“Just ask,” I murmur when I sense her looking at me.
“I-I don’t want you to think I just asked you to sit here because I want gossip or anything…”
I roll my eyes. “Trust me, I know that. I’ve spent a lot of time in here, and I know you only really socialize with the students you tutor. You’re a lot like me, more introverted. I don’t think you want gossip, but you are curious about something, so go ahead and ask.”
Her lips quirk, and I find myself fighting my own smile. I kinda like this girl, she’s soft and sweet yet also has a no-bullshit attitude that calls to mine.
“So, you and Cole Aston?” she asks, and I can’t help the snort that escapes me.
“That guy is the bane of my existence. He’ll get bored of annoying me soon enough and move on.”
Even as the words leave my mouth, they taste bitter. The idea of him moving onto the next girl has a rage so blinding bubbling over that if I wasn’t already seated, it would have threatened to bring me to my knees.
Savannah stares at me quizzically for a moment, tapping her pen against the table while she seems to debate something. She must finally have her answer because she says, “Can I be honest with you?”
“Always,” I answer automatically. I’ll always favor honesty over anything else.
“I’ve known Cole for a long time. Well… not personally, but we went to all of the same schools growing up, and I can honestly tell you, not once have I seen him so fixated on a girl the way he is you. Sure, he’s messed around with other girls, but he’s never usually gone back for more. He’s never been in a relationship. None of those guys have, and I think the reason everyone is so invested in what’s happening between the two of you is because they see how different he acts around you.”
That’s… a lot to take in.
“People are invested. In Cole and me?” I ask, bewilderment in my tone.
She laughs. “Lana, you’re both the talk of the school.”
Jesus, do these people not have anything better to do with themselves than to obsess over something like this?
“We hate each other. There’s not much to tell other than the fact that I want to see him tied up in a basement somewhere and fed small rations of bread with only his piss to drink.”
Okay, maybe a little too much gory detail, if the look on her face is anything to go by.
But just when I think she’s going to call me out for saying something so dark or just stand from the table and walk away, she bursts into laughter instead.
“Oh my God,” she cries. “I would honestly pay to see that.”
“You don’t like him?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know him, but his friends are assholes.”
“Any one of his friends in particular?” I ask, since there was something in the way she said it that made me think maybe she has a past with one of them.
She waves a dismissive hand in the air, and with that, the conversation is finished. We work for a few minutes in silence before she packs up her things and lets me know she has class to get to.
“I’ll see you around?” she asks just as she’s about to walk about.
“Sure will. I’m not going anywhere.”At least, not yet, anyways.
Once she’s gone, I stare blankly at my laptop screen, trying and failing to come up with a plan of what’s next. I should have moved on by now, I should have left and never looked back, yet I can’t help but feel that there’s something stopping me. I have a gut feeling that I’m meant to stay here, I just don’t know why or what it means.
My gut instincts have never turned me wrong before, but I usually have at least some idea of what’s behind me feeling that way. But with this? I have no idea what’s stopping me from leaving, I just know that my time here isn’t done yet.
In an attempt to distract myself, I chance a quick glance around the library, only to stop short when I spot none other than Harley Thorn ducking through the rows of books like a thief in the middle of the night.
I should probably ignore it and move on, since it has absolutely nothing to do with me, but unfortunately for me, my curiosity gets the better of me.
I pack my things away and shoulder my bag before following in the direction Harley left in, if nothing more than to see what it is Cole’s friend is getting up to.
Right there in the fiction aisle is Harley, huffing to himself as he peruses the books on the shelves. He looks distraught, and I’m pretty sure this isn’t his normal attitude towards, well… anything. I’ve spent more time than I’d like to admit watching Cole, which means I’ve also been watching his friends, too.
