I arrive to class twenty minutes late, slipping into the seat beside Jessica with as much stealth as I can manage.
"Where have you been?" she whispers.
"It's a long story," I murmur, dragging my laptop out of my bag. "I'll tell you everything after class."
She nods without pressing, both of us turning to face the professor like nothing happened. I try to focus, I do—but my body still feels warm in strange places, and my mind keeps drifting back to this morning. His lips. His voice. The way he looked at me like I was some kind of problem he didn't know how to solve.
After the hour's up, most people shuffle out, but Jess and I stay behind to finish our work.
"Hey," she leans in, grinning, "sleepover this weekend?"
I force a smile, fingers hovering over my keyboard. "Yeah, sure, that sounds fun."
"But where?" Jennie chimes in from the other side.
"My place," I say, maybe too enthusiastically.
"Wait—won't your roommate mind?"
