“I was telling you about Ethan and Julian. I can’t decide between the two of them,” she tells me in exasperation.
“Uh. Why do you need to decide again?” I ask, not entirely sure when either of these guys became a thing.
“Oh my God. Have you listened to anything I’ve said for the last week?” she grumbles. “I need to decide because–” she pauses mid-sentence. “Actually, you’re right. Why should I choose? I’m not trying to marry them.”
“I’m glad that’s settled.” I nod, then pause as I take a look around me. “Where are we going anyway?”
“Glad I’m not the only one stuck on two boys,” she laughs.
I nose scrunches, ready to deny what she is saying. “I’m not stuck.”
“We’ve got to get you a boy. Or at least get you laid. That will get your mind off them.” She taps her finger to her lips, her eyes narrowing. “Or you could call them.”
“No.” I am absolute. “I don’t need any of that, and I’m not calling anyone. I don’t need the headache you already have.”
“Didn’t sound like they were asking you to choose,” she grins.
“Are you going to tell me where we are going?” I ask again, deflecting her comment. My curiosityabouttheir innuendos and insinuations has been haunting my mind enough without her adding to it.
“We’re going for lunch, remember?” She throws a hand on her hip with a flip of her hair.
I love Heidi. We clicked my first day here. She may come off as spoiled and ditzy, but I know she’s not. She is actuallyan exceptionally talentedsinger and musician. Her ability amazes me. A ditz could not hear a song, take it apart, restructure it to sound like an entirely different, yet still beautiful, piece the way she can.
She may be a tinybit spoiled though. It seems only natural since her dad is a retired rock star or something like that. She’s been around celebrities and musicians her entire life. She isn’t necessarily rich, but she’s not from an average middle-class family like me.
“A new restaurant opened around the corner. I want to see if it’s better than that garbage they call food on campus,” she huffs.
“I would imagine it is,” I giggle, “since it’s not cafeteria food.”
“I swear if I get served green hot dogs one more time, I’ll scream. I am telling you the cafeteria staff is trying to poison us all one by one.”
“That’s a little dramatic.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Okay. If we’re going off campus, I need to grab some money,” I tell her, turning us back toward our dorm.
“I’ll never understand why you don’t carry a purse or a wallet, at least,” she grumbles as we backtrack. “Just so you know, I will not rush through mylunch, so you aren’t late for fifth period.”
I roll my eyes. I feel like I do that a lot with her. But it’s all good-natured. Truthfully, Heidi reminds me a lot of Delilah. No holds barred kind of friend for sure.
When we reach the dorm building, I freeze. I am completely immobile from shock at the sight of hazel eyes and blue eyes standing on either side of the main entrance. They both smirk, knowing exactly why I am standing there, unmoving, like an idiot.
“What are you doing?” Heidi pulls my arm, clearly not seeing the very obvious roadblocks in front of me.
“I – uh – I –” I lose all train of thought. Unable to take my eyes off the two beautiful men now walking in my direction.
Heidi turns her head in the direction of my captured stare, then jumps in front of me, cutting them off from my view. Without the two distractions directly in my line of sight, I can think more clearly. “Is that them?” she asks with a look of disbelief.
“That’s them,” I nod.
“Holy shit!” Her blue eyes are wide, the disbelief on her face is growing by the second.
“What?” I ask because I am missing something important here.
“Heaven, don’t you recognize them?”
“Well, yeah, of course I do. It’s Ryder and Maddox.” My head tilts of its own volition, an attempt to relay my confusion.
