cut me off. “I didn’t want to, Hartley. I’m not fragile!” The look on her face just cut me. She looked vulnerable, and miserable about it.
“That’s not the way it is, Callahan.” I grabbed her hands and rolled her closer to me, until our knees touched. “The thing is, we’re all fragile. It’s just that most of our friends are lucky enough not to know it yet.”
Her eyes blinked against exhaustion, and I wondered if she might cry. But not Corey. Not my blue-eyed fighter, the girl who dreamed of skating every night, but always had something positive to say. She humbled me every fucking day.
I tugged on her hands again, leaning forward until I could get her into an awkward hug. I don’t know if she needed one, but I sure did.
With her chin on my shoulder, she swallowed hard. “Thanks for springing me from jail, Hartley.”
“Any time, beautiful. Now let’s go home.”
Chapter Twelve: First-Rate Hooch
— Corey
On the first day of December, snow fell past the windows as I crutched through the dining hall. I’d been trying to spend more time on my feet, but it made everything harder. Dana waited for me at the end of a long table, where Hartley, Bridger, Fairfax, and a few others were tucking into hamburgers. When I sat down, she passed me my plate.
“Thanks,” I said.
“No biggie.” She ate a French fry. “How’s the studying going?” Classes had ended, and exams were about to begin.
“Not bad,” I said. “I have three take-home exams and then econ. I think I’m getting off easy.”
“I’m worried about Japanese,” Dana said, her cute nose wrinkling.
“But Dana, you speak Japanese.”
“Not as well as the professor thinks I should. And he’s such a tool. He makes everything more stressful than it should be.”
Down the table, Bridger poked Harley in the arm. “Did you tell Fairfax about the birthday present you got today?”
“Is it this week?” Fairfax asked. “Where’s the party? Are we making you do twenty-one shots?”
I raised my head. Hartley’s birthday was this week? I would need to find a gift. Of course, there was no way to top the gag gift he’d given me. Mine would have to be something more conventional.
“I don’t think any of us are invited to Hartley’s birthday,” Bridger answered. “Tell ‘em, dude.”
Hartley shook his head. “The package store delivered a bottle of champagne to me. You know, the kind that costs the GDP of a developing nation?”
“So, Stacia’s back in town,” Fairfax said.
Hartley pointed his finger like a gun at him. “Bingo. The note said: Dear Hartley, put this on ice, I’ll be there for your big day.”
My stomach dropped.
“Big day,” Bridger grinned. “Dude, you’re going to get spectacularly laid.”
Hartley shrugged. “The bookies should be careful with their odds. She’s been even flakier than usual lately.”
“She’ll turn up,” Bridger theorized. “She sent the bubbly.”
“Tell her you’re drinking it whether she shows up or not,” Fairfax suggested.
“Of course I’m drinking it,” Hartley said. “That goes without saying.”
As it happened, Hartley’s birthday fell on the Saturday before exams began. Dana and I spent the day studying in the cozy little Beaumont library. Harkness College had a seemingly infinite number of places to study. You could visit a different library every day, and not repeat for more than a month.
But even I wasn’t geeky enough to hit the books again after dinner.
“What are you up to tonight?” Dana asked carefully, fishing earrings out of her jewelry box.
“Um, watching TV?” I didn’t need to point out that my pal Hartley was unavailable for video games. But it wasn’t like there was anything else to do. During exams, the social activities ground to a halt.
“You could come with me,” Dana offered.
I laughed at the suggestion. Dana was on her way out to hear a portion of the English department’s all night reading of James Joyce’s Ulysses. If that didn’t showcase the nerdiness that was Harkness College during exam week, then nothing did. “But I’m not even taking that course! Do they hand out big L-shaped stickers at the door, to paste on your foreheads?”
She gave me an eye roll. “That’s not nice, Corey. I just don’t like to think of you sitting here alone tonight.”