She Chased the Campus Heartthrob, Then His Friends Came After Her novel · Chapter 2 of 24

Chapter 2: The Seat Beside Her

Valerie sits next to Sabrina and Caleb storms out. In the grove he warns her to know her place, and she carries his thermos to the lounge in time to hear him say he wants to dump her.

Caleb's chair was still on the floor when he raised his hand and said, "There's a seat next to me."

He said it to Valerie, in front of the whole seminar.

That seat had been empty for three months, and I was not allowed in it.

I sat one row in front of him, with a view of his knees.

Valerie looked at the empty seat, then at me.

She walked past him and stopped at the desk beside mine.

"Hi," she said. "May I sit here?"

Up close, she was flawless, and I could not find one thing to complain about.

She smelled like oranges and clean laundry.

I nodded, because I have never in my life been able to say no to a face like that.

She sat down and took both my hands in hers.

"Looks like we're seatmates," she said. "I'll be counting on you."

Her hands were warm and soft, and my head started to spin.

I had a clear and very rude thought: maybe I was not as straight as I had told everyone.

Behind me, something heavy hit the floor.

I turned around, and it was Caleb's bag, and Caleb was not under it.

He was already walking out of the door with his jaw set.

I let go of Valerie's hands, said "Sorry, one second, boyfriend emergency," and ran after him.

He was in the grove behind the teaching building, leaning on a tree with his arms crossed.

"Why didn't you push her away?" he said.

I recognized the look.

He was jealous, and he was so bad at it that it came out as an accusation.

"I'm sorry, babe," I said. "I don't know why she picked me either."

His face got darker.

"Don't get ideas about her," he said, very coldly. "I'll be watching you. Know your place."

I nodded fast.

Everyone at Brandt knew Caleb had spent nineteen years looking for the girl who pulled him out of a stranger's van.

Now a girl had walked into our seminar in a cream cardigan.

I understood why his chair had fallen over.

I also understood that I was in trouble, because I had put three months into this boyfriend.

I had a stack of his lab notes and a bike with a flat tire to show for it.

Caleb watched me for a while, and his face loosened a little.

I took my chance.

"You're not mad anymore, right?" I asked. "Can I have a kiss?"

"Back off," he said.

His ears went red, and I knew I had won.

I went up on my toes and kissed him.

For half a second he held still, and then he took my waist in both hands and kissed me back, hard enough to bump my head against the tree.

When I walked back into the seminar room fifteen minutes later, my lips were red and my knees did not feel like mine.

Valerie looked up from my desk, where she had put a cup of tea for me.

"Is he always like that?" she asked.

"Only with people he likes."

She smiled, but her eyes went to the window.

"Is it true what they say about him?" I asked. "That he's been looking for someone for years?"

"I grew up near Dunmore," she said quickly. "Is that the right book for this class?"

I handed her the book and told myself I would not be nosy.

I made it through two hours of lecture, still warm from the grove.

At four o'clock I took Caleb's thermos to the third floor, because water at one hundred and four degrees does not wait.

The door of the private lounge was open a crack.

Caleb sat with one leg crossed over the other, spinning a silver lighter on his fingers.

Elliott and Asher sat across from him.

"I want to dump Sabrina," Caleb said, as if he were ordering lunch.

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