“Yeah. I thought it was gonna be pretty boring, but things are already looking up.”
I furrowed my brow. “Because of the stampede joke?”
Kai laughed. “Well, it was a good joke, but no. It’s because you’re here.”
My skin prickled. “Oh. Yeah.”
“Mind if I join you?” Kai asked.
“Of course!” I hated myself for how eager I sounded. I considered trying to cover up for it, but instead, I just took my time gathering up my things and moving over a chair so that Kai could sit down next to me.
He settled in and smiled at me before unpacking his bag. More students walked into the classroom while Kai and I chatted about nothing in particular. Soon, the room was full. Adam was still busy greeting students, so though the class’s official start time had passed, there was still a quiet murmur of many conversations buzzing about the room.
“I meant to ask you this the other day,” Kai started, “but did you dye your hair?”
I grabbed the tips of my hair that were dyed purple thanks to Sydney and her constant need to add bright, neon colors to my life. “Yeah. Sydney convinced me to do it. I thought I was going to hate it, but I actually really like it.”
“It looks awesome. You’re wearing your hair down, too. You don’t do that much.”
I grinned, knowing that he’d at least paid enough attention to me to notice that. “No, I’m just not a flashy person, but I figured it might be nice to try once.” I chuckled.
“I like it,” Kai said with a warm smile. “Although you’re cute no matter how you wear it.”
My skin prickled with excitement at the compliment. “Thank you.”
That was the reason I could never get over Kai. Things were always like that between us. I could never quite decipher if he was flirting with me or just being friendly, but every now and again, he said stuff like that. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing someone would say to someone they were just friends with. There were many times when he would compliment me like that, or when hugs would linger a bit, with his hands slightly too low on my back, and I would think, “He has to like me.” Any prospective relationships that I had at that time would take a back seat with me thinking things might finally move forward, but then he would mention to a friend that he thought of me as a sister or tell me that having me around was like having a sibling around, and it dashed my hopes. I couldn’t blame Kai for it, though. My lack of romantic understanding wasn’t his issue, nor was it his fault that his beautiful face made everything worse.
In truth, I could see what everyone back in high school saw—the reason they were all so confused that he seemed to latch onto me. In short, I was far out of Kai’s league. Taylor, who I hated—even I could admit that she was a bombshell. She looked like something fresh out of a vogue magazine. Kai was the same, unreasonably good looking. Why would he go for a plain, pretty at best girl like me?
“Nina?” Kai’s voice pierced my thoughts.
“Hm?”
“I said, are you rooming with Sydney this year?”
“Oh, sorry. Yeah, I am.” I imagined Devon asleep in her bed, and my face warmed. “She’s an interesting roommate.”
“I bet,” Kai said. “Well, my door’s always open if you need a break. I’m in the North Tower. Room 210.”
My heart did a little backflip. Did Kai just invite me to his dorm room? “Thanks. Same here. East Tower. 401.”
Kai’s smile got a bit wider. “Good to know.”
It was hard not to get too attached to his kind, romantic-adjacent words. I thought of how Devon had made a couple of comments about my attractiveness, too. Maybe guys just functioned this way. Thinking of Devon reminded me of the advice he’d given me up to that point. I already failed to seem aloof, given that I nearly jumped out of my pants when Kai asked to sit with me, but I still had that morning’s advice to fall back on. I reached into my backpack and pulled out my notebook and set it on the tabletop. I whipped open the front cover and had to bite my cheek to keep from smiling at the strong waft of Devon’s soap and cologne that flew off. I side-glanced Kai, and he was looking through the air as if to find the source of the smell. His eyes landed on my notebook and then flicked up to me.
“That’s an interesting smelling notebook.”
Shit. I had no idea how to respond to that. Devon had only mentioned that Kai would be curious about the notebook, not that he would bring it up. “Y-yeah,” I replied. “A friend of mine got a little too close, I guess. My whole bag smells like it. Thank god it’s not a bad smell.” Was that good? Why didn’t I have a little Devon earpiece on to help me navigate?
“A friend?” Kai asked, and there was a noticeable furrow to his brow. “Who got close to your notebooks?”
It took everything in me to not smile. I didn’t have the best track record for reading Kai’s moods, but he did seem a little jealous. “Yeah,” I said, and decided to throw caution to the wind. “He came over last night and… yeah.”
For the first time since I’d met Kai, he wasn’t smiling at me. “Ah.”
I swallowed hard. Was it a mistake? I’d clearly insinuated something. Was it going to make him back off? Kai watched me curiously for a minute, and then a sly smile crossed his face. “Maybe I’ll have to visit 401 soon and meet this friend.”
Holy crap. “Maybe.”
Kai let out a husky laugh, and my heart was racing so fast that I thought it was going to come flying out of my chest. Thankfully, Adam made his way to the front of the class and clapped his hands, officially starting the day. I could see a pensive look on Kai’s face throughout the lecture, and every time I flipped the pages of my notebook as I took notes, I noticed him wince a little. It’d worked! I couldn’t wait to tell Devon. For as crappy as I thought his advice was, it seemed to be doing the trick.
The class ended, and Kai and I left the lecture hall together. Sydney was waiting just outside. She smiled at me, but when she saw Kai, her smile faded a bit. In true best-friend fashion, she wasn’t a fan of the guy she claimed was toying with me.
“Hey, Nina. Kai,” she greeted. “You guys have a class together?”
Kai wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Yeah. I’m pretty lucky, huh?”
Sydney forced a smile. “I’d say so.”
“I’ll see you later, Nina,” Kai said. He winked at me, took his arm from around my shoulders, and walked off.
Sydney looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “Please tell me—”
I held up a hand to cut her off. “Don’t worry. I’m not stupid. I know this is all just part of who he is. Nothing has changed for us.”
Sydney let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I’m glad to hear that you won’t be getting caught up in all of that again.” I chose not to mention the deal I had struck with Devon. I wouldn’t concern Sydney with thinking that Kai was part of my picture again until I could ensure that it was real feelings this time around. “Anyway, you should just forget about Kai altogether and date Devon.”
“Again with this?” I scoffed. “I’m not interested. He’s not my type.”