Page 8 of The Casualty of Us (Philosophies of the Heart Duet #1)

Chapter Four

“Opheliaaaa.”

I roll over and groan at the voice, pleading in my head for five more minutes.

“Listen up, my little bookish princess!” A couple pounds punctuate the shout, and I finally crack my eyes at the noise. “Either you get up right now, or I’m leaving your ass. We only have an hour until our first class and some of us need to eat.”

Marley’s words slowly sink in for a couple of seconds before the reality of them has me sitting up suddenly. “Fuck.” I stumble out of bed while calling back, “Give me five!”

Already pulling my shirt off on the way to the closet and really hoping that I don’t look as bad as my body feels, I grab the first uniform there and change into the ensemble as fast as my sleep-deprived limbs will allow.

Barely stopping to hang the tie uselessly around my neck before I shove my feet into a pair of black ballet flats and rush back to the bathroom, taking the time to brush my teeth since that’s a definite necessity and throwing on some blush so that I don’t look completely dead.

I finish off the quick bathroom routine with some deodorant before making a run to grab my backpack and tossing the tablet inside since I’m guessing I’ll need it.

I open the door to find Marley standing on the other side of it, tapping her foot impatiently and staring at her phone. “Six minutes.” She looks up at me. “Your tie isn’t done, and your hair looks like you got banged last night, but overall, not bad.”

“Shut up.” I yawn at her. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“Rough,” she sighs sympathetically before turning to head for the door. “Come on.”

I follow after her while running my fingers through my hair in what’s most likely a useless attempt to get all the tangles out.

Pushing into the mass exodus that’s happening in the hallway and heading for the stairwell at the end of the hall with the rest of the crowd, Marley falls into easy conversation with a couple of girls she must have met the day before, and I finally introduce myself after they throw about the fifth curious glance my way.

Finding out their names are Evie and Kennedy, respectively, the first a strawberry-blonde who somehow has no clue who I am and the second a brunette with light-brown skin who definitely does but seems too polite to pry.

Both of which are reactions that make them okay in my book.

Everyone discusses the classes they have for the day on the way to the mess hall and who else they know is starting at the school this year.

It gives me some more insight into the little group and allows me surmise that Kennedy has her sights set on grad school while Evie has no clue who I am because she’s apparently in love with math and devotes all her time to it.

Her obvious love for the subject has me wrinkling my nose as we push into the mess hall, and I get my first look at the inside of the place.

Bright morning light comes in through all of those windows and casts a warm glow across the multitude of tables lining the room.

Rows of students stand in front of a long counter that stretches out on the left side and seems to be broken up by the alphabetical signs above it, sectioning everyone up as people wait to pick up their orders.

The sight of it has a curse slipping past my lips with the reminder of instructions that I definitely didn’t follow. “Dammit.”

Marley looks over at me. “What?”

“I forgot to order food.”

“Sorry.” She cringes, looking both longing and lost as Evie and Kennedy go off to join the lines.

“It’s fine, I’ll—”

“Baby sister!”

I turn around at the sound of Ollie’s voice, quickly finding where he’s standing at a table near the center of them all and waving at me.

Crooked grin in place and delight on his face as he stands there in a uniform that’s the reverse of mine, with a dark green jacket and black pants.

The sight of him alive and well instantly eases some of my anxiety.

“I’ll go sit with my brother and order something.” I turn back to Marley, noting that she’s followed my line of sight. “Come find me after you get your food?”

“Yeah.” She smiles, looking back at me with a nod. “Perfect.”

I lift my lips with a quick grin before turning to head for Ollie, reaching back to dig through my backpack along the way.

Thankful for the morning rush that’s distracting everyone from looking at me too long.

I finally find the tablet and pull it out just as I’m sliding into the empty seat beside my twin.

Barely sparing a glance for the two roommates that sit across the table before looking down at it because, well… I’m too sleep-deprived for all that.

A finger boops my nose. “You look tired.”

I refrain from looking up at Ollie, desperately scrolling through the tablet while informing him. “Didn’t sleep great.” Steadfastly ignoring the scowl that I’m sure is adorning his face in the silence that follows and supplying instead, “And I forgot to order breakfast before coming down.”

“You won’t get it in time.” I look up at Holden’s quiet voice and find him eyeing me nervously. “There’s a thirty-minute wait time after you order, and your first class is at nine, right? Same as ours?” A blank stare is all I give him before he cringes. “You won’t get food in time.”

