I can’t even lie and say that I didn’t know who he was, but Icanhonestly say that I didn’t think he would come running after me, or should I say—intome. I rub my forehead and pull myself up just as the doorbell rings.
“Brekky,” Chloe says in an impressive Australian accent while pausing her show.
I feel around for my phone knowing damn well I wentstraight from my car to the couch, so it can’t be in my room, or anywhere else. The coffee table is bare, minus one of Chloe’s giant homemade candles, a small vase of flowers, and my water bottle. I dig in the cushions once before giving up.
“Woof. I am salivating!” Chloe sets the food on the coffee table and begins pulling take-out boxes from the paper bag. “And this is just what the doctor ordered.”
The rumble that comes from my stomach is so loud that if she were anyone else, I might be embarrassed. She distributes a hefty serving of crepes and waffles between the two take out containers and I sit up when she hands me a slice of extra crispy bacon.
“Have you heard from the girls? I can’t find my phone.”
“I texted Christina last night letting her know we bailed early,” she says, before licking her thumb. “And then she sent me a picture of a naked guy sleeping beside her this morning.”
My eyes bulge out, but Chloe just shakes her head, unphased.
Christina and her roommate, Simone, were our dorm neighbors freshman year. We liked them enough. We went to parties together, but often left on our own. And even though we no longer live in the dorms, going places together and leaving separately is a tradition we still share from time to time—hence how I ended up at a party thrown by the LCU hockey team. To be fair, even though I drove, I wasn’t informed of where we were going to end up.
“Do you have anything on your agenda today?” I ask.
“Finishing the rest of this season,” she says, pointing a piece of her bacon at the TV. “I won’t rest until Opie gets his revenge. Then I’ll probably order some more food and start the next season because that cliffhanger is a Bitch with a capital B.”
I smile around a mouthful of crepe. “No writing today?”
“Sav. Be serious.” She looks at me for the first time.
“What?”
“It’s the last day before the new semester starts. It’s like the Sundayest Sunday there ever was. I’m not moving from this couch, except to answer the door when more food comes later.”
I know she can be a little sensitive about her writing, so I don’t ask if it has more to do with Sunday or her book. Instead, I take another bite of my food and settle back into the couch. “I love a good rot day.”
“Amen, sister.”
3
noah
It’s fittingthat the first week back from break would also bring the coldest day of winter.
“Who thefucksigned me up for a seven a.m. class?” Maverick grumbles.
Silas and I look at each other, and then back at Mav. “You.”
He pulls his beanie further down his head and falls back behind us as we cut through one of the campus libraries to avoid the cold.
“Hey, where were you yesterday?” Silas asks. “I don’t think I saw you once. Come to think of it, I don’t think I saw anyone yesterday.”
“I grabbed lunch with the parentals, and I’m fairly certain this one never got out of bed.” I point a finger back to Maverick.
“How is your dad? I haven’t seen him in a few days.”
Lucky you.
“I think Coach is one practice away from having him banned, in all honesty.”
When you only played two years in the NHL before getting cut, and you think you know more than the guy whohas coached more players into the NHL than any other NCAA team, you’re bound to start ruffling some feathers.
“Please, if I have to listen to you two Beavis and Buttheads running your traps at this ungodly hour, I need caffeine,” Maverick says from behind us. “Also that barista fromThe Denwho only owns leggings might help too.”
