Chapter 7 #2
Thinking over the past week, it seemed as if Jacob, Rowan, and Adan were always nearby.
They never came up and talked to me, but one of them was always watching me.
Which was crazy. I was probably still paranoid from the dog attack.
That, or I’d hit my head harder than I thought and was imagining things.
Adan lifted his phone, angling so I couldn’t see the screen.
Just him being there was distracting me. I needed to focus.
“What do you have going on this weekend?” he asked.
I honestly didn’t know if he was just making conversation, if he planned on asking me out, or if it was something else.
Panic filled me because I didn’t know all the material I needed to for my test. I couldn’t fail the first exam we had in this class.
It was vital for my major. I’d never gotten anything other than an A before, and I had no intention of that changing now.
“Earth to Laney Lake,” Adan said, waving his hand.
“I’m studying,” I reminded him.
“Fine.” He raised his hands in surrender. “No more small talk.”
“Thank you.”
I went back to my notes, looking over them again. For like the hundredth time.
“Hey, Danny,” Adan said, waving to some guy with dark hair who was walking by our table.
The guy was huge, almost as big as Rowan. His arms and legs were thick and muscular. I was certain I’d seen him before.
“What’s up?” Danny said, stopping to talk to Adan.
“Not much,” Adan replied. “Have you met Laney? She’s my genetics lab partner.” He pointed to me.
“No, I haven’t. I’m Danny. I play rugby with Adan.” He extended his hand.
Not wanting to be rude, I shook it. A warm feeling spread from my hand, up my arm, and into my chest. It was similar to the feeling I had around Rowan, but not anywhere near as potent. I looked into his eyes, trying to determine if he’d felt that too.
He raised his brows. “It’s nice to meet you, Laney Lake.” He pulled his hand away, glancing Adan’s way and sliding his hands into his pockets.
I was fairly certain Adan hadn’t mentioned my last name. I focused back on my laptop, assuming our interaction was over.
Danny sat next to Adan, across from me. “So, Laney, you’re new here?”
Glancing up at him, I noticed his brown eyes had a strange glow to them, similar to Rowan’s. “I just transferred here from a JC.”
“Nearby?” he asked.
“I’m from a town a couple of hours away in Connecticut.”
His intense focus remained on me, as if trying to figure me out. I was a pretty simple girl, and there wasn’t anything to figure out.
A tug came from my right. I looked over and immediately spotted Rowan, leaning against a tree not far away.
I had a strange feeling that he was watching me, although that made no sense.
It irritated me that we hadn’t spoken since the morning he’d walked me to my room six days ago.
After he’d helped me, I thought things would be different between us. That we could at least be friends.
“Can I ask you something?” Danny said, his voice low and soft, almost a purr lulling me into doing what he wanted.
“Sure.” When I looked at him, I swear his eyes shifted, the shape of them changing and capturing my full attention.
“Do you know who the Wards are?”
“I know who Rowan Ward is.”
“Do you shift?”
I couldn’t look away from his eyes. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Is that a dance or something?”
Danny blinked, breaking the strange connection, his eyes returning to normal.
Adan shook his head, mumbling something unintelligible.
Rowan approached the table, glaring at Danny as if he was furious with his friend. “Let’s go. Now.”
“It was nice to meet you, Laney.” Danny and Rowan left.
I couldn’t help but wonder why Rowan didn’t even acknowledge me.
A simple hi would have been nice. The only thing I could think of was that maybe he also felt the connection between us, so he was avoiding me since he had a girlfriend.
Just like I was trying to avoid him. It would really help if he wasn’t everywhere I looked.
“You better get going to your micro biology class,” Adan said. “It starts in ten minutes, and it’s across campus.”
I blinked, processing what he’d said. I’d never told him when my class started.
It was almost as if he knew my schedule.
While I’d never considered myself a paranoid person, I was starting to freak out.
First the dog attack, then Rowan fighting off the dog and his eyes looking weird, then the rugby guys watching me all week, then whatever the hell happened with Danny just now, and Adan knowing my schedule like a freaking stalker.
I gathered my things and stood, needing to get out of here.
“I’ll see you in lab class,” Adan said.
I nodded and left, feeling off-kilter.
I entered my genetics lab, still thinking about the test I’d just taken.
I’d barely had time to finish it. I kept going over the questions and my answers, unsure if I did everything correctly.
However, I was thankful it had been a challenging test instead of the simple, basic ones I’d aced in junior college.
“Hey, Lake,” Adan said as I slid onto my seat.
“Hey, Rivers.” I closed my eyes, needing to rest for a moment. It had been a long week. This weekend, I planned to sleep in and study. Nothing else.
Adan chuckled. “I like when you use my last name.”
I opened one eye, looking at him. “You are far too chipper for a Friday afternoon.” I closed my eye again.
“We have an away game near where my parents live,” he said, as if that explained his cheery disposition. “My family is coming to watch me play.”
I opened my eyes and turned my body so I was facing him.
I realized that I didn’t know much about Adan, even though we’d spent a decent amount of time together.
I’d been so concerned that he’d think I was interested in him romantically that I’d failed at being his friend.
So far, he’d done nothing to show he was interested in us being more than friends, other than knowing my schedule.
However, now that I’d calmed down and could think clearly, he probably had just guessed.
