“Is it seriously 11 already?” I asked, stretching and getting to my feet.

“Yeah, you slept most of the morning away,” Jason said, folding up his paper and pushing it into the recycle bin. “You get a day off, and you waste it.” His tone was condescending.

My jaw clenched and I held my response in. “I’m just waiting for Nolan,” I said, realizing she probably should have been here by now.

“Oh! I totally forgot,” Dylan said, wiping down the counter and not really paying attention to me. “She came by this morning. Early.”

I was waiting for her to tell me more, and when I realized she wasn’t going to, I urged her on. “Uh, yeah? What did she say?” I had my hands held out to my sides, waiting.

“Nothing. It was really early. I was the only one up, so I told her you were still sleeping,” she started toward the stairs. Suddenly, a suspicion flared inside me.

“Hey, Dylan? Were you in my shirt when you went to the door?” I asked, already knowing but hoping nonetheless.

“Uh, yeah,” she rolled her eyes at me and darted up the stairs.

“Shit!” I pulled my phone from my pocket and saw a text from Nolan.

So much for never.

“Goddamn it!” I grabbed my keys from the counter and rushed to the door, sliding into a pair of flip-flops. Jason had put it together, too, and just started bellowing with laughter, like it was the f**king funniest thing he’d ever seen. I really did hate him.

Reed

I must have dialed Nolan’s phone 20 times during my drive to her dorm, each time it clicked right to voicemail. I knew it would. Why I kept hoping for a different result each time I pressed her number, I don’t know.

Two girls were working at the front desk in her dorm, and thankfully, they were too distracted by their own conversation to pay much attention to me when I blew right past them and charged up the stairs. I got to her room and knocked lightly at first; I could hear the light murmuring of her television so I knew she was there. I waited for a few long seconds and didn’t hear any movement so I knocked louder. When I still heard nothing, I reached for the handle and started to turn it when suddenly the door flew open, making me stumble.

The tall, skinny tattooed guy staring back at me was not what I expected, and I had to shake my head a little, worried that perhaps somehow I’d barged into the wrong room. When I heard Nolan call my name, I was even more confused. I sucked my top lip in a bit and let my vision bounce between Nolan and the strange guy who was in her room…in his socks? He looked waaaayyy too comfortable to be in here.

“Uh, and you are?” I folded my arms in front of me and stared him down. Unfazed, he just reached out a hand for me to shake it.

“Hi, I’m Gavin. I live upstairs,” he said, like everything here was normal. I didn’t shake his hand and instead just pushed by him and made my way to Noles who was lying on her bed, her head propped up with pillows and her favorite blanket wrapped around her feet.

“What the hell?” I said, forgetting for a second why I’d come. I pointed over my shoulder to the strange dude who I did not like feeling so at home in Nolan’s room.

Nolan just rolled her eyes at my gesture, and I would have taken her bait if the cold stare that followed didn’t jolt me back to the entire reason I’d driven here. “Noles, you are soooo off on this one,” I started, but she was quick to cut me off.

“What are you doing here, Reed? Just leave,” she was pale and looked ill. I’d hurt her, and it was killing me.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I said, probably a little too defensively, but I was still worked up. When Gavin interrupted us and reached for my arm it didn’t help things.

“Reed, right? Why don’t we go take a walk or something, hey? She’s had a bit of a day…” he was trying to explain things to me, like he had any part in our lives. It was pissing me off.

“Gavin, right?” I said, mocking his words. “Why don’t you take a walk?” I stood right in his face, our chests inches apart. I was pretty sure if I had to I could break him in half, and part of me wanted to.

Looking for a lifeline, Gavin peered over at Nolan who just rolled her eyes and told him to give us a few minutes. A few minutes? What the f**k was going on?

Gavin left, letting her know he’d just be upstairs if she needed anything. I did not like this guy. When the door closed, I turned back to Nolan who was sitting up taller on her bed now and pulling her blanket up to her chest. Something was definitely wrong with her; she was sick, maybe? I just wanted to pick her up and put her in my lap and stroke her hair until she fell asleep. But I had to fix the mess my brother made for me first.