Page 11 of For Crosby

He smiled. “Does seven work?”

“Sure.”

He pulled out his phone and handed it to me. “Let me get your number in case my practice runs late.”

I punched my number into his contacts. “What do you play?”

“Oh, I thought you knew. Hockey.”

A humorless laugh shot out of me. What was it with me and hockey players? I’d been surrounded by football players since last year when Finlay started dating Caden, now suddenly the hockey players were coming out of the woodwork. The universe was definitely toying with me. I handed him back his phone. “I’m in Carver Hall. Text and I’ll come down.”

He nodded. “Great. See you later, Sabrina.”

I watched him walk out of the classroom wondering why I’d never paid him much attention before. Had I been hoping Trace Forester would come around? Had I been closed off to other possibilities? Had I been too wrapped up in everyone else’s lives to focus on my own?

* * *

I stared into the mirror in the girls’ restroom. I’d applied minimal makeup, opting for only smoky eyes for my date with Jeremy, unsure where we were even going. My phone vibrated on the sink. I hit speaker while touching up the corners of my eyes. “Hello?”

“What are you wearing?” Grady asked. “Please tell my lingerie.”

“Do I need to hang up?”

“This hard-to-get thing is gettin’ old.”

A toilet flushed in a stall behind me. A girl who lived down the hall stepped out stifling a smile.

“Yeah. I totally want you,” I said to Grady as I rolled my eyes at the girl stepping up beside me to wash her hands. “I just like the chase. And I want you to keep using lame lines on me. It’s totally hot.”

“Whoa. Easy,” he said. “They’re not lame. Lines like mine take weeks to perfect.”

The girl laughed as she dried her hands and walked toward the door. “Good luck with that one.”

“Is there someone else there?” Grady asked. “You having one of those sexy pillow-fight slumber parties? I’d be happy to stop by and provide entertainment.”

“Why is it that guys think we actually have pillow fights?”

“It’s the visual, babe. It carries us through those lonely nights.”

“So, every night for you?”

“Pretty much,” he agreed.

I snickered. “So, is there a reason for this call or are you just trying to torture me?”

“I talked to my uncle,” he said, his voice becoming serious.

I switched the phone off speaker and lifted it to my ear. “Okay.”

“Knowing what he knows about Dean Edwards, he said he thinks the dean’s less likely to be threatening you and more likely to be trying to come down hard on hazing.”

“That’s what he said in his office.”

“Well, apparently, he’s up for re-election and doesn’t want any bad press getting in the way.”

“So, does this mean you know why he called me in?” I said.

“Everybody knows.”

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