"Coffee?" Zane suggests as we hit the hallway. "I know a place with excellent study fuel. Also known as sugar and caffeine."
Tyler checks his phone, hesitating. "I've got stats homework..."
"Come on, Wu," Zane cajoles. "Live a little. Besides, we should start planning our toad takeover research."
"Callahan?" Tyler looks to me, like he needs permission to take a break from his schedule.
The prospect of spending more time with both of them away from the intensity of the team house is appealing. And Tyler looks like he could use some forced social interaction.
"Coffee sounds good," I decide. "But you're buying if you want me to do the actual writing for this project, Zane."
"Deal," Zane grins. "Though I'm insulted you assume I can't write. I'll have you know I got a B-plus on my last English paper."
"What was it about?" Tyler asks, curiosity overcoming his usual reserve.
"The homoerotic undertones in Top Gun."
Tyler stops walking entirely. "Please tell me you're joking."
"Dead serious. Maverick and Iceman had serious unresolved tension, and I have seventeen pages of analysis to prove it."
"You wrote seventeen pages about Top Gun?" I stare at him.
"Eighteen, actually. Couldn't fit everything in the page limit."
Tyler looks genuinely bewildered. "That's... actually kind of brilliant. I mean, from a psychological analysis standpoint. The competitive dynamic as a substitute for romantic tension..."
"See?" Zane beams. "Wu gets it. Come on, let's go caffeinate and plan our assault on Australian toad literature."
As we head toward the campus coffee shop, Tyler gradually opens up, adding dry commentary to Zane's observations about our classmates and even cracking a few jokes of his own. He's still careful, still measured in his responses, but the robotic competence is gone.
Maybe this is what normal college friendships feel like. Maybe, despite everything else going on, I can have this, too.
chapter TEN
Tyler
Numbers don't lie.That's why I prefer them to people.
The team had a stable dynamic before Reese Callahan arrived. Eight guys, all known quantities, producing consistent results. Now we have a new variable that's small in size but somehow changing everything.
I notice the change from my window at 4:27 AM as Eli leaves the team house, moving with unusual urgency across the dark lawn. He checks his phone, adjusts his course, heading toward campus center instead of the boathouse.
Weird.
I've been awake since 3:45 AM, working on problem sets for Advanced Statistical Methods. My brain works best in these quiet hours when everyone else is sleeping. Usually, I'm the onlyone up at this hour, except sometimes Gray, who seems to run on about three hours of sleep.
But this is the second strange thing in twelve hours. First, the sounds from Eli's room last night. Jackson's voice, then rhythmic thumping against the wall that didn't need much interpretation. Nothing new there: their arrangement has been obvious to anyone paying attention for years.
What was new was the intensity. The raised voices beforehand. The sudden silence after. And Jackson didn't leave immediately like he usually does. He stayed until at least 2 AM, when I finally fell asleep.
When patterns change, it means something's shifted.
And now Eli, sneaking out before practice, checking his phone like he's meeting someone.
I close my laptop. Some things you can only figure out by watching directly.
Three minutes later, I'm following Eli at a distance. Campus is mostly empty, so I have to stay way back to avoid being spotted. Luckily, Eli seems too focused to notice he's being followed.
