Her blush deepens and she shyly looks away, shrugging. “Nothing.”
Grinning, I lean in, pressing my forehead to hers. “Is it because I get to kiss you now? Whenever I want,” I whisper lowly.
“Maybe,” she whispers, a playful edge to her tone. “That and the fact that everyone is staring.”
I furrow my brow, pulling back to glance around the classroom to find people gawking at us. Especially Delilah.
Delilah’s face over Olivia’s shoulder is almost comical. Her eyes are wide behind her thick-rimmed glasses, jaw practically on the floor. I try my best not to laugh.
“Wha—you and you . . .” she sputters, trying to digest it all, her eyes shifting between me and Olivia rapidly. “You didn’t tell me!” she bursts out, her angry, accusing eyes homing in on Olivia.
Olivia cringes. “We just got here, and you were talking about debate club!” she tries to defend herself.
“Debate club, sh-mate club! This is way more important!” Delilah insists, sitting forward, thoroughly interested. “Tell. Me. Everything.”
Olivia looks back at me with uncertainty. I nod, giving her full permission to give her best friend the details. She starts off slow, Delilah hanging on her every word, but then they both turn into giddy schoolgirls, smiling and talking excitedly, animatedly, all the while trying to keep their voices down, making me chuckle.
Not long after, Rat Boy walks in with that seemingly permanent scowl on his face, his dark hair doing nothing for his pale skin, which is only getting whiter with winter. He walks up to our row, quirking a brow at the excited shrieking before taking his seat next to Delilah. “What are you two going on about?”
“Olivia’s got a boyfriend,” Delilah says in a singsong voice.
I watch as a dozen different emotions scroll across his ratlike face. He starts with shock and eventually lands on rage. “Who?” he asks sharply, miserably failing to leash his emotions. I think he already knows the answer to his question, his beady little eyes snapping to me and my hand resting on Olivia’s thigh.
While Olivia and I never fully established our relationship status as boyfriend and girlfriend, I have to admit it has a nice ring to it. I’ve never had a girlfriend before, never wanted one, and I’m surprised when no alarms go off in my head and my stomach doesn’t twist uncomfortably at the thought. In fact, I feel pretty damn good—excited—about it. And I’m definitely getting satisfaction out of Rat Boy knowing our unconfirmed but basically confirmed status. At least he finally has some color to his face. Red, but whatever.
“Seriously, Olivia. You and this guy?” he spits, prickling my anger.
Olivia jerks her head back in surprise at his hostility, a hint of shock and annoyance pulling on her features. “What about it?”
He huffs out a humorless laugh. “You do know you can count the number of girls he’s slept with on this campus on your fingers at least five times over, right?”
I watch Olivia’s face fall, and I remove my hand from her thigh, balling both of my hands into tight fists.
“Why don’t you shut the fuck up, you jealous little prick,” I say through gritted teeth.
“I’m just looking out for her,” he insists.
“No, you’re not.” Olivia speaks up, turning her gaze to him. “You’re suffocating me, Quinton,” she confesses. “I feel like I have to constantly walk on eggshells around you because I know you still have feelings for me that I told you I don’t reciprocate. I thought you could get past it, that you could accept it, and we could actually be friends, but clearly that isn’t the case.”
“What are you saying?” he demands, alarmed.
“I’m saying, it’s probably best we don’t try to be friends anymore,” she says, her tone almost sad, but her intent clear.
His face twists in shock and anger, his complexion turning an unflattering shade of red. He balls his hands into fists and abruptly stands. Delilah shifts closer to Olivia to get out of his way as he snatches up his backpack, flinging it over his shoulder before storming out of the classroom, causing a scene.
A low, hushed murmur falls over the lecture hall, all eyes on our row.
I watch Olivia uncomfortably sink into her chair, folding into herself, clearly mortified by all the attention.
I glance at Delilah, who has her gaze on Olivia, frowning in pity. Her eyes shift up to meet mine and she gives me a helpless look, not knowing what to do.
“Hey,” I say softly, scooting closer to Olivia and taking her hand in mine, rubbing circles into her palm with my thumb. “You okay?”
She nods, refusing to lift her gaze.
Delilah rubs her hand up and down Olivia’s arm to comfort her. “I’m proud of you, Liv. Deep down, you know it’s for the best. You can’t feel bad for telling him how it is.”
“I know,” Olivia sighs.
