“Seriously?” Chelly said with one of her perfectly executed looks of exasperation. “You’re dragging me to the blood donor clinic?”
“Yes,” I said. “It’s your civic duty, especially as an O negative blood type. Do you know that’s the universal donor?”
She rolled her eyes. “Of course I do, because you say it every time you drag me to the clinic.”
“So why do you put up such a fight every single time?”
“If I wanted to give up my blood so easily, I’d call up a vampire. Plus: needles.”
“Maybe that male nurse will be there today,” I said, like I did every time.
She let out a long-suffering sigh as she undid the top two buttons of her white blouse under her Rosewood blazer—an action that would get her in trouble with the dean if she was around. “Fine,” she said, obviously unconcerned with the Rosewood dress code. “But you owe me.”
Whatever. I had known she’d give in because deep down, she recognized that donating blood was an easy and good thing to do. And, though she never spoke about it, I knew that her little brother had been very sick when he was younger and had needed several transfusions. So though she’d never admit it, it was personal for her. I had a feeling her dramatic protests were more for show than due to any actual aversion to losing a pint of blood.
Which meant the three of us (Kaylee was meeting us in the lobby) would be getting on the Rosewood bus and heading into town to donate blood with a bunch of other girls. At the blood donor clinic which was right across the street from A1 Windows.
Fine, all right, I’ll admit it was a bit opportunistic, but the fact is that I round up the girls to go donate blood as often as we are able because of course, it’s an important thing to do. This wasn’t a new thing I’d orchestrated just to meet up with him. So what if it happens to be right near where that guy works? So what if I were to run into him? Pure coincidence.
That was my story, anyway.
So we piled onto the bus and I debated telling the girls about what had happened as we made the short drive into town, but got caught up listening to Kaylee tell us excitedly about how Declan was flying her home with him for Christmas. I was of course happy for her—and who wouldn’t be—for getting the opportunity to travel to London to spend the holidays with her hot future duke. But at the same time, I was silently now dreading the holidays even more. I’d thought I’d at least have one friend to spend the holiday with but now realized I was probably going to be the one girl stuck on campus over Christmas, with maybe the exception of some of the international exchange students who didn’t celebrate. Together we would make up the dean’s Christmas pity party invite list. Maybe I’d see if one of the other girls would take pity on me and take me home with them—a friend’s pity was still better than the dean’s. And at least we’d have some fun, right?
Anyway, by the time Kaylee was wrapping up telling us about her plans (and I swear, I’d never seen that girl talk so much—she was SO head over heels with that duke that she was the cutest thing ever!) the bus was pulling up to the curb out front of the blood donor clinic.
As we waited for the girls in front of us to pile off, Chelly turned to me and quietly said, “So, what’s your deal?”
“Huh?” I said.
She clucked her tongue at me. “Don’t give me that ‘huh?’ crap. What’s going on with you?”
“You’ll have to be more specific,” I asked, sincerely having no idea what she was talking about.
She glanced over at Kaylee, but she was standing in the middle aisle with her back to us, waiting her turn to file to the front of the bus.
Chelly kept her voice low, but said, ticking off on her fingers, “You’re quiet and preoccupied and have been like that for a week.”
I shrugged. “Exams?”
Her eyes rolled up so far, I could almost only see the whites. “Right. You’re telling me those giant bags under your eyes are from staying up late studying?”
“Maybe.”
She crossed her arms. “And why do you keep looking out the window. What’s going on across the street?”
It was only then that I realized I was glancing out the window towards A1 Windows. I dragged my eyes back to focus on hers. “Nothing’s going on across the street,” I said, which was the truth.
“Come on,” Kaylee said, making us both turn and realize we were the last ones on the bus.
“Go on ahead,” Chelly said, giving Kaylee a dismissing wave over her shoulder. Kaylee looked at me, but I shrugged like I had no idea, so she turned and left the bus.
Chelly stared at me, her gaze unwavering. It didn’t take long before I buckled. I told her everything: my sleeping problems, my situation with Rob and now this new obsession with the window guy.
Well, as much as I could tell her in four minutes as we slowly exited the bus.
At first, she didn’t say anything, but then gave me a decisive nod that made my stomach roll over. I was familiar with that nod; I’d been one to deliver that nod, so I knew to fear the nod because it meant she was up to something. “What?” I said. “What are you going to do?”
She looked at me and gave me a smile. “Well first off, I’m moving into your dorm room with you, whether you like it or not, and then...urgle...” the last bit was a bit strangled as I threw my arms around her and squeezed her hard, fighting back tears of relief and love. She laughed, but didn’t pull away. At first. Then it was getting weird, but I was so overwhelmed, I almost couldn’t bring myself to let her go.
“Emmie,” she said with fake scorn. “This is getting embarrassing. Pull yourself together. I mean come on, I don’t hug dudes this long. And no offense, but you are no dude.”
I pulled back finally and wiped an errant tear away. “Thank you,” I whispered.
“It’s okay,” she said. “I just wish you would have told me before now. It’s not like I love living with Naomi. I thought you’d like having a room to yourself.”
I shook my head.
“Okay, well I’ll move my stuff down tonight. But until then,” she glanced over at A1 Windows. “How are we going to figure out who this guy is?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve already made an idiot of myself in front of him. Twice.”
She looked back at me and nodded again, grabbing my arm and turning me toward the blood donor clinic. “Let’s go do our ‘good deed,’” she said, doing air quotes, which apparently weren’t just a guy thing. “And we’ll think on it while we’re in there. I’m sure between us we’ll come up with something.”
It turned out, we didn’t have to.