Page 34 of American Royals II: Majesty
They started back toward the freshman dorms in a companionable silence. The familiar spires and faux-Gothic towers of campus always looked slightly different at night. Nina would catch herself noticing details she’d never seen before—a weeping stone angel, a wisp-thin row of trees—and wondering if they’d always been there, or had only sprung to life now that the sun had set. She hugged her arms around her chest, surprisingly glad that Ethan had come with her.
He glanced over, catching the motion, and picked up his pace. “Are you cold?”
“Yeah,” Nina said, though she felt something else, too: a subdued, half-eager feeling that she didn’t dare examine closely.
Ethan’s phone buzzed, breaking the silence. When he glanced at the screen, a funny expression—excited and uncertain and wary all at the same time—flickered over his features. He declined the call, then typed out a quick text, holding the phone so Nina couldn’t see it.
“You can take that if you want,” she felt the need to say, but Ethan shook his head.
“It’s fine.”
Something about his tone made Nina wonder if the call had been from a girl—if Ethan had planned to see someone else tonight, and instead was here with her. It was a strange, but not unpleasant, thought.
They reached the entrance to Nina’s dorm. This was the very spot where Jeff had kissed her, the night they were spotted and the photo ended up in the tabloids.
Pushing those memories aside, Nina fumbled in her purse, just as Ethan’s stomach emitted a loud growl.
“You hungry?” she asked, laughing.
He gave an unselfconscious shrug. “I could eat.”
“Thanks for walking me home.” She pushed open the door to her entryway, and to her surprise, Ethan followed her inside, heading up the stairs in her wake.
“What kind of pizza do you like?” he asked, tapping at his phone. His eyes sparkled with mischief, in a way that almost reminded Nina of Sam.
“It’s okay, I don’t want any,” she said unconvincingly.
“Pizza isn’t awant;it’s aneed.” Ethan paused, his gaze searching hers. “Unless you want me to go.”
Well…friends were allowed to late-night eat together, weren’t they?
“Pizza sounds delicious,” she amended. “Mushroom, please.”
He let out an indignant breath. “It’s a pizza, not a salad. I’ll get pepperoni.”
“If you weren’t going to listen, why did you bother asking?”
“Because I assumed you had better taste than to wantvegetables.Fine,” he compromised, “we’ll do half and half.”
Nina unlocked her door. Ethan immediately went to sit in her desk chair, tipping it back onto its hind legs. He glanced around her room, his eyes resting on each detail in turn—the collage of photos above the bed, the lip balms and pens scattered over her desk—as if he was trying to figure her out. Nina suddenly longed to know what conclusions he’d drawn.
“It’s funny,” Ethan mused. “Of all the people we knew, you were the last one I expected to come to school here.”
Nina climbed onto her bed, pulling a blanket over her lap. “Really?”
“I guess I always thought you’d go to school far away. Out of the country, even.” Ethan sighed. “Sometimes I wishIhad.”
“It’s not too late. You can do a semester abroad somewhere,” she pointed out.
“But in the meantime, I’m still here, still…” He gave a shrug, as if to say,Still tied up in the lives of the royal family.
“Where would you go? London?”
“Why do you assume that? Because I wouldn’t need a foreign language?” At Nina’s guilty look, Ethan chuckled. “I’ll have you know, I do speak Spanish.”
“So, Salamanca?”
Ethan’s eyes slanted away, as if he wasn’t quite certain he wanted to share this. “Actually,” he mumbled, “if I studied abroad, I always secretly wanted it to be in Venice.”
