Page 97 of Wanted You More

He turns to me with his hands up in surrender. “Jeez, would you relax?” He rubs his arm with a frown. “Damn, you pack a punch.”

Ugh.What a baby. “I thought we were friends, and you broke my roommate’s heart and then ghosted me.”

Lincoln takes his headphones off and sets them in front of him. “I didn’t want to put you in the middle of it because youaremy friend.”

I pull the chair beside him out and sit. “I don’t understand. What happened?”

His hesitation only makes the anticipation grow as I drop my bag next to his on the floor and unzip my jacket. “I told you before that I wasn’t sure if things would work. I like Kennedy too much to lead her on.”

While I respect that, it doesn’t answer my question. “She hasn’t been to classes all week. She’s been emailing them saying she caught the flu, and you know how she is about school. Have you said anything to her?”

“What do you want me to say, Austen?” His eye twitches as he turns away from me. “Do you talk to any of your exes?”

If I had any, I probably wouldn’t. “We’re not talking about me. You respect Kennedy, right? Who’s to say we can’t all get through this? We started off as friends. There isn’t anything that’s stopping us from being back to that.”

“I saw her naked,” he points out, face deadpan when he looks at me again.

I try to lighten the mood. “So have I. That doesn’t mean that I can’t be seen around her.”

We both know I haven’t seen her in the same way he has, but it was worth a shot.

“Look,” I say, sighing. “She’s upset. I don’t think she knows what to do because she knows you and I are friends too. Maybe if you reach out to her just to see if she’s okay, it’ll break the ice. I’m not saying you have to get back together or anything but be her friend. I honestly think she’d like knowing you guys are okay.”

Don’t we all just want to know that we have people on our side? I may have resting bitch face and a bad habit of hating mushy people, but I know college would suck a lot more if I didn’t have my friends around.

Lincoln thinks on it. “Are you sure? Because I’ve had girls in the past who usually cussed me out if I tried talking to them after I ended things.”

“How many of the girls in your past were like Kennedy?” I counter, brows drawn upward. “We both know she’s one of a kind. I think if there’s one person who will forgive you, it’s her.”

Slowly, he nods.

I nudge his elbow. “If it were me, I would probably rip you a new one and block you on everything. You got lucky with Ken.”

When I look over to shoot him a teasing smile, I see him staring at me. I can’t quite get a read on his distant expression, but eventually, he shakes his head and huffs out a laugh.

“Yeah,” he murmurs. “Got lucky.”

I turn in my chair and get out my things. “Our normal seats are way better, but I guess these are okay too.”

“I didn’t make you sit here.”

His tart reply has my brows raising. “I’m only teasing, Lincoln. You don’t need to be a dick about it.”

When he doesn’t say anything, I blow out a sigh and collect my things. He only pays me any attention when I stand and start walking over to my normal chair. “Stop. I’m sorry. This whole thing is weird for me, okay? I don’t want to say or do the wrong thing and make you hate me too.”

As much as I don’t want to, I feel bad for him. “Kennedy doesn’t hate you. She isn’t capable of something like that.”

His lips twitch downward. “Everybody is capable of hate.”

Maybe so, but I don’t verbally agree. “I don’t want things to be weird. You’re my friend, and so is Kenny. We need a neutral ground to get back to the swing of things.”

“Like what?”

The professor walks in, but it doesn’t stop me from plotting. “My birthday is this weekend. I’m planning on having a little get together. You should come. Bumping into each other there will give you guys more room to talk.”

He contemplates his options and must decide that it’s a decent idea. “Text me with the details. It can’t hurt to try.”

I eye him accusingly. “Are you going to text me back this time?”

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