Page 5

Shane

“Y ou can let go of my shirt now.”

I have no idea who this girl is. She came out of nowhere, looking at me like I had personally offended her somehow. But I’ve never seen her before. She’s short, has beautiful light brown skin, a head full of wild, curly black hair that goes past her shoulders, and the most pigmented blue eyes I’ve ever seen. She’s cute, and I would have definitely remembered if we had hooked up.

I was on my way to one of the art buildings to drop off the sketchbook when she ran up to me and started talking so fast that I couldn’t understand her. When she finally stopped to catch her breath, I asked if she was okay. She huffed, rolled her eyes, and then grabbed my shirt and told me to come with her.

When I realized she was walking towards the cafeteria, my stomach growled, reminding me that I missed breakfast. I stopped trailing behind and walked next to her instead of being dragged.

She gives the door a shove so hard that it bounces off the wall.

“Damn. What’d the door ever do to you?”

She smiles at me and walks through the threshold with her head held high.

This girl is crazy. I’m sure of it.

I spot a group of football players being obnoxious off to the right. As we walk past them, I spot Johnston, the QB, as he raises an eyebrow at me. I wink at him and keep walking. His face flushes as he quickly looks away.

Gotta love how college brings the bi-curious guys out to play.

I turn my head away from Johnston, and I lock eyes with stunning golden-brown orbs.

I stop in my tracks.

It’s him.

The girl tugs at my shirt. “Don’t stop now, Sticks. The table is right over there.”

What?

“Sticks?”

“Ya, Sticks. You know, because you play hockey,” she says like I’m a dumbass.

“You know who I am?”

She rolls her eyes and starts walking again.

Well, this just got a little more interesting.

As we get closer to the guy I’ve been thinking about since yesterday afternoon, I watch as his eyes get huge. We stop in front of him.

“Charlie, I believe this hunk of a man has something of yours.”

Charlie. I finally have his name.

I smile at him and get lost in his eyes for a minute.

He’s looking back at me, but I don’t think he’s breathing. I have no idea how long we stay like this but when a sharp jab hits my hip, I snap out of it.

Looking down at the feisty girl, I’ve forgotten what she said. She nudges the book in my hand and not so subtly tilts her head to Charlie, whose eyes have gone comically wide.

“Oh yeah. This is yours. You dropped it when we crashed into each other yesterday.”

I smile as I hand it to him and watch as he slowly takes it, almost like he’s scared I poisoned it or something.

He looks down and gives it a quick hug, then puts it in his bag. He peeks up at me through his hair as his cheeks turn an adorable shade of pink.

“Thanks,” he softly mumbles.

“You’re welcome. I’m Shane by the way. I was actually on my way to turn it in when I was snatched by this one,” I thumb to the girl next to me.

“Lily, what have I told you about walking up to people and just pulling them along somewhere without explaining yourself first?” Says a guy I didn’t even notice. He looks like he just rolled in from the beach. He gives off strong surfer dude vibes with his shoulder-length blonde wavy hair, tanned skin, and white seashell necklace.

“That it’s rude.” Lily all but pouts.

“Exactly.”

He looks up at me and assesses me from head to toe with his head tilted. “Let me guess, she came at you like a hurricane talking a mile a minute, and you had no idea what was going on?”

“Yup. Pretty much. But I had Charlie’s sketchbook, and I can see that it’s really important to him, so her reaction kind of makes sense.” I wink down at her as she takes a seat next to surfer guy.

Not wanting to tower over them, I sit next to Charlie. As I sit down, my arm brushes the sleeve of his hoodie. He flinches slightly and scoots to the opposite edge of his chair. I furrow my brows not understanding his reaction. I look over at him to see what that was about but he’s staring a hole into the table.

“I’m Noah, the sane one of this group.” Surfer guy says with a smile.

I look over to him and nod, returning his smile.

Looking back at Charlie, I notice his shoulders are now up by his ears and his hood is up.

O-kay. I guess that’s the end of this little meet and greet.

Getting up, I look at Noah. “It was nice meeting you.” I turn to Lily. “I’m not sure how I feel about you yet, but I do like your loyalty to your friend.” She smiles at me, proud of herself. I turn to Charlie, expecting him to be looking up at me, but he’s still hunched forward, looking at the table.

“I’m glad you have your book back, Charlie. I hope we meet again.”

I waved bye to them and headed over to where I saw Ryder and Matt sitting on the other side of the cafeteria.

I make a detour to grab some food first. When I get to the table, Matt is smiling like a loon.

“What the hell are you smiling about?” I ask as I sit down.

“Oh, I was just watching the train wreck of you scaring the shit out of that guy.”

“I didn’t scare him. He didn’t want to talk is all.”

I peek over my shoulder to look at him, but it’s only Noah and Lily at the table now.

Did I scare him?

Shaking my head, I bring my attention back and dig into my food.

“All I’m saying is he looked like you were going to bite his head off or something. I could see his eyes bug out from here.”

“Shut up, Matt,” Ryder says as he steals a roll from my plate.

Asshole.

He thankfully listens, and we finish our lunch with small talk about our upcoming home opener.

Thirty minutes later, Matt heads to his class while Ryder and I head to the gym. I need to run this weird feeling off.

“Was he actually scared or just shocked?” Ryder asks as we walk to the center of the campus where the student athletic Fitness Center is located.

“I’m not really sure, Ry. He looked a bit shocked at first but when I gave him his book, he sort of curled in on himself.”

He doesn’t say anything as we walk to the side entrance. Entering the building, we’re quiet as we turn into the locker room. We quickly swap our jeans and tees for basketball shorts and tanks. In the cardio area, we spot Benji already running on a treadmill. We nod at him as we get on our own treadmills and start a light jog.

“Do you think he’s just shy and didn’t know what to say,” Ryder finally asks.

“I mean, I guess, but he flinched when my arm barely brushed his hoodie. It was like I zapped him or something.”

He shrugs and ups the speed while I’m still trying to wrap my head around what happened.

Nobody has ever reacted like that towards me. I’m friends with half the school and get along with everyone I meet. So why is he so scared of me?

Letting out a defeated breath, I pick up speed to a fast-paced run until my mind quiets and all I can focus on is my breathing.