Page 105 of From Now On

“How about you come tonight, and then I won’t make fun of you for spending the weekend in the library?” Aidan suggests.

“You and Hart go,” I tell him. “Bring your girlfriends.”

“Harlow went home for the weekend, and Rylan has a family thing with her parents.”

“Ah, right.”

I forgot Conor mentioned Harlow was leaving this weekend, and Rylan’s unavailability explains Aidan’s availability.

“Don’t be like that, man. Hart and I are offering to be your wingmen. When was the last time you got laid?”

I continue shoving pasta into my mouth, hoping Aidan will have moved on to another topic by the time I finish dinner.

“Rylan said Holly was flirting with you in the café yesterday,” he says.

I hide a grimace. Getting stuck in a conversation with Holly while Rylan went over to chat with Eve was uncomfortable for multiple reasons. Hollywasflirty while returning my notes, and I don’t know why, because I thought we were in agreement after our disastrous date. Also, Rylan leaving me in line to say hi to Eve meantIcouldn’t leave the line to say hi to Eve and try to make up for avoiding her at Gaffney’s.

Aidan and Conor are both staring at me expectantly, waiting for some sort of a reply.

I like Rylan and Harlow, consider them both friends, but a definite downside of hanging out with them is that they remember—and share—details my friends wouldn’t know otherwise.

“I’ll find out if she’s going to be at Willis’s tonight,” Phillips decides.

“Don’t,” I tell Aidan around a mouthful of penne.

He sighs and sets his phone down. “Rylan said one of her roommates—Chloe, I think—is single.”

“Dude, she’s a junior,” Conor says.

“So?” Aidan challenges. “What’s wrong with being a junior?”

I swallow the last bite of pasta and set the empty glass container in the sink. They can do the dishes while they play matchmaker. “If I get enough done tonight, I’ll go out with you guys tomorrow night. But because you’re my best friends. Not because I want you to find me a girlfriend.”

Hart frowns. “I thought you wanted a relationship. Isn’t that why you went out with Holly?”

I can’t explain to Conor that I lost interest in dating Holly—in dating anyone—as soon as Eve ran into me in the hallway and the wordsMy boyfriend and I just broke upleft her mouth. Or I could, I guess, if I wanted pity stares and for my best friends to physically drag me out tonight.

“I’ve got other priorities right now,” I say instead. “Have fun at the lax party.”

I head upstairs for my laptop charger, and then back outside without stopping in the kitchen. Hart’s persistent and Phillips is stubborn. Chances are, they’d lasso me into going out with them.

Idoneed to get this presentation finished, but the main reason I’m avoiding going out tonight is that I’m simply not in the mood. I still feel strange about things with Eve.

At some point soon, I need to get over my disappointment. I got past missing my chance with Eve once—sort of. I’ll get over it again—for good this time.

Unsurprisingly, the parking lot closest to the library is practically empty. Fridays—particularly Friday nights—are not the most popular time to hang out in the library.

I prefer it like this. You don’t have to go up to one of the quiet floors to be able to focus. The first floor, where normal noise level is allowed, is almost completely silent.

I walk through the lobby, pausing to fill up my water bottle at the fountain, and then turn left. The windows at the far end overlook the main quad of campus, lit up by the lamps that line the brick walkways. It’s very collegiate-looking. And, call me a nerd, but I’ve always loved school. I like learning new things and I like the challenge of applying that knowledge to different situations.

Once I near the windows I start scanning the tables, looking for a spot to sit.

My steps slow as soon as I spot her. I blink rapidly, like I might possibly be imagining the sight.

She’s at the table I usually choose, right past the Greek mythology section. I took a classical mythology course sophomore year and had to write a paper on Hades. Since the books all weighed a ridiculous amount, sitting nearby made sense. It’s farther away from most of the traffic on the first floor on busier days and has a clear view out the windows, so sitting there has stuck.

I swallow and swerve in that direction.

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