24. Annalise #2
“We’re not going to start rearranging recruits this late at night. Everyone will want to sleep by their friends.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’ll take care of everything” Matt says, shooting us both a wink.
Within ten minutes, he's dragging his sleeping bag into my tent.
“You're unbelievable, but thank you.”
“You know there was no chance they were making me sleep halfway across camp. I would have sat out here all night keeping watch.”
I crawl into my sleeping bag as Matt settles in beside me.
Outside, I hear footsteps approaching.
Theo appears at the tent entrance looking back and forth between Matt and me—apparently not everyone had heard the commotion Matt had made.
“Seriously?”
Matt looks innocent.
“What?”
Theo's jaw tightens as he drops his pack into the makeshift room beside ours.
“Wait. You're right next to us?”
“Yes. So when Matt starts spreading out like an octopus, it’ll be into my space. These shitty ‘rooms’ weren’t made to fit more than one person.”
Matt shakes his head, “Won't happen.”
Theo looks skeptical.
Matt gestures toward me. “She usually ends up half on top of me anyway.”
My mouth drops open.
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do, but your messy morning hair is one of the best things to wake up to.”
Theo’s expression is unreadable as he mutters, “Goodnight,” and climbs into his own space.
I turn to say goodnight to Matt, only to find a far-too-pleased-with-himself look plastered across his face.
“You did that on purpose.”
“Maybe.”
I swing my pillow at him, but he catches it before it can connect.
“Already trading in the pillow so we can cuddle?” he asks, far too loudly to be accidental.
“You’re being ridiculous, Mattey. Go to sleep.” I laugh as I curl into his side in the cramped space we now share.
Beside us, Theo shifts around in his tent.
Matt chuckles.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
I roll my eyes. “Go to sleep, Mattey. I love you.”
“Love you too, Lee. Wake me up if you have a nightmare,” he whispers.
I don’t answer.
Sore, exhausted, and lulled by the distant crackle of the bonfire beyond the tents, I’m asleep within minutes.
Morning comes with sore muscles, damp grass, and the unmistakable smell of campfire smoke clinging to everything I own.
On the bright side, while everyone else is complaining about freezing their asses off when the temperature dropped last night, I was snug as a bug curled up against Mattey, who’s practically a human heater.
I’m sitting on a log outside the mess tent, nursing a cup of instant coffee while Hunter argues with Kael about something involving yesterday’s obstacle course.
Matt lingers just behind Hunter, looking suspiciously interested in the argument, as though he’s ready to jump in the second he needs backup.
That’s when Angela drops down beside me.
She’s one of the girls from our class. Pretty in that polished, effortless way that makes it obvious she’s never had to wonder whether she looks good.
Her blonde hair is pulled into a perfect ponytail, which is impressive considering we all slept in tents last night and there isn't exactly a bathroom around here for touch-ups..
I glance at her questioningly. “Morning?”
“Good morning!” She smiles sweetly. “So…not to be too direct or anything, but we were wondering…who are you taking to the Track Gala?”
I nearly choke on my coffee and scold myself for not noticing her groupies standing mere feet away from us, hanging on our every word.
“No one.”
Her eyebrows lift.
“No one?”
“I’m going with my friends.”
“Does that mean Matt’s available?”
I follow her gaze back to my best friend...who’s now arguing with Kael, gesturing wildly with a piece of bacon like it's a weapon as Hunter nods along. What the fuck is going on?
A hoity voice clears beside me, drawing me back, and stopping me from what I’m sure would have been a very unattractive cackle had I watched them much longer.
“Yeah. I guess so. I don't think he's planning to go with anyone.”
Angela's smile widens.
“Oh?”
Something changes in her expression as she turns toward the two girls sitting behind her.
“Well, then. That's convenient.”
One of them giggles.
Angela lowers her voice, but not nearly enough to not have wanted me to hear. “He wouldn't dare turn me down. Now, I just need to tell him he was chosen.”
“Good luck!” I call as she walks away, pretending she never stepped off her pedestal to speak to me.
Staring into my coffee, I force myself to keep my composure and not to laugh before she’s out of earshot. We’ve known girls like her our entire lives, and I can say one thing for certain: Mattey would chew his own arm off before he ever walked into an event with a girl like her on it.
“Wow,” a voice comes from behind me.
I turn to find Theo standing there, both hands full with his coffee and food. His eyes flick toward Angela, then back to me, not even attempting to hide the amusement on his face.
“Morning, Scout.”
I smile despite myself. “Morning.”
“I brought you this,” he says, surprising me when he hands me one of the breakfast sandwiches.
“Thanks.”
He settles onto the log beside me, close enough that our shoulders nearly touch. “You know, you can ignore them.”
“I was planning to.”
“Good.”
He takes a drink of his coffee, steam rolling from his mouth as he lets out a long exhale. “Angela’s always been a bitch.”
I snort. “Theo!”
“What?” He shrugs innocently. “It's true. Her daddy never taught her the word no, so she's decided the rest of the world doesn't get to either.”
I laugh harder, nearly spilling my coffee.
“That's awful.”
“You’re telling me! Try growing up going to events with a girl who expects you to want to hand over the dessert your parents bribed you with?"
I shake my head, laughing, “That must have been terrible for you.”
“It truly was,” he says, smiling, “Luckily, she lost interest as we got older.”
“Awww, so now you get your desserts all to yourself?”
“Now...I get to share them with whoever I actually want to,” he grins, bumping my arm.
For a minute, neither of us speaks as we sip our coffee and watch recruits around us slowly wake up.
“So,” Theo starts, pulling my attention back to him.
“So?”
“If you're in need of a date to the Gala this weekend…” He pauses, suddenly looking shy. “I could take you.”
I stare at him, apparently long enough that he feels the need to go on. Good one Annalise.
“Not because I think you need someone to rescue you from Angela or anything.”
“Right.”
“Because I'd like to take you.”
There's something about the way he says it that steals the teasing right out of me. He looks down at his coffee before meeting my eyes again. “I'd spend the entire night making sure you have plenty of snacks and help you avoid conversations like that,” he offers with a smile.
“That actually sounds tempting…but I think I'm just going to go with my friends. Most of us are in this unspoken no-date pact.”
He nods immediately, not a hint of irritation or disappointment to be found. “Then that's what you should do.”
“Are you okay?” I ask, feeling minorly guilty.
“Of course I am! I'm not going to try to convince you to do something you don't want to do, Scout.” His smile turns softer. “I'd rather you choose me because you wanted to, not because you thought you were supposed to.”
For a second, I can't think of anything to say, because that's the kind of thing a girl remembers.
I clear my throat.
“Thank you. Really.”
“Anytime,” he says, bumping his shoulder lightly against mine. “And for the record, if you change your mind…My offer stands indefinitely. No pressure. No expectations.”
A beat passes as he slowly stands. “Just me in a very respectable suit, looking devastatingly handsome.”
I laugh. “Had to ruin the moment eventually.”
“I really did,” he says, grinning as he takes another drink of his coffee.
And despite how weird that could have gone, I find myself smiling into mine.