Caleb laughs, his head falling back and when he looks at me again, he pins me with his eyes that are as blue as the sky.
“No. I’m just giving you shit, but you’re pretty cute when you’re bothered so it was worth it.” He jabs his elbow into my side and I feel my face flush, heat moving from my cheeks, down my neck and onto my chest. Thank fuck we’ve been running or it would be totally obvious how his words affected me.
“You’re a shithead,” I say, shoving him as we continue to walk toward the science buildings. “So this where Sienna spends most of her days. I have a few classes in here, too.”
“What are you majoring in?” Caleb asks, and it feels good to have someone take an active interest in what I’m doing.
“I’m majoring in counseling. I want to be a school counselor or maybe a mental health counselor. I haven’t fully decided yet, but I know I want to help people deal with trauma…” My words trail off, getting a little quieter at the end when I realize Caleb has been through some serious trauma. “I’m sorry,” I say, not sure how to continue without bringing up his situation. That’s not what I was trying to do here and I feel like I’ve been insensitive to him by babbling on about helping people.
“Sorry for what?” he asks. “Sorry that I’ve had to deal with some shit in my life?” He shrugs. “Not your fault, but I think you’ll make a great counselor. You’re easy to talk to. Maybe someday you can help me.”
I nod, but neither of us says anything more about it. It’s hard to talk about how fucked up your life is and when you’ve left it behind, it’s even harder. I dealt with this with Sienna and when she finally opened up to me, I know she felt lighter and freer, but I wouldn’t dare push Caleb to do the same. We hardly know each other.
We walk for a bit in silence with Caleb looking around, taking in all the oversized buildings and crowds of students walking and gathering. It’s then that we both turn when we hear someone call my name.
“Ruby?” the male voice calls, testing my name as if he doesn’t think it’s me. “It is you,” he says when he gets close enough to Caleb and me.
It’s the assistant professor in my Diagnosis and Mental Health Issues in Children and Adolescents class. He walks up to meet us, greeting us both, but shooting an intimidating look in Caleb’s direction.
“Hi, Professor Keller,” I say, stepping away from him slightly and closer to Caleb’s side.
“Ruby, it’s great to run into you. I just read your research paper on the effects of parental alcoholism on children and it was excellent. It was the highlight of my night,” he says, laughing a little. “I guess that makes me kind of a loser.”
“No, not at all,” I respond, trying to be respectful, because after all, he is my professor. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. I really put a lot of effort into my research.”
“It definitely shows,” he says, running a hand down my arm leaving a trail of goosebumps in its path. “I’d love to set up a time with you to meet and talk about how we can sharpen up your research skills. You have real potential.”
His words strike a chord with me, making me smile. It’s nice to be recognized for hard work, especially when I put in a ton of effort.
“That would be great,” I respond. “I’ll check your office hours and bring some things I’ve been working on.”
“Perfect,” Professor Keller says, again reaching out and squeezing my arm, his fingers wrapping tightly and the way he looks at me, sends a shudder up my spine.
He turns and begins to walk away, and when he’s out of earshot, I turn to Caleb, still beaming over my professor’s encouragement.
“Can you believe that? He’s supposed to be one of the hardest to please and he loved my paper,” I say to Caleb, but he tilts his head to the side, his eyebrows knitted together.
“Yeah, that’s great, but he didn’t strike you as…” Caleb doesn’t finish his thought, stopping short, but I know what he was going to say.
“I know. He can be a little handsy, but he’s harmless.” I shake my head and give my eyes a roll. It’s well known on campus that Professor Keller is a bit of a flirt and there have even been rumors he’s had affairs with students. But personally, I think it’s just campus gossip. He’s married and has kids, a family. He’s young enough that his interest in students comes across as something more, but I think he just sees the potential in people.
“He’s creepy,” Caleb deadpans, his mouth set in a firm line.
“He’s not,” I defend, but add, “Okay, maybe a little.” Because even though he’s never done anything more than stand a little too close or touch me a few too many times, he seems harmless.
“Or maybe a lot,” Caleb asserts, but I just shake off his comment, knowing boys get jealous even when there’s nothing going on.
Chapter Two
Caleb
“First night, right?”
I look up at the other bartender who’s working with me tonight. “Yeah,” I reply.
The guy nods, holding a hand out. “Adam,” he says.
I shake his hand, grateful to finally have my cast off. It was annoying as fuck, but it was also stopping me from doing so much, including getting a job again. It’s good to have it off so I can actually try and get back to having a normal life again, as weird as that feels after all this time. Truth be told, sometimes I wonder if I even know what normal feels like anymore.
“Caleb,” I say, shaking his hand.
“Should be pretty quiet tonight,” Adam replies, waving a hand around the room. “I mean, for a campus bar, anyway.”
I grab a towel and wipe down the bar top. “It’s cool, not my first time pulling beers.”
“Oh yeah,” he says, leaning a hip against the bar. “Where’d you used to work?”
I throw the towel over my shoulder, moving to serve a customer before turning back to Adam. “Used to run a bar back in Rhode Island,” I say, not bothering to elaborate.
Running it might be a generous term given what I was really trying to do was dig it out of the big fucking hole my dad had sunk it into. And I didn’t even succeed at that because in the end we lost it, the bank claiming it back after we reneged on the repayments.
I still wasn’t sure how I felt about losing the last piece of the legacy my grandfather spent years building and my dad spent years destroying.
“Oh yeah,” he says, brows raised. “So, you go to school out here now or?”
I shake my head. “Nah, moved out to live with my sister who does, but not me,” I say. “Do you go to school here?”
Adam shakes his head once as he starts to stack some glasses in the small dishwasher. “Nah, not me. Traveling is more my thing,” he says, giving me a sideways grin. “Use this to help finance the trip,” he adds, arms out wide.
“Yeah, I wondered where you were from,” I start, crossing my arms over my chest. “What’s the accent?” I ask, having noticed it the second he spoke to me.
Adam grins as he turns to lean against the bar again. “Australian. Chicks over here love it, so you know.” He pauses shrugging once. “It’s handy.”