I drop the tablet to the table with a sudden breath. “Fuck.”

“Now, now.” Ollie pats my back. “Don’t worry, just give me a second and I’ll go steal someone’s breakfast for you—”

“You can’t steal some—”

“Yes, I can actually,” he snorts. “It’ll be easy—”

“Oliver—”

“Here.” The single word is punctuated by the slide of a tray against the wood table, and I turn back to find a pair of hazel eyes all lit up with amusement that I don’t appreciate. His tray now stretched out vertically between us. “I ordered too much. Help yourself.”

I scowl at him out of principle. “Dimples.”

“Dimples?” He punctuates the word with a laugh before nodding with something like appreciation. “That’s a new one, but I’d expect nothing less from the girl named Ophelia.” His hand moves to the tray and he pushes it closer to me, finishing more insistingly. “Now eat.”

My scowl deepens, and the grin starts to fall from his lips before Ollie sighs.

“Okay, I’m going to go find—”

“No,” I cut in, something about the challenge coming out to play on Hayes’s face sparking the stubbornness in me. “It’s fine, I’ll eat his food. It’s not a big deal.”

A few more seconds of silence pass before Holden mumbles uncomfortably, “Right.”

But I’m not really paying attention.

Instead I look down at the tray with a typical breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon laid out across it, debating for a second before grabbing a slice of bacon and lifting it to my mouth while giving him a sarcastic grin.

Not sure why I’m feeling so contradictory about him being nice to me.

His dimples twitch as we continue to stare at each other, and I’m about two seconds away from spitting out the bacon when Ollie’s hand comes down between us.

“Okay, whoa.” He points sternly at Hayes. “You there, baby sister, remember?”

Hayes finally looks away, moving his gaze to Ollie and clearing his throat. “Right, sorry.”

“And you.” Ollie’s hand comes to the side of my head, physically turning it his way and letting me spot the nerves on his face. “Hayes is my football-playing roommate.”

“Ah.” I blink up at him, swallowing down the bacon with a nod. “Gotcha.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

Hayes’s voice has me glancing back over at him, pausing for a second before shrugging. “Nothing, really, you’re just a Kyler.”

Any trace of dimples leaves his face, and I have to stop the grin that tries to pop up from my own amusement. “What’s a Kyler?”

“Nothing,” Ollie quickly interjects. “Just a twin thing.”

Hayes opens his mouth, but Holden beats him to it, interrupting absently. “Twins are weird.” Drawing all of our gazes as he sips some orange juice. “Just saying, there’s been lots of studies on it, and twins are weird. They have freaky ESP with each other and stuff.”

I giggle at that, pausing before taking another bite to toss out. “I think I like you, Holden.”

“I have coffee too, if you want some.”

I look back at Hayes to see him sliding a large cup my way, and the bacon must be doing something for me because the urge to scowl isn’t as strong as before.

“No, thanks.” I shake my head. “I don’t drink coffee, it makes me too jittery.”

He tilts his head at me curiously. “What do you drink then?”

“Tea. Black. With two—”

“Sugars and a splash of coconut milk,” Ollie finishes for me, sliding his own mug my way.

I don’t hesitate to pick up the tea and drink a sip, knowing that it’ll be perfect.

“See?” Holden points between us with his fork and shoots Hayes a look. “Freaking weird, man.”

“Sorry.” Marley drops into the seat next to me with a huff. “They took freaking forever to get my food.”

“No worries.” I wave her off, quickly taking another sip of tea and grabbing a second piece of bacon before nodding at the guys around the table. “Marley, this is Hayes, Holden, and my brother Ollie.”

“Oliver.”

“Right.” I roll my eyes at his immediate interjection. “Sorry, Oliver. Guys, this is my roommate Marley.”

Ollie leans against the table, looking past me with the charm now exuding in full force. “Nice to meet you, Marley.”

“Huh?” She looks over at him while cracking her water bottle open. “Oh yeah, nice to meet you.” Her eyes move between us a couple of times before she laughs. “I see what you mean.”

She moves on to her breakfast then, and Ollie whispers in my ear, “What did she mean, she can see what you mean?”

“Nothing.” I shrug, stealing his fork to start in on Hayes’s pancakes. “Just told her we look alike, is all.” Cutting myself some neat little bites before peeking up at him to find a confused look there. “Chill. She’s cool.”