Page 24 of Heart So Hollow

“That’s not true!” Barrett bursts out of the bedroom, “Have you ever been back in the stacks late at night? Some people are freaks.”

Katie’s eyes light up, “Maybe that’s why he wants to go to the library!”

“Oh my god!” I shout in exasperation, slamming my palm down on the sofa cushion.

Suddenly, I feel my phone vibrate.

COLSON (6:09PM): Be on campus in 15

Ten minutes later, after practically fleeing my apartment, I’m in my blue Impreza speeding toward campus to meet Colson at the glass doors in front of Thompson. I’m not a complete fool, I make sure to look halfway decent by scrunching my hair and putting on some makeup before I leave, even if I have to deal with Katie and Barrett’s jeers and Emma’s disapproving looks as I go.

I park on an empty side street next to the classroom buildings, where I can already hear the familiar Friday night sounds in the distance; disembodied shouts and laughs preparing to guzzle too much alcohol in too short of a time.

I stroll into the oval, meandering along the spiderweb paths and breathing aromas of cut grass and wood fire smoke. As I approach the cut stone arches framing the entrance, I see Colson standing against the wall next to the glass doors, his hands tucked in the pockets of his hunter green Patagonia jacket. He’s wearing charcoal grey joggers with a black T-shirt and the same grey and neon yellow sneakers he wears every single day. As soon as we make eye contact, I wave and he comes to the edge of the brick path to wait for me.

“You made it.” His deep voice sounds louder without the dull roar of a crowded campus.

“Barely,” I say as I follow him to the glass doors, “I didn’t realize how everyone would lose their minds after they found out I was going to the library and not out to the bar.”

“Which ones do you go to?” he asks, holding the door open for me.

“Either Tank’s or Four North.”

“I’ve never seen you at Four North.”

I glance over my shoulder at him with a smirk, “I guess that depends how drunk you are.”

Or how many girls are hanging on you at one time.

“Brett’s got jokes,” he drawls as he follows me through the doors.

We make our way across the marble floor to the stairs and up the staircase to the third floor, emerging into a long room lined with thick, oak tables. The entire floor looks empty, unsurprising for a Friday night. I choose one across the room beneath one of the giant windows.

“Hey, um…” I hesitate as I pull out my chair, trying to decide how to broach the subject, “thank you—for the book.” It shouldn’t be this difficult, but it is.

“You’re welcome,” Colson cracks a smile and sits down next to me.

“It must’ve been hard to find,” I say as I take my laptop out of my bag, “and expensive. Where did you get it?”

He gives a shrug and drops his backpack next to his chair, “You can find anything if you know the right people.”

I respond with a massive side-eye, “And you know people who conveniently have signed first editions of a book we were randomly talking about in a random elective course?”

“Just enjoy it,” he smiles, “I meet a lot of different people at work.”

“Where do you work?”

Colson shakes off his jacket and lets it fall over the back of his chair, “The Metro Parks. I didn’t think it would be as cool as interning with the rangers at a national park, but it’s not bad.”

“Is that what you want to do—be a park ranger?”

“That’s the plan,” he leans back and stretches, clasping his hands behind his head, “be outside all day, with the trees and animals, maybe eventually make it out west,” he grins, “I guess we’ll see what happens.”

“That’s a good attitude to have.”

He glances at the home screen on his laptop and then at me, “What about you?”

I gaze across the room at the walls decorated with intricate wood carvings and elegant crown molding painted a warm white. I don’t have a clue what I want to do as a Biomedical Engineering major with a minor in English.

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