Getting Him Back by K. A. Mitchell Page B

Whitney she should go after that guy she couldn’t stop talking about.”
    “It’s different.”
    Wyatt was all kinds of different. And I really liked him.
    “I thought you were the one who chased your soccer guy to school here.”
    “And look where that got me.” I thought of something Wyatt had said. “Makayla, am I—do I act like I’m in my own little world?”
    “Uh—”
    “Subtext says yes.”
    “It’s not a bad thing. Necessarily. You just kind of have this view of how you think things should be.” She finished with a wave of her hand.
    Didn’t everybody? Weren’t you supposed to go confidently on your dream path or something? “I should just accept that the world sucks and go with that?”
    “I said it wasn’t a bad thing. It just—” She smiled. “It makes you special.”
    “Great. Now I need to ride the short bus to school.”
    “Hey.” Whitney said. “My little brother takes that bus.”
    “Sorry.” And I was. I guess it was more of me living in my own special world. The one that clearly irritated everyone around me. And they were right. I hadn’t noticed my roommate was dealing with his own breakup the first few weeks because I was so obsessed with my own. I needed to stop acting like a greedy child and grow up.
    Right after I asked Makayla if she knew how to do this last calculus problem.
    There was only so much integral differentiation I could handle before my brain exploded. I rolled off the blanket and started taking pictures with my phone. A macro of a bright yellow leaf on the still green grass, Whitney and Makayla talking.
    “Hey. You’d better not be using angles that give me a double chin,” Makayla said when she saw what I was doing.
    “Never. I like my junk right where it is. Not gonna risk it pissing you off.” I got a really good shot of the sky through the thinning yellow leaves on the beech? elm? whatever tree, then turned back on my stomach, lining up a shot across the grass. Some guy’s feet and ankles were screwing with my shot. I pulled the phone down and saw Wyatt ten yards away, still in the hoodie I’d given him. That had to be a good sign, right?
    He motioned a C’mere with his head.
    “Be right back,” I told the girls.
    I found Wyatt sitting on the other side of the tree. A chestnut tree, that was it. I kicked away a few of the spiny seed balls and sat next to him.
    I was glad he didn’t need to put up with all of Makayla’s questions, but we didn’t have to hide or anything. “The girls—my friends—are cool. If you want to come meet them.”
    He shook his head and his hoodie slipped back. The sun shone off his black hair—and the streak of white.
    “Uh-oh. Aren’t you afraid you’ll combust, like a vampire?” I flicked one of the spiked green balls toward him.
    He flicked it back.
    I split the case, pulling the shiny reddish brown seed out. It was warm from the sunshine, and silky smooth. I tossed the green-spined skin toward our feet. “I guess that’s one way to try to keep your nuts safe.”
    He made a choked sound that might have been a laugh. I’d give it to him. For karma’s sake. Maybe my calculus professor would grade on the curve too.
    I rolled the chestnut around on my fingers. I could work on not being clingy or in my own world, but I was never going to be good with silence. “So did you want to make out or talk?”
    “About?”
    About us having sex. You disappearing without a word. Your roommate being my ex . Those were a few good starters. I shrugged. “Anything.”
    When the silence went on, I whipped the chestnut into the branches. He flinched at the crack of the wood. Leaves rustled down.
    “Ooooh-kay.” I drew the word out. “The weather’s always safe. It’s a nice day, huh?”
    He faced me. “I guess it was rude, taking off like that.”
    “If you wanted to leave, you could have just told me.”
    He shook his head. “And you wouldn’t have tried to talk me out of it.”
    “Maybe. Were you freaked out?