He Dated Me for My Sister novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Clock Tower

Hannah tells only her sister a made-up date spot; Colin walks her straight to it and says it was his idea, and his roommate Rhys, waiting there, whispers that he is sorry.

In the morning Delaney made me toast.

She never made me toast.

"So who is he?" she asked, and slid the plate across the kitchen table next to Grandma's blue vase.

I had slept three hours, and I had decided in the dark exactly what I was going to say.

"His name is Colin," I said. "He's the TA in my Thursday seminar."

"Cute?"

"Cute."

"Where's he taking you?"

"A diner on Liberty, at seven." I buttered the toast slowly. "Then he wants to walk to the clock tower afterward. He says it's the best view in town."

Colin had said nothing of the kind.

I had made it up while I brushed my teeth.

Delaney's eyes stayed on my face for half a second too long.

"The clock tower," she said. "That's so sweet, Hannah."

Then she picked up her phone, and she was typing before I had finished my tea.

I texted Taylor from the bathroom.

"He's using me to get my sister. I'm going on the date anyway. I made up a place and told only Delaney. If he mentions it, I'll know who's telling him things."

Taylor answered with eleven exclamation marks, then: "I am hiding in a bush near that tower tonight."

"Do not hide in a bush."

"Too late. I own a black hoodie."

At seven Colin was waiting outside the diner in his camel coat, and he looked wonderful.

That was the worst part.

He held the door for me, pulled out my chair, and asked what I was reading.

He told me my cardigan was cute.

It was the same line he had used three years ago, and I had spent three years thinking about it.

"Order anything," he said, and picked up the laminated menu. "My treat."

I ordered the grilled cheese, because it was the cheapest thing on the menu and I wanted to see what he did with that.

He smiled at me across the table and said I was easy to be around.

When I stood up to go to the bathroom, he took out his phone and started typing under the table.

I locked myself in the stall and opened the forum.

lastcornerseat had updated his post nine minutes ago.

"Date one. She ordered the cheapest thing on the menu and said thank you to the waiter twice. Plain as toast."

I stared at the word toast.

Then I read the comments, and a hundred strangers had decided I deserved better, or deserved nothing.

One of them wrote: "Poor girl. I hope she finds out and burns his apartment down."

I screenshotted that one.

When I came back to the table, Colin had paid already and was shrugging into his coat.

"Walk with me?" he said.

It was a cold night, and the leaves on the sidewalk were wet.

We went down Liberty and turned toward campus, and neither of us said the name of the place we were heading.

I waited for him to ask me where I wanted to go.

He didn't.

The clock tower stood at the top of the hill with its four faces lit gold, and the lawn around it was empty.

Colin stopped at the foot of the steps and put his hands in his pockets.

"I thought the clock tower would be romantic," he said.

I looked at him.

I had never told him about the clock tower.

I had told one person, at breakfast, over toast.

My mouth was dry.

"It is," I said. "It's perfect."

He smiled, pleased with himself.

Somebody was sitting on the top step in the dark with a bicycle wheel across his knees.

He stood up when he saw us.

He was tall, with dark hair and a short beard, and I knew his face from the library desk.

He was the one who returned the cookbooks.

"Hannah, this is my roommate, Rhys," Colin said. "He wanted to meet you."

"Hi," Rhys said.

He didn't look at Colin.

He looked at me, and his face had gone the color of paper.

Colin pulled out his phone and said he had to take a quick call, and walked off across the lawn.

The second he was out of earshot, Rhys set the wheel down on the step.

"Hannah," he said quietly. "I'm so sorry."

← Chapter 1 · All chapters · Chapter 3 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend