Page 14 of Out for the Night

“I want to help.”

“Stop!” Matty shoved Coop’s hand, which was holding onto his textbook. Page 183 went with it, as did pages 184-190. The tear of the pages slashed through Matty. Coop’s eyes went wide with disbelief at the torn pages in his hand.

All Matty saw was red.

“Fuck. I’m so sorry. I have glue in my dorm.”

“Stop! I don’t want your help! If you want to help, then never come back to the library. Never sit next to people who are actually trying to do work.”

“I said I was sorry.”

Matty didn’t bother getting in another fight with him. He shoved his books in his bag, zipped it up, and got the hell out of there.

Chapter 5

Coop

Coop and Rafestrolled through a path of cherry blossom trees, their buds ballooning with anticipation. Coop didn’t take in the view. He was glued to his phone, though that didn’t stop Rafe from yammering on.

“Spencer didn’t put on the bow tie!” Rafe wore a hoodie and black shorts even though it was well into the sixties. A part of him seemed to enjoy being heartbroken as much as being in love. He tapped pointedly at Coop’s arm. “Hello? Any thoughts, comments, concerns, or allegations?”

“Oh, sorry.”

“You’ve been on your phone more than usual all week.” Rafe yoinked it from Coop’s grip. “Why are you looking up engineering textbooks?”

“No reason.”

Guilt had jabbed at Coop’s chest all week, ever since he watched Matty flee the library. He’d meant to distract the guy, not ruin his textbook. Coop wasn’t one of those cocky assholes, much as he tried. And he wasn’t a bully. He’d spent his time since then on his phone, searching for Matty’s textbook online. He strained his memory trying to remember the book’s name like an eyewitness on the stand.

“That’s highway robbery, even for college textbooks.” Rafe shook his head at the screen. “One hundred and forty dollars for a textbook?”

Tell me about it.Coop felt like even more of an asshole. He yoinked his phone back and returned it to his pocket.

Coop threw a supportive arm around Rafe’s shoulders. “If this guy didn’t put on a bow tie, it’s his loss.”

“He didn’t even think about putting it on,” Rafe said without skipping a beat. “He looked at it for half a second then tossed it into his cereal bowl and threw it out.”

“In all fairness, it was fluorescent blue and sparkly.”

“I got it at a costume shop.”

“It was a ridiculous-looking tie, Rafe. Who’d want to wear it?”

Rafe cut his eyes to his roommate. “Someone who doesn’t mind being ridiculous with me.”

A few minutes later, they were back in the confines of their dorm. They ambled through the crowded lobby and up the stairs to their floor. A familiar body waited outside their door.

“It’s your ‘friend’ again,” Rafe said with air quotes. He warned them not to have sex on his bed and bid them adieu.

“Hi, Kelvin. You know you can always email or Snapchat me, too.”

Kelvin wasn’t in the mood for jokes. He gripped a crumpled paper in his fist. Coop let him inside.

“He did it again,” Kelvin said. “He aced the stupid test and fucked over the curve for us.”

He tossed the paper at Coop. It had a C-minus written in green ink at the top.

“You couldn’t wait until morning to tell me this?”