Page 119 of Massacre Monday

Narrowing my eyes, I perch a hand on my hip. “Are you getting needy without me?”

The lightness of his eyes becomes a faraway look, as if he’s thinking of something from the past. A heavy sigh leaves his smiling lips. “Yeah. I am. I don’t like it.”

Something in me warms at that until I remember why I fell in love with him. Leaning across the bed, I tap a kiss on his forehead, and he settles back on the pillows. “I’ll hurry back to you. I love you.”

“Pleasedon’t leave me alone too long. I love you, too.”

Henry is playing with his phone out in the hall when I open the door. He flips around his baseball cap and gives me a broad smile, then shoves his hands in his pockets along with his device.

“Ready?” he asks.

“Yep.”

We stroll across the street toward campus, the sun shining brightly on a crisp autumn day, highlighting the colorful trees with the last of their leaves. A stiff wind cuts through the buildings as we do, aiming for the center, where the three stone towers of administration stand. A clock tower chimes ten between them.

Along the way, it seems every freshman girl ogles my escort. Scratch that…Allthe women. And he flashes them that star-winning smile I’ve seen on Ryan so many times.

“How many hearts are you breaking, Henry?”

The tip of his tongue escapes as he licks his bottom lip, trying to contain a grin. “Maybe I’m gettingminestomped on, you don’t know.”

“Are you?”

He shrugs. “Nah.”

“There’s plenty of time, I suppose.”

He tosses his muscular arm over my shoulders. He’s almost taller than Ryan, and leaner. Built like the second baseman he is for the Nighthawks.

“It also helps having you next to me. Girls want what they can’t have.”

“So do boys,” I say, glancing up at his jovial face.

“Very true.”

“So is there someone you want that you can’t have?”

He sighs. “Not yet. But I’m hoping!”

As we approach the main building, my chest tightens. “I feel guilty,” I confess.

“Why?”

“Because I’ve never given up on a class.”

“Meh, there will be other ones. I’d drop all of mine if I could and still play ball.”

“What aboutThetaobligations?”

“Well, those, too.”

One tiny blonde eyes Henry carefully, her face flushing bright red. Henry’s eyes lock onto hers as she passes by us, ducking her head into the Bursar’s office.

“Okay. Well, we’re here. You don’t have to walk me around. I have English this afternoon.”

But he’s not paying me any more attention. “Yeah, okay…” As he wanders next door to where the little woman went, I giggle to myself.

As soon as I finish up, a lightness comes over me. Sure, I can’t eradicate it from my transcripts, but hopefully, I can still graduate in Criminal Justice. If Ryan has to be CEO and we’re staying here, I could work on justice reform locally.