“Just the usual. Why do you ask?” I ask carefully.
“Don’t play coy with me, chica. I’ve been to the dorm, and you weren’t there.”
Putting the final cup on the shelf, I close the dishwasher. “Maybe we just missed each other?”
“For five hours straight?”
I shrug. “Stranger things have happened.”
“Yeah, like the fact that you’ve been sneaking around, and nobody knows where you are.”
“Do I need to give you my schedule, Mom?”
She narrows her eyes at me, but continues like I haven’t said anything. “And you know who’s also done a whole lot of missing?” She doesn’t wait for me to answer. “Well, let me tell you. Nixon, that’s who.”
“Really?” I look down, trying to seem inconspicuous. I know I shouldn’t ask, not when she’s already being nosy as fuck, but I can’t help myself. I haven’t seen him or talked to him since I left his house, and I was starting to get worried. I tried to tell myself that no news is good news, and that he was just busy trying to juggle his family and school, but my heart didn’t care. I want to hear his voice. I want to know how they’re all doing, that they’re okay. All of them. “Was he around this week?”
She points her finger at me. “Something is going on, and I’ll figure it out.”
“What happened to letting people come to you once they’re ready?” I ask, putting the glass I’ve been drying on the counter with more force than necessary.
Callie huffs, completely unfazed by my little outburst. “That was before you idiots decided to take your sweet time before fessing up.”
“Look who’s talking!”
Just then, the bell over the door chimes, and customers stroll in, saving Callie from the rest of my tirade. For now, at least.
I take the group’s order and get on fixing their coffees. I’ve been working here since I came to college, and it’s become second nature to me, to the point that if you’d wake me from my sleep, and ask me to make you something, I’d be able to do it half snoozing.
I ring their order in, and off they go. I turn back to my friend sitting at the bar.
“Is there something going on between you and Nixon?”
“What? No.”
She narrows her eyes suspiciously. “That came out too fast.”
“What makes you think…”
“Do you want to dissect that night at the club? Or even better, when you oh-so-casually strolled to the dining hall together?”
“You were drunk the first time, and the second was a pure coincidence.”
“So you keep saying, but there have been way too many coincidences lately, don’t you think?”
“I think you’re being paranoid. That’s what I think.”
“And I think you’re hiding something.”
She’s not wrong. I’m hiding a whole lot of things, not limited to what she thinks she knows I’m hiding. God, this is getting more complicated by the second.
“I’m not sure why you just don’t say it. I think it’s a good thing.”
“What is a good thing?”
“You and Nixon.”
“Callie,” I groan. Inclining my head, I pinch the bridge of my nose. Díos, please, grant me patience.
“Oh, shush. You know I’m right. That guy’s had it bad for you since the very beginning.”
“So bad he wanted to rip my head off?”
“What can I say, you bring out the best in people.”
I press my lips in a tight line. “Thanks, I love you too,” I say dully.
“Joking aside, I think you’d be good for him. Tame his bad boy ways. Not that he’s been much of a bad boy lately. He’d have to be here to do that.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that Nixon has more serious things on his mind right now than chasing puck bunnies or groupies or whatever they’re called.
Sighing, I look at her. “Was there a point in you coming here? Or did you just come to annoy me?”
“Well, there actually is a point.” She takes a breath as if calming herself. “Hayden and I will be going to California for spring break. I’m going back home.”
All the irritation disappears in a blink of an eye. “Are you sure?” I lean over the counter, my hand closing over hers. “Do you feel ready to go back? Maybe it’s too soon…”
Callie has been working hard in the past few months on her therapy and dealing with the things that happened in her past. She confessed that she hasn’t gone to her family home ever since the accident and for her to even contemplate that has to be hard.
“I’m… getting there.” She takes a sip of her coffee, giving herself time to choose her words carefully. “At first, I was scared. I wasn’t sure this was the right time. If there was ever going to be a right time, but knowing Hayden is going with me makes things easier.”
“You’ve come a long way from that angry, closed-off girl I met back in August.”
A soft smile spreads over her lips. “Being with Hayden helps.”
I shake my head. “It’s not just Hayden, although he’s good for you, but it’s you. You’ve changed somewhat for the better. You know, when you’re not being all nosy.”
Callie laughs and shoves me away. “Oh, shut up.”
Chapter Thirty
YASMIN
A soft knock on the door startles me. I look at the clock on my phone, which says it’s well past one o’clock in the morning, and then back over my shoulder.
Callie is sleeping at Hayden’s once again. Shocker, I think, not.
Another soft knock raps against the door, the sound echoing ominously in the quiet room.
Who could it be?
There is no reason for the dorm manager to be stopping by, she only shows up when there is a noise complaint or something like that.
Chloe? Knowing her she probably wouldn’t even bother knocking.
It’s probably just some drunken idiot.
Slowly, I get up and go to the door, looking around the room for anything I can use to defend myself.
Technically, nobody but the residents should be able to enter the dorm, but we all know things don’t work like that in real life, and I need to be prepared for anything. I don’t usually have visitors so late at night. Spotting one of my larger books sitting on the nightstand, I pick it up and leisurely hold it in my arms before pulling the door open.
“Nixon,” I whisper, surprised to see him. “What are you doing here?”
He looks like a complete mess. His clothes are wrinkled, hair disheveled. There are dark circles underneath his eyes like he hasn’t slept for days.
“I—” He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the motion. “I need you, Yasmin.”
NIXON
The book she’s been holding falls down on the floor as she wraps her arms around me and pulls me into her room.
The space is dim, the only light still on is the one on her desk, where different books are open, and the laptop screen is shining brightly.
Closing my eyes, I return her embrace, holding on for dear life, because that’s how this feels. Like I’m drowning, and Yasmin is the only thing that’s keeping me together.