Page 39 of Hard Rock Love

Seth’s eye twitched, looking pained.

“I don’t think those will be on the test either, though,” I said.

“Thank fuck,” he said, tense shoulders easing up. “You scared me for a moment there.”

I was about to suggest we return to studying when Seth’s phone pinged. We both looked to it. I saw it was from Julian.

“Aw shit, he rarely texts,” Seth said. “You mind if I check it? It could be something important.”

I waved at him to go ahead.

Seth picked up his phone and thumbed at the screen. His usual bright and cheery expression soon faded as more messages came in. The corners of his mouth turned down, his face turning crestfallen. He typed one last message and tossed his phone back onto the table with a dejected sigh.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

Seth shook his head.

“Nah,” he said. “It’s nothing big.”

“I don’t want to pry,” I began, “but you don’t look happy. Was it something Julian said?”

“No, it’s just…” he let out a heavy breath. “We were planning this guys’ weekend ‘cause Julian’s been kind of down lately. I think the stress is getting to him. But Ever surprised him with a weekend getaway to help cheer him up. So he cancelled on me.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, my heart going out to him. “I get it. My sister and Julian are practically joined at the hip nowadays. I haven’t seen much of her either.”

“It’s not so much that he’s spending all this time with her,” Seth said. “I totally get that. It’s just, Julian always used to turn to me in times like this, you know? Now he’s got Ever. I’m not jealous,” he said hastily. “Not really. It just sort of makes me feel…” Seth paused, looking perturbed. Then he shrugged, and forced a smile. “Anyway. It doesn’t matter. It’s good he’s got more people in his life he can rely on.”

I could see how much effort it took Seth to keep that smile on his lips. He was upset, but didn’t want to show it. I wanted to make him feel better, but I didn’t know how. It wasn’t like I could butt into their friendship and try to patch things up. It wasn’t my place.

But maybe I could do something else.

“Let’s take a study break,” I suggested. “We can go do something fun, instead. I think you need cheering up.”

Seth cocked his head at me.

“You want to cheer me up?” he repeated.

“There’s not much to do on campus that’s really fun, but I do know the students in one of the engineering classes are getting ready for this robot fighting competition in the science wing.”

“Robots?” Seth gaped before beaming at me and fist pumping in the air. “Awesome! That’s the coolest thing ever.”

“I thought you might like that.”

Seth’s excited expression turned thoughtful as he stared at me, a look of wonder crossing his face.

“It’s usually the other way around,” he said.

“What is?” I asked.

“I’m always the one cheering everyone else up.”

It was true that Seth was usually the upbeat one with a sunny smile, always making people laugh, always lighting up the room.

A pang of sympathy went through me.

Did it really never go the other way around?

“This time it’s my turn,” I told him. “Let’s go watch some robots destroy each other.”