when it shot like a bullet through me—the look in Sophia ’s eye when she had asked for her “favor.” Did she like him? If she did, there was no way I could ever compete. The only time I had ever halfway tried flashed through my head.
Todd . He was cute in a nerdy way. We were lab partners in chemistry, which was a totally hopeless subject for me. I was always mix ing the wrong things together, and i t was nothing short of a miracle that I hadn’t blown up the lab. Fortunately for me, Todd wanted to be an engine er and seemed to take pity on my disastrous attempts to create chemical compounds. We spent a few weeks flirtin g back and forth.
I t was nothing serious, of course. He did seem to touch me more than was strictly necessary and he had even kissed me one night when we were staying late at the library. He had backed off immediately, murmuring sorry and looking contrite. But then he asked me to a party at the frat that he was rushing, and I had spent quadru ple my usual time getting ready. I had even borrowed one of Sophia’s little sparkly dresses.
When I walked in to the party a couple of hours late (to keep the mystery, you had to be fashionably late, Sophia said), Sophia was draped all over the arm of Todd’s chair . In the midst of the crowd, Sophia had taken his glasses off and was posing with them, causing him to laugh at her and skim his hands down her arms. She hated glasses. Why was she flirting with Todd, when there were two dozen guys, better-looking, more popular, and more Sophia ’s type, staring her down? Why had she picked this one?
I had watched them together for the first few minutes after I walked in the door, and all it took was a little small talk and a few extra touches of his chest and arms and lower torso before he had completely forgotten that anyone existed outside of her .
Maybe she hadn’t known it was the same guy because she had too much to drink or something. But I didn’t think that was it. Sophia never drank too much because she always want ed to be in control of herself, which she had told me the time she laughed at the girl who stumbled on her heels walking across the quad du ring one of our morning-after sessions . Besides, I had pointed him out to her earlier that day, and she had replied, “He’s cute. Totally not good enough for you, though.”
If he hadn’t been good enough for me, he certainly wasn’t up to the caliber of guys that she usually seduced. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she was testing me. I knew that she didn’t have many female friends, that she played games with boys and that she usually won . She would probably do the same things with her girlfriends, my brain warned .
The next morning, I got myself a coffee and went through the motions of running down the past night’s events with Sophia over breakfast. “Let’s grab some coffee. Tell me everything,” I said, whispering so I didn’t wake up our third suitemate , who spent at least 97% of her time at the library and 3% of the time listening to some terrible country music.
“You do know that you hooked up with Todd from my chemistry class last night, right?” I asked, watching her face for any sign of deception.
“Oh, that was Todd?” she said to me, her face crestfallen. “I’m so sorry, Hallie . I really didn’t know. But it’s a good thing anyway. He was total crap in bed. He kept licking my chin. It was seriously the funniest thing ever. It was like he didn’t know how to find my lips or something. And I’m telling you—he’s like four inches on a good day. You never would have wanted that.”
There was something behind her eyes that told me that she wasn’t giving me the whole truth and that bothered me more than the whole Todd situation , but I let it go. No friend is perfect, I told myself. And it’s not like you’re going to find the love of your life at Greenview anyways.
W hile I to ld myself that it didn’t matter as long as I never introduced
Todd . He was cute in a nerdy way. We were lab partners in chemistry, which was a totally hopeless subject for me. I was always mix ing the wrong things together, and i t was nothing short of a miracle that I hadn’t blown up the lab. Fortunately for me, Todd wanted to be an engine er and seemed to take pity on my disastrous attempts to create chemical compounds. We spent a few weeks flirtin g back and forth.
I t was nothing serious, of course. He did seem to touch me more than was strictly necessary and he had even kissed me one night when we were staying late at the library. He had backed off immediately, murmuring sorry and looking contrite. But then he asked me to a party at the frat that he was rushing, and I had spent quadru ple my usual time getting ready. I had even borrowed one of Sophia’s little sparkly dresses.
When I walked in to the party a couple of hours late (to keep the mystery, you had to be fashionably late, Sophia said), Sophia was draped all over the arm of Todd’s chair . In the midst of the crowd, Sophia had taken his glasses off and was posing with them, causing him to laugh at her and skim his hands down her arms. She hated glasses. Why was she flirting with Todd, when there were two dozen guys, better-looking, more popular, and more Sophia ’s type, staring her down? Why had she picked this one?
I had watched them together for the first few minutes after I walked in the door, and all it took was a little small talk and a few extra touches of his chest and arms and lower torso before he had completely forgotten that anyone existed outside of her .
Maybe she hadn’t known it was the same guy because she had too much to drink or something. But I didn’t think that was it. Sophia never drank too much because she always want ed to be in control of herself, which she had told me the time she laughed at the girl who stumbled on her heels walking across the quad du ring one of our morning-after sessions . Besides, I had pointed him out to her earlier that day, and she had replied, “He’s cute. Totally not good enough for you, though.”
If he hadn’t been good enough for me, he certainly wasn’t up to the caliber of guys that she usually seduced. I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that she was testing me. I knew that she didn’t have many female friends, that she played games with boys and that she usually won . She would probably do the same things with her girlfriends, my brain warned .
The next morning, I got myself a coffee and went through the motions of running down the past night’s events with Sophia over breakfast. “Let’s grab some coffee. Tell me everything,” I said, whispering so I didn’t wake up our third suitemate , who spent at least 97% of her time at the library and 3% of the time listening to some terrible country music.
“You do know that you hooked up with Todd from my chemistry class last night, right?” I asked, watching her face for any sign of deception.
“Oh, that was Todd?” she said to me, her face crestfallen. “I’m so sorry, Hallie . I really didn’t know. But it’s a good thing anyway. He was total crap in bed. He kept licking my chin. It was seriously the funniest thing ever. It was like he didn’t know how to find my lips or something. And I’m telling you—he’s like four inches on a good day. You never would have wanted that.”
There was something behind her eyes that told me that she wasn’t giving me the whole truth and that bothered me more than the whole Todd situation , but I let it go. No friend is perfect, I told myself. And it’s not like you’re going to find the love of your life at Greenview anyways.
W hile I to ld myself that it didn’t matter as long as I never introduced
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