Sabrina took a seat at her usual table at Campus Eats, then opened her Communication Studies textbook to chapter 12. She began reading, but a general haze had descended across her brain and she couldn’t quite seem to focus. This was the weirdest cold she’d ever had—sore throat, fever on and off, and a bit of a cough. No runny nose, no sinus congestion, but an overwhelming sense of exhaustion that she couldn’t seem to shake.
For just a moment, she fantasized about going to Nana’s, crawling under the covers, and taking a long nap. She could practically feel the warmth of the flannel sheets, smell the hint of lavender-scented fabric softener on her pillow as her head sank into its depths. Just a little rest, it sounded so wonderful.
No.
There was no time for indulgence right now. With two projects due and a test on Friday, she couldn’t afford to slack off now. Not when the words magna cum laude were within her grasp.
She hunched over the book, leaned her left cheek on her hand, and tried again. You must carefully decide the tone and style of your communication for each new project. These types of decisions . . . It was no use. She couldn’t focus. Perhaps a bit of caffeine would help. She pushed out of her seat, walked behind the counter, and began concocting what she hoped might get her through the afternoon. “Hey, Nicole, will you ring me up?”
“Sure thing.” Nicole stood up, setting her romance novel aside, and sauntered over to the cash register. “What’d you make?”
“Skinny latte. With a couple of extra shots.”
“Triple shot? Whoowee. I thought you were a little slow today, but it never entered my mind that the herbal tea girl would go to these kinds of extremes. Everything okay? You not sleeping?”
“I can’t shake this cold.”
“Well, it’s in your own best interests not to give it to me. Unlike you, I’ll call in sick. Unless you’re keen on working my shifts and yours, you best be keeping your germs to yourself.”
“I’ll do my best.” Sabrina went back to her table, dropped to her seat, and took a long deep swallow. Hopefully the caffeine would kick in soon.
“Hello there.”
Sabrina almost spit out her coffee when she heard the voice, that warm, mellow voice, coming from just behind her. She looked over her shoulder. “Hi, Koen.”
He stood there, in all his perfection, just looking at her. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this.”
“You think?” I sure don’t. Almost two weeks had passed since their last encounter and its disastrous end. Sabrina could only hope he would forget that part.
He slid the chair beside her away from the table. “May I?”
“Of course.”
“So, you want to study together after psych tomorrow? You promised you’d help me, remember?”
Sabrina was more than certain she’d made no such promise, but if Koen Conner wanted to spend time with her, who was she to argue? “I work in here tomorrow from two to five. I could study with you after that, if that’s not too late.”
He leaned just a fraction closer. “I’m pretty sure I’ve never in my life thought five o’clock was too late for anything.” He grinned. “Too early maybe, but never too late.”
Was it her cold, or just Koen’s normal effect that made her thoughts spin in so many directions, completely unable to find a coherent thought? Somehow she managed to say, “You say that to all your study partners.” Could she be any more cliché and any less interesting? Somehow she doubted it. Lindy Stewart would have had a witty response, no doubt.
Trying to clear her thoughts, she looked away from him and out the window. A loose piece of paper blew across the school lawn and skidded off a trash can before landing beside a girl crossing the sidewalk. It took a split second before Sabrina realized who she’d just seen. “You gotta be kidding me.” Sabrina looked again, but the girl was gone.
“No, I’m really not. I really want to study with you tomorrow.” Koen’s response recaptured her full attention.
“No, I wasn’t talking about that. Of course we’ll study together tomorrow.”
“I must say, you had me worried there for a second.” He grinned at her, but seemed uncertain.
“Sorry, just thought I saw someone. That girl from the police chase the other day, and it distracted me, that’s all.”
Koen turned to look out the window. “Oh, Gazelle Girl? It might’ve been her. I noticed her here earlier today. She was standing in the back of the parking lot when I pulled up. I watched her for a minute to make sure I felt safe to leave my car nearby. She sort of strikes me as the ‘bust out the window to steal your stuff’ type, you know what I mean?”
“You’re a wise man.”
“You know her?”
Sabrina tried hard not to let the sight of Brandy spoil this moment for her. “Bit of a complicated story, but yeah, it turns out our grandmothers know each other. I wonder what she’s doing. She’s not a student here.”
“Funny thing is, the whole time I was watching her, she remained dead still and was just staring off in the same direction. I finally turned to see what she might be looking at, and . . . this is going to sound weird, I know . . . but you were walking from your car to the science building, and I could have sworn she was watching you.” He shook his head and grinned at her. “Didn’t we learn something like that in psychology? I know I watch you when I can, so therefore I feel like others would, too. Oh, project, that’s it, isn’t it? Projection?”
Sabrina twittered something that sounded more or less like a laugh, or so she hoped. “Something like that.” She looked out the window again, and this time found Brandy sitting on a bench, looking directly at her. For a long moment they regarded each other, then Brandy stood up and strolled oh so casually in the general direction of the back parking lot. “That is so weird.”
“It is a bit odd, I’ll grant you that, projection or not.”
Just then Lindy Stewart and friends breezed into Campus Eats. Sabrina grimaced. “Speaking of psychological behavior.”
Koen glanced over his shoulder, then turned back. “Unfortunately, I think this is more than a case of projection. It’s more of a fixation issue. She practically stalks me.”
Sabrina couldn’t help the jealous pang, and she hated herself for it. In an effort to pretend it wasn’t there, she decided to confront the situation head on. “She is so pretty.”
“Pretty’s fine, but you talk about needy . . .” He let out a low whistle. “I personally like the independent and self-sufficient type. Some things just aren’t worth the cost. Know what I mean?” He stood up. “Well, me and the boys are playing pick up b-ball in a few minutes, so I better get moving.”
“Okay. See you tomorrow, then.”
“Yep. Fourth floor of the library at five o’clock. Sound good?”
“The library?” Sabrina hated studying in the library. She liked the noise and activity of the snack shop.
His face went serious. “Is that not okay?”
“It’s fine. Good, actually.” No need to put a damper on things. “I’ll make a set of note cards for us to study by.”
“Note cards? Man, you are motivated. Just don’t work too hard or I’m going to have to tutor you in how to loosen up a little.”
“And I’m going to exert my best effort on bringing up your grade in psych to a respectable level. Looks like we are on opposing sides of this situation.”
“Let’s just consider this a challenge. At the end of the semester, we’ll evaluate who made the most progress. May the best man, or woman, win.”
“You got it.” Sabrina watched him sling his backpack over his shoulder as he sauntered easily from the campus snack shop, waving at Lindy and her group as he walked past. She hoped she felt better tomorrow. Tomorrow . . . with Koen. She sighed with happiness at the thought, then opened her laptop, determined to finish her communications reading.
She made it through approximately three pages before she had to stand up and stretch in an effort to keep her mind moving. Her muscles ached, as did her throat. She had become familiar with the symptoms and knew she was running a fever again. Well, it didn’t matter. She had work to do and she had to get it done. There was no place for slacking off now. She looked at the window, wondering about Brandy’s presence and what she might be up to.
Koen’s suggestion that Brandy was watching her, or perhaps it was just her bad cold, caused a chill to run up Sabrina’s spine. She vowed to keep a close watch for the next few days. If Brandy was following her, she was going to find out why.