Page 4 of Still Here Without You

“What guy? Where is he? I want to meet him.” Her eyes scan the room like she’s searching for this make-believe person.

“Me,” I deadpan. “I’m that guy.”

“Ugh! Then I suddenly prefer horror.”

“I’m that guy too. Very versatile in my movie watching.”

“Yay. Good for you.” She celebrates with invisible pom-poms.

I eye her with curiosity. “Do you even use pom-poms, or is all that a lie?”

“Have you seriously never been to a sports game?”

“I’m actually a regular. I just enjoy messing with you. I can even picture your uniform in my head. Stand up for a sec so I can really—”

Oomph.She kicks me under the table, and it fucking hurts. I can’t blame her, though. I deserved it. Leaning down, I rub my shin just as another student pops her head through the door, clearly frazzled.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. I’m looking for my study group, but they must have given me the wrong room number.” The girl is beet red and obviously embarrassed for interrupting.

“That’s okay, sweetie. What room were you looking for? I’m getting lost in this place all the time,” Delilah says with a small laugh.

Sweetie? What?

The girl visibly relaxes and smiles over at Del.

“24E.”

“Oh, you’ve got the right room, wrong floor. It’s directly above us.”

“Oh, my goodness, I’m so sorry,” the girl says with her hand raised to her mouth.

“Don’t be sorry. It’s not a problem. We’ve all been there. Honestly, it’s fine. Just head on up the stairs to your left, and then it basically looks the same as this floor.”

What’s going on here?

The girl smiles at Delilah like she’s her new best friend. “Thank you, I appreciate it.”

“Anytime,” Delilah says, smiling back at her.

My eyes bounce between the two of them before the girl walks away, and they lock tight on Delilah. “What the fuck was that?” I ask as I stare at her in shock.

“What was what?” she replies innocently, causingmeto roll my eyes.

“That. That…” I wave my hand around as though that will explain everything, but she just stares at me with a furrowed brow.Is she for real?

“What's with the fake bubbly personality?Sweetie. Don’t be sorry. Oh, I know. Giggles.”

“Shut up. The last two didn’t happen, but the rest was the real me. The Delilah among friends.” She smiles, as though lost in memories of the friends she’s talking about.

“So you’re being fake with me, then?”

“Nope. They’re both me. The personality you’re getting is a special one I reserve for people I don't like,” she states with indifference.Ouch.

“Aww, you don’t like me? Here I was thinking it was too soon to judge each other,” I say, trying to hold back a cocky grin as the pinkish hue returns to her beautiful skin.

“What can I say…you make an instant impression,” she sasses, and I gotta say, I’m impressed that she always has a comeback.

“As do you.” I nod my head, pretending to tip my nonexistent hat, and I’m blessed with the biggest eye roll I’ve ever seen. Laughing at her expression, I pick up my textbook and open up to the chapter we were working on.

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