Page 38 of River of Flames

"It'll be fun," he said, turning on me with a grin. "We'll drink a bunch of coffee and pretend we're worried about failing chemistry. And then tomorrow we can go find a doctor. What do you think?"

I rolled my eyes, but couldn't suppress a smile. "Okay, fine, whatever."

He gave a whoop, and led me down the hall, past the room I shared with Vanessa to his.

"Holy shit, this place is huge," I exclaimed, staring around the dorm room. "It's like twice the size of mine, and I have to share. How is that fair?"

"They obviously know how to treat their visiting experts," Theo said with a smirk.

"Yeah, you're such an expert. You're here because you got lucky. What, were you in the office when Neath got the phone call?"

"Well, yes, actually." Theo laughed, shutting the door behind me and crossing the room to perch on the edge of the bed. "But he wouldn't have let me come if I was completely useless."

I deliberately avoided joining him on the bed, instead lowering myself to sit cross-legged in the middle of the floor. "So, what are we going to do for the next…” I glanced at my watch, "eight hours?" I wanted to make a joke about studying chemistry, but after the way I'd felt every time his arm had brushed mine in the restaurant, it didn't seem like the best idea. You're just friends, I reminded myself. Act like it.

Theo slid off the bed and joined me on the floor. "Well, I did find these in one of the drawers in the kitchen," he said, pulling out a deck of cards with a flourish.

I shrugged. "Well, that does promise at least half an hour of solid entertainment. Plus," I grinned at him, "your dad's not here, so you can't beat me in dou dizhu. What do you want to play?"

He took the deck out of its worn box and shuffled through the cards. "What even can you play with two people?"

"Um." I thought about it. "War? Slapjack? Go fish?"

In the end, we played all three. Theo made coffee, and I opened a bag of M&Ms he had in his bedside table—because even in Europe, Theo was nothing if not predictable—and we played every kid’s card game we could remember. We laughed, and threw cards and candy at each other, and for a while it actually felt like I was back in college, lounging with him on the floor in my dorm room and ignoring all the cramming I was supposed to be doing for exams.

Eventually, Theo collected the scattered cards from around the room and shoved them back into the box, while I tried unsuccessfully to hide the yawn I'd been trying to suppress.

"Oh no you don't," he said. "We've still got hours to go. What else can you play with two people?"

I leaned back on my hands, stretching my legs out in front of me and stifling another yawn. "Truth or dare."

"Dare."

I laughed. "I meant that's a game you can play with two people, but okay. I dare you to…put that entire bag of M&Ms in your coffee and drink it."

Theo snorted. "That's a terrible dare. Haven't you ever put chocolate in your coffee? It's delicious."

I raised my eyebrow. "So do it."

He glanced down into his cup. "Can I fill it up first? I only have like a third of a cup left."

"No."

He rolled his eyes, then tore open the bag and poured the candy into his coffee. I leaned over, watching as the color dissolved into a grayish sludge.

"It's not hot enough to melt," he complained, giving the cup a little shake.

"Makes it tastier." I reached over to pat his stomach, trying to ignore the hard muscle beneath my hand. "Yum. Drink up."

He did, grimacing around a mouthful of wet candy. "Delicious."

I cracked up.

"God, that's so sweet," he choked out finally. "Ugh. Okay, it's your turn."

"Truth," I said immediately.

"No dare?" He gave me an exaggeratedly wide-eyed look.

---