If I Forget You by Michelle D. Argyle Page B

relationship that had barely begun!
    Owen laughed out loud and nodded. He was too far away for Avery to hear their conversation. Was Tam very funny? She was beautiful, that was for sure. She had always been beautiful. Avery picked up her hot dog and took a bite entirely too big for her mouth. Chewing helped alleviate her anger. Her jaw was starting to hurt by the time Owen waved goodbye to Tam and headed back.
    Don’t glare at him. It’s not his fault.
    As he sat down, Avery swallowed and took a drink. “Do you know her?” she asked, unable to hold in the question.
    “Who, that girl?” He nodded toward Tam, who was now walking in the opposite direction.
    “Yeah.”
    “She’s in my economics class, but I’ve never really talked to her before. She just recognized me and said hi.” Positioning himself so he was sitting cross-legged and facing Avery, he leaned forward with a smirk. “Why? You jealous already?” He blew on his knuckles. “I’ve managed to steal your heart in twenty minutes flat?”
    Despite her anger over Tam, a grin broke out across her face. His confidence wasn’t forged. He really did think highly of himself, but at least for now he was not coming off as conceited or arrogant. More like the opposite. She liked his sideburns, she decided. They made him look intelligent and unruffled.
    “Oh, wait,” he laughed. “It was the hot dogs, wasn’t it? Our three encounters before this must have made an impression and primed you for this charming lunch today.”
    She paused in the middle of putting a chip in her mouth. Three encounters? For the life of her, she couldn’t remember the other times she’d seen him. There was the first day of classes and then today. That’s all her brain had logged, anyway. Of all things she hated, the worst was this feeling of something missing, like she’d subconsciously chosen to reject certain events and it was somehow her own fault. It was her fault. If she’d taken note of the situation or just tried harder to remember, she wouldn’t be such a mess.
    Forcing herself to smile, she said, “Oh, this whole relationship revolves around the hot dogs. It’s fate.”
    He laughed. “So, do you know her?”
    Her forced smile fell at the mention of Tam. She looked down at her food and picked at a piece of grilled onion. “Yeah, we knew each other in high school.”
    He was silent, and when she looked up he was leaning back on his hands and looking at her with a serious expression. “You really are jealous of me talking to her, aren’t you? But does it really have anything to do with me?”
    She dropped the piece of onion. “Not really. Don’t let your ego get too bruised, though. I do like you.”
    Surprise lit up his face. “You do?”
    “Yeah, of course.”
    “Really?” He looked shocked, and she was suddenly reminded of how she’d felt when Jordan invited her to his party. Was it possible she was not the only one out there who thought it was unthinkable for someone to honestly like them? The sad thing was that, even though she had three guys interested in her at this very moment, she was pretty sure none of it would amount to anything in the end. She would make some epic mistake — if she hadn’t already — and it would all disintegrate around her.
    “I really do,” she answered him, trying to hold the most serious expression possible.
    She was a complete idiot. Why was she encouraging this when she already had her hands full with Jordan and Kent? But looking into Owen’s face as his surprised expression slowly faded into hope, she knew she couldn’t lie to him or to herself. She did like him.
    “You want to meet here for lunch tomorrow?” he asked, twisting the dagger she’d stabbed into herself.
    She couldn’t help but smile. “Wednesdays are crammed for me, but Tuesdays and Thursdays I’ve got the whole afternoon free.”
    The hope on his face swelled into joy. “How long do we get to sit here and talk today, then?”
    She looked at her