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“Man, personal space,” I say.
“Sorry.” His forehead creases because that’s not something I’ve requested from him before.
I notice the way he’s looking at me, and it’s weird, like this is the first time he’s ever seen my face. I want to crawl out of my goddamn skin and slip away, but also, don’t want to move.Don’t want him to stop.
“Sorry I’m late,” Ash’s voice comes from nearby, and Ty and I break eye contact. “The cafeteria had a line because they only had one guy working the register.” He sets his stuff down on the chair opposite mine.
“Hey, Ty…” Ash glances between us, seemingly trying to make it make sense since it’s not like I’m best friends with the guy.
Smart as Ash is, I doubt he could guess what’s going on right now even if he tried.
“I, uh…” Ty responds.
He’s not thinking fast enough, and I worry he’s gonna make things as awkward around Ash as he has around me, but fortunately Ash doesn’t press, and instead says, “Oh, I know what you guys are talking about.”
“What?” Ty asks.
I can tell by his panicked expression that he thinks I went off and told my best friend about our conversation the other night, so as Ash settles in his chair, I try to psychically convey to Ty that Ash doesn’t know what the hell happened, and that he won’t unless Ty says something.
I’m expecting him to get angry about thinking I blabbed, but his expression relaxes. “I guess he is your best friend…”
“Ty, why don’t we talk about this later?” I ask, trying to get the guy to shut the hell up because Ash isn’t a dummy, and he’s clearly catching on that something’s up.
“I would have preferred you told me before you told him,” Ty goes on, “because this isn’t just about you.”
“Ty,” I say sternly as Ash glances between us. He might not have suspected anything before, but now he definitely is. “Just official TaskFrat stuff,” I tell Ash. “So it’s something we should talk about another time, Ty.”
Ty’s cheeks pinken—it’s nice not being the one blushing for a change—but Ash just shrugs, seeming to buy the cover. I hate lying to my best friend.
“Yeah, I guess it’s something we can talk about later,” Ty says. “Maybe you can meet me over at Sigma Alpha.”
I should agree, but if I let him leave now, after everything that just happened and everything I’ve been thinking about since this past weekend, it’ll drive me wild. I won’t be able to think about anything else, let alone study.
“You know, maybe we should go ahead and get this sorted out now.” I push to my feet. “Ash, do you mind?”
Ash’s expression twists up. “It’s not a big deal. Get your stuff done.”
I put my book and notebook away, and then we head toward the main stairwell doors. Ty looks anxious as fuck.
“Where do you want to go?” I ask him.
“One of the meeting rooms on the fifth floor,” he says, I’m assuming because that floor’s never that busy.
I’m relieved we’re gonna discuss this right away, since I’m in too much suspense about what he wants to talk about. When we reach the fifth floor, we find an empty room without anyone else on either side, then head in and close the door.
Ty glances around.
“You looking for recording devices?” I ask. “So you can give me a secret mission?” I’m trying to make light of a tense situation, but he glares at me. Doesn’t seem in the mood. “Any other day you would have thought that funny,” I remark.
“Yeah, well, today’s not any other day.”
Then there’s awkward silence again.
I head to the other side of the main table that takes up most of the room, and I set my backpack in one of the swivel chairs. A thousand clever remarks run through my head, butsince Ty’s not in the mood, I wait for him to get to the point.
And wait…
And wait…