Page 17 of Collided

Marie slumps back and lets out a dramatic sigh. “All my brain cells are dead.”

A laugh bubbles out of me. A sound I haven’t heard in a while.

“Thank you for the help,” she says softly.

I smile. “You’re welcome.”

With dread, I check the time. The bell is about to ring any second now. Part of me doesn’t want it to. For the first time, I’m having fun with someone, even if it’s a study session. She’s the only one who’s actually talked to me and made me laugh. Usually, I work with people in silence. They need my notes and I… well, I earn the satisfaction that I helped someone. Nothing more, nothing less.

Marie’s phone pings. She sees the screen and scowls. It’s strange to see her like this.

“I hate how rude Heath is,” she mutters under her breath.

Wait. What?

My mood changes drastically.

It can’t be him.

At the mere mention of his name my heart races.

I can’t help being curious, and blurt out, “You mean Heath Travon?”

Marie quickly looks at me and studies me, then says, “Yes.”

I hold my breath as I ask, “You–you know him?”

She nods slowly. “Yes. He’s one of my best friends. Well, he’d say otherwise, so don’t believe him. I’m dating his best friend, Sebastian Hale, so Heath hangs out with us.”

“Oh.” This is what he meant when he said he has friends.

“But how doyouknow him?” She sounds protective as she eyes me skeptically.

“I bandaged his knuckles. You must’ve seen them. They were bad,” I explain nervously under her scrutinizing gaze.

Marie’s eyebrows pinch until something clicks. A grin stretches tugs on her lips, and she cups her mouth with both hands, then points at me. “It’syou. The pretty girl.”

The pretty girl. What?

Heath can’t possibly mean that about me.

I’m the clumsy girl who bumped into him twice. Yes, that’s more like it.

I shake my head. “I don’t think that’s me.” There’s no way Heath said that about me. He was mixed levels of grumpy and annoyed and acted like he couldn’t wait to get away from me.

“Holy fucking shit. I can’t believe it,” she whispers.

Picking up her phone, she furiously types on it, then switches it off.

Leaning over the table, she locks her gaze on me. “What happened yesterday, tell me all about it. Don’t skip.”

“Uh…” Heath didn’t mention not saying anything to anyone, so I think I can talk about it. Also, Marie said she’s his best friend—which I find hard to believe, I mean they are opposites—and they must hang out, meaning she should’ve already known about it.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she adds in a sympathetic tone.

“Nothing happened,” I say.

“You said you tended to his knuckles. How did that happen?”

---