I draw circles on the backs of her hands with my thumbs, pressing my body against hers more firmly. My mind suddenly has flashbacks to the night at The Library when she danced with me, our bodies moving against each other in a way I so desperately want them to in the intimacy of a bedroom. I remember the feel of her warm, smooth skin, and my fingers involuntarily twitch in hers at the memory of the smooth lines and planes I want to drag my lips across every single inch of.
Our eyes bore into each other, and it’s like time has magically stopped, until inevitably, by some sort of cruel fate, our little bubble is burst.
“Miller!” I hear someone boom from across the atrium. Involuntarily, I peel my eyes away from Olivia’s to glance over my shoulder, and see Brennen walking up to us, beaming. He has a knowing, teasing grin on his face, and the glint in his eye gives it away that he’s purposefully interrupting our little moment to torture me. Asshole.
“What?” I almost snap, but I’m able to reel in the hostility of my tone.
He lifts the jacket in his hand in a grand fashion before throwing it at me. I only let go of one of Olivia’s hands, catching the jacket one-handed. “Toby found it the other night after his shift at the club. Gave it to me in our nine a.m. to pass off to you,” he informs me.
“Thanks.” I give him an appreciative nod, and catch his gaze falling on Olivia’s hand still in mine. He smirks.
Olivia’s grip loosens and I can feel her starting to pull away, but I keep my grip firm, not letting go of her hand. I steal a quick glance at her to see that her cheeks now match her red nose, but it’s not from the cold.
“You guys are staying in town for Thanksgiving, right?” Brennen asks. “Apparently they just announced that there’s a nasty storm heading this way in about three hours or so, and whoever hasn’t already skipped classes for the day is running like a bat out of hell to get to wherever they’re trying to go.”
Olivia’s brow furrows with worry. “A storm?”
“Yeah, a winter storm. We’re going to get freezing rain and all that. Roads are going to turn into an ice rink—so they predict.”
Olivia frowns. “I wonder if Delilah knows?” she wonders out loud, since they carpooled together.
I give her hand a reassuring squeeze. “If you want to leave, I can always take you home,” I offer.
She worries her lip. “I don’t know, I don’t want to skip lab. I’ll just see what Delilah’s going to do.”
“Well, you guys have fun. If you need me, I’ll be manning my shift behind the front desk at the dorm,” he says, giving a little salute before heading off in that direction. He’s been working at the athletic dorm’s front desk since sophomore year.
Olivia’s hand still in mine, I lead her down the hall to the anatomy lab. We walk in to see Delilah and Rat Boy already in their seats, and he doesn’t fail to shoot me a glare, his beady little eyes zooming in on our joined hands. I can’t help but smirk as I watch him practically snarl.
Olivia’s steps pick up as soon as she spots Delilah, and she rushes over to her best friend. “Have you heard about the storm?”
Delilah’s brows knit together over her thick-rimmed glasses. “Storm?”
“Yeah, we just heard there’s a winter storm on the way,” Olivia informs her, letting go of my hand to shrug off her backpack and take a seat. I take my seat next to her.
Delilah reaches for her phone, pulling up the weather app. She scans the forecast, her lips pursing into a frown. “This doesn’t look good,” she comments under her breath.
“What do you want to do, Dee? I know you were planning on driving back home tonight.”
“Good thing is that it doesn’t look like its heading south, but still. I want to avoid it as much as possible,” she says, looking up at Olivia from her phone.
Olivia nods. “After the quiz we can head out, if you want. It doesn’t look like half the class is showing up anyway, and I’m sure Tracy will understand.” She looks around the half-empty classroom, and I’m a bit relieved when I realize Adrianna’s whole table is missing.
Delilah glances out the window to observe the light precipitation already falling. “Yeah, that sounds good. I’m sorry, Liv. I hate skipping class as much as you do, but I just don’t want to risk getting stuck in this.”
Olivia shakes her head. “No, I don’t want to risk it, either, and I know how badly you want to get home to see your family for the holiday.”
“It’ll be fine,” Rat Boy cuts in dismissively. “It’s just a little snow.”
“And ice,” Delilah deadpans.
Rat Boy shrugs carelessly, like he doesn’t understand the severity of ice on roads. I get it, sometimes people can be real pansies about a little snow, but ice is nothing to fuck around with.
Tracy waltzes into the classroom, chipper as always. “Hey, class, I see a few of you managed not to skip lab today and head home early for the break,” she jokes, setting her stuff down on her desk and jiggling the mouse to wake up the computer. “I appreciate it, and I know you are all itching to get out of here due to the break and the weather, so I promise to make this easy for you. Today, we’re just going to take the quiz and breeze through next week’s material. I won’t keep you longer than necessary.”
Olivia and Delilah share a glance across the table, the two of them having some kind of weird, silent, best friend telepathic exchange. After a moment they nod at the same time, coming to some sort of mutual agreement without saying one damn word to each other.
“What just happened?” I ask, amazed.
