“What do you want?” The student impatiently taps her fingers against the register.
“Coffee and ham sandwich.”
“What do you want on your sandwich?”
“Ham.”
The student cocks her head to the side and rolls her eyes. “Duh. What else?”
“Whatever comes on it.”
“Fine.” She angrily punches in my order. “But you don’t get to come back here and complain about the sandwich having mustard when you don’t want it.”
“I’ll eat the mustard.” I’ve eaten the ham sandwich every lunch since I started two weeks ago. I know what’s on it. I swipe my student card and go stand in another line to wait for my food. A long blond ponytail sways in front of me. I resist the urge to tug on it, but it’s hard. Maybe the owner senses my yearning because the ponytail whips around and I come face to face with her. I actually lose my balance for a moment and stumble backward.
“Oh no, did I hit you?” she cries out, trying to reach for me. I jerk out of reach.
“No,” I say, almost too harshly.
“Quinn, that’s the asshole from my chem class.” Just past the blonde is large forehead girl.
“Him?” The blonde’s eyebrows arch up. I feel my knees go weak.
“Yeah, he stared at me the entire class and when I invited him for coffee like a decent person, he acted like I’d asked him to kill my dad.”
“Oh, well, I take my sorry back,” the blonde says, her small chin jutting out.
“You can’t,” I find myself saying.
“I can’t what?”
“Take the sorry back. It’s out there. I have it.”
“I can take it back. I was the one who said it in the first place.”
I shake my head. I know I’m not going to have this girl. Not this one. She’s way too good for me but the sorry? The fact she spoke to me? I’m keeping that. “Nope.”
And then I turn and leave because I can tell if I stayed another minute, I’d throw her over my shoulder and haul her to my apartment and lock her in the safe room that I don’t have but plan to build—immediately.
Chapter Two
Quinn
“The handsome ones are always jerks,” Trin says as she steals a French fry from off my tray as they hand it over to me. I nod in agreement as I watch him go, taking my apology with him.
He was handsome. With his dark blue eyes and short dark hair. Paired with the glasses he reminded me a little of Clark Kent. It’s a big campus but I’m surprised I haven’t seen him around. He towered over everyone as he made his exit.
He is hard to miss and not just because of his good looks. I take notice of other girls checking him out as he passes by. No wonder Trin has been going on and on about the guy from her chem class.
“He forgot his food,” the boy who looks to be about my age says from behind the counter. His name tag reads Brandon.
“Oh, it looks like he did buy me lunch.” Trin takes the tray with the sandwich on it. “Thanks, Brandon.” She winks at him, making him blush.
“You don’t eat meat,” I remind her. I find myself looking back to see if maybe he remembered he forgot his food and was going to come back for it but I don’t see him anymore. Something inside of me tells me that I was hoping he would come back for more than the forgotten sandwich. I push that thought away because I’m unsure of what to do with it.
“About that.” Here we go. In the short time I’ve gotten to know Trin, there’s one thing I know for sure. She changes her mind more than anyone I’ve ever met in my life. She goes through phases faster than they can come in and out of style. I’m shocked she isn’t done with me yet. I think it’s because she actually likes me and not because she’s stuck with me as her roommate. “I’m going to give up vegetables now.”
I wonder if she knows that potatoes are vegetables. As her friend, I believe that this is something I should tell her. Or maybe I should let it go so that she stops eating my fries all the time. I weigh my options and decide to keep the information to myself. Even if she really is giving up vegetables, she’ll be back on them tomorrow. She’s an in the moment type of girl. As soon as she sees me eating those mouthwatering, salty French fries, she’ll be stealing them in no time.
“Is this some new diet?” I ask as she finds us an empty table and sits down.
“I’m just fucking with you. I’m not giving up vegetables.” She steals another fry off my plate. “I forgot about bacon so I’m back on the meat.”