He was a junior like me and had to be taking similar classes.
Most classes started on the hour. So there was nothing to freak out over.
“That’s cool that your parents will get to see you play,” I said. “Do they ever come here to watch your games?”
“No.” He opened his laptop and pulled up today’s lab. “My younger brothers are a pain in the ass in the car. My dad will try to catch a game here and there, but my mom doesn’t get to see too many. I’m not sure she likes the violence of them anyway.” He smiled sardonically.
“I’ll try to catch your next home game.” I’d never seen a rugby game before since my high school didn’t have a rugby team.
“That’d be nice.”
The TA entered and went over the lab. We were going to be pulling DNA again; only this time, we were going to be extracting genomic DNA and amplifying a target gene. We are supposed to record our eye color, hair color, and genotype. All pretty straightforward stuff.
We had just gotten started when Danny came into the room and headed our way.
“Are you expecting him?” I asked Adan.
He glanced up when Danny approached. “Is it already time to go?”
We’d taken swabs of our DNA and inserted them into the tubes, but that was as far as we got.
“Everyone’s on the bus except for your sorry ass.” Danny leaned against the table. “I was sent to get you.”
“Let me drop our tubes into the machine.” Adan walked away.
“I can do it,” I called after him, but he ignored me.
“Do you want to come with us to the game?” Danny asked.
“I’m in the middle of class,” I pointed out.
He winked. “Just thought you’d like to come.”
I hoped he didn’t think I liked him, or Adan, or worse, Rowan.
Adan returned and grabbed his bag. “See you when we get back, Lake.”
The two of them left.
I sat there dumbfounded. Why Adan had bothered to show up for ten minutes of a lab he couldn’t finish was beyond me. Not wanting to overthink it, I set my timer and waited for the machine to finish with our DNA samples so I could take a look at them and get to work.
Exhaustion consumed me as I walked out of the lab. It had been a long week. I was beyond thrilled it was the weekend.
“Laney,” Emily said as she joined me. “Are you done with classes for the day?”
“I am.” I hadn’t seen much of her outside of physics. “What’d you think of that quiz today?”
“Brutal. I’m trying to forget about it. Want to grab food? I’m heading to the dining hall.”
I wasn’t necessarily hungry, but if I ate now, then I could go to my dorm, get in my PJs, and not have to leave my room for the rest of the night. “Sure.”
We entered the main food area and swiped our cards. I grabbed a plate and went through the line, taking meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, and a salad. I found Emily at a table with two plates of food containing mostly pasta and chicken.
“Are you going to eat all of that?” I asked her as I took a seat.
“We’re in season,” she answered. “I’ll eat this and be hungry later tonight.”
I forgot she played field hockey since I didn’t see her with her teammates very often.
“That’s how I met Danielle,” she said around a mouthful of food. “Danielle played with me our freshman year. It was too much for her, though. She couldn’t keep her grades up with all of the training and traveling, so she quit. She’s the one who introduced me to Sarah.”
“I had no idea.”
“Do you have plans tonight?”
“Yes. I have huge plans. I’m vegging in my room.”
Emily laughed. “Can I join you? We could watch a movie.”
The invite surprised me. Then I remembered the rugby team had an out of town game tonight. Emily was probably lonely without Rowan. “Sure. What kind of movie do you have in mind?”
“You choose. I’m just happy to be out of my room for a few hours. My roommate has her boyfriend over on Fridays. It’s annoying.”
Thankfully, Sarah didn’t do that sort of thing. I picked at my meatloaf, not really hungry but knowing I needed to eat. “How long have you and Rowan been dating?”
She peered at me across the table. “About a year.”
“That’s a long time.” Usually when I asked girls that question, they gave me a precise time. Like three months and twenty-two days.
“Do you have a boyfriend?” she asked.
“No. And I’m not in the market for one.”
She snorted. “Why’d you preface it that way?”
“You seem close with a lot of the rugby players. I just want to make sure you aren’t thinking of setting me up with anyone.” Like Adan. Because I wasn’t interested.
“The thought never crossed my mind.” She drank the rest of her milk. I’d never seen a girl eat so much. “I’m good friends with Danny. He said he met you today.” She twisted her cup around, as if trying to act casual.
“I did. He seems like a nice guy.”
“He is,” she answered. “I’ve known him for years. We went to middle and high school together.” Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink.
A girl stopped at our table. “What are you doing here?” she asked Emily.
“I’m not going to the team dinner,” Emily said before taking another bite of her pasta. “I already texted Coach.”
“Sorry to hear that. We’ll miss you.” The girl left.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“The team has dinner together the day before a game.”
“You don’t want to go?”
She shook her head. “I need a break. There’s a bit too much drama on the team for me right now.”
While I could understand that, it surprised me she had a choice in going.
I thought athletes had to attend those things.
“If you forgot and need to cancel on me, you can,” I told her.
I didn’t want her to feel obligated to watch a movie with me.
Especially since she’d been the one to invite herself.
I didn’t need the company and would be fine on my own.
“I’m coming over. We’re watching a movie. Then, when my roommate’s boyfriend leaves, I’ll go back to my room and go to sleep.” She shoved another forkful of pasta in her mouth.
For some reason, I got the feeling that she wanted to watch over me, although that made no sense at all.