You and Everything After

“Hey…” he starts to speak, and my body instantly flushes from the piercing stare of his eyes. “I think I met you last night.”

“Yeah, we hung for a bit I think. I got pretty shit-faced,” I say through a nervous laugh. I feel like such a loser, and I have no idea why I’m pretending I don’t remember every second of my time with him last night. He was the first vision in my mind when my alarm went off this morning…and I’ve been daydreaming about his stupid dimples and crystal-blue eyes ever since I first saw them at that burger joint I went to with Paige.

“What was your name?” He’s calling me on my bullshit.

“Cass.” I give in quickly, my secret identity of Adrianna now dead here in a freshman-dorm hallway.

“Cass,” he says, his damned dimples punctuating my one-syllable name as it glides from his smirking lips. “That’s right. I’m Ty.”

I can’t help but admire his arms as he stretches his hand toward me in introduction. They’re strong and toned in a way that screams of discipline, and as much as the girl part of me wants to admire them for the sex symbols they are, the physiology nerd in me wants to study his arms and learn how to make more just like them. I catch Rowe staring, too, and I realize we’ve both been gawking at him like a piece of meat for several seconds now.

“Rowe and I were just heading out to the gym. We were going to stop by a few of the buildings on the way. You know, scout out our classes? Wanna come? You look like you’re heading that way,” Ty says.

I have no idea how he knows Rowe, and I also have no idea where the jealous pang deep in my chest is coming from. All I’m sure of is that I hate the way it’s making me feel, and I’ll be damned if I act out on it and add to my checklist of crazy. “Sure, sounds great,” I say, plastering on a fake smile to hide the twisting feeling in my gut over the thought that maybe Rowe took my place in line for Ty’s attention.

The elevator ride is…awkward. Rowe’s hands are fidgeting together like she’s nervous, and Ty…he’s still grinning. I catch his glance at me, and I keep trying to speak, but every time I open my mouth, my brain shuts down. I’m utterly void of anything clever, funny, or interesting. God, why did I even get up this morning?

By the time we get outside, Rowe’s grip on my arm is so tight, it’s turning into a tourniquet. “Hey, are you…okay?” I whisper in her ear.

“Sorry,” she says, letting go of my arm, realizing exactly how hard she was squeezing me. “Not good with strangers.”

“You don’t really know him?” I ask, my nerves inching up another tick. Ty is a few feet ahead of us on the main walkway, but I swear he’s trying to listen to our whispering. His head is tilted just enough—it’s the same tell I have when I’m dropping in on someone’s business.

“Just met him this morning,” Rowe says, her arms stretched out on either side, her face panicked. Now I’m really curious why he was talking to her in the first place, and I can’t help but wonder if he knew she was my roommate—goddamned stupid hope and heart. I grab her arm again and tug her forward with me so we can catch up.

“So, ladies, where are you from?” Ty asks, and I catch his eyes start at my legs and work their way up to my face. The attention is intense, but I like it. This is way better than that jealous feeling I had a few minutes ago.

“My sister and I are from Burbank,” I say, and immediately I can tell he’s trying to see the relationship between Rowe and me. Rowe clears it up quickly though, explaining we aren’t sisters. Then, they’re both looking at me a bit puzzled.

“My sister’s our other roommate. You met her last night, too. Paige?” It hits me suddenly that Paige and I never really mentioned this to Rowe, and her reaction is priceless. She stops short of calling my sister a bitch—not that it wouldn’t be accurate, or at least partially accurate—so I make her feel a little better by calling Paige’s bitchiness out for her.

“I’m from Louisiana originally,” Ty says, and suddenly the honey-glaze accent that smolders from his mouth comes together like a gorgeous puzzle. “I’m in grad school, but my brother’s a freshman. We thought it’d be cool to live together, so we both settled on the same school. They have a great business program here, and a hell of a baseball team, so it worked out.”

“Nate’s your brother,” Rowe says, and now I’m wondering who the hell Nate is. God, do I hope he’s not the guy Paige was all over last night…for Rowe’s sake.