The Perfect First (Fulton U, #1)(25)

Our meeting ended with my promise that I’d think about completing my PhD there. Walking across campus, I checked the time. Why couldn’t I be one of those ballsy people who didn’t care what anyone thought? The kind of person who could stand in the middle of a crowded room and not want to run away? I just couldn’t, though. That would draw more attention to me. Sometimes I felt like an animal out in the forest who made themselves bigger to scare off predators. Better that than trying to fit in and finding out no one actually liked me for who I really was.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and a ball of dread curled in my stomach. My dad was the only one who called, and it seemed he had the ability to sense a hint of academic wavering from over five hundred miles away. I took a deep breath and tried to unfurl the growing knot in my gut. Doing a double take, I slid my finger across the screen.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Seph. It’s Graham. From the coffee shop.” His voice was higher, brighter, like he should work in a malt shop in the 50s.

“Yes, of course I remember.” I held my finger to my ear and stepped off the brick path, cutting across the leaf-covered ground.

“How are you?”

“I’m good—great. Just left a meeting in the math department.” I tucked my hand under my arm and pressed the phone into my ear. We’d exchanged numbers at the coffee shop. It was rude of me not to have called him back, especially after him being the only one to answer my ad. Reece swore only a psycho would, but Graham seemed far from a psycho. He was pretty straight-laced, much to my chagrin.

“So, you’re free right now.”

“Free for what?” The flicker of interest was there. Maybe I should choose Graham.

“There’s an exhibit at the art museum I’ve been meaning to get to—would you like to go?”

And the flicker was doused with a gallon of water. The dream scenario of him inviting me to ride on the back of his motorcycle or sneak into an abandoned warehouse for a rave shriveled and died. Still, it was either the museum with Graham or going back to my apartment. “The museum would be great.”

“Awesome, I’ll come pick you up.” He ended the call.

I pulled the phone back from my face and scared at the screen. Pick me up from where? Where did he think I was? A gentle tap on my shoulder stopped my confusion dead in its tracks. Turning around, I saw a grinning Graham staring back at me.

“I was leaving class.” He pointed behind him at the English building. “And I saw you walking.”

“You had me completely confused.”

“I thought it would be a nice surprise.” He smiled wide.

I waited for the butterflies to start their engines. It seemed they were shy, maybe still wrapped up in their cocoons. “Do you really want to go to the museum?”

“If you’re up for it.” He was sweet, nice—exactly the kind of guy I should probably be looking for, someone my own speed.

“Sure, let’s go.” So why did I feel like I was headed to a class field trip, not the closest thing I’d ever had to an actual date in my whole life. This was more of the same, but I followed him nonetheless.

We walked across campus, our shoulders bumping as we passed by others on the walkways. I tugged my hat down lower. The red knitted addition to my wardrobe still felt like I was walking around with my hair on fire, but I figured I’d get used to it eventually.

“Do you know him?”

I followed Graham’s gaze and my eyes locked with Reece’s. Dropping mine back to the ground, I shoved my hands into my pockets and picked up my pace. “We’ve bumped into each other on campus before, but that’s about it.”

Graham caught up to me. “He’s staring you down like you stole something of his.”

“It must be the hat. It’s getting me a lot of attention.” Peering over my shoulder, I looked for Reece. He was at the center of a group of guys, probably his friends, or at least teammates. One of them threw their head back and laughed. The sound made its way all the way across the quad. Were they laughing about me?

“It’s a nice hat.” He peered over at me, his eyes soft and gentle. The perfect gentleman.

“Thanks.” We went to the museum then grabbed some sandwiches from the coffee shop on the way back to campus, and all I could do the entire time I was with him was think about how this was exactly like everything I’d always done. He was exactly the kind of guy I was expected to be with. He said all the right things, knew all the right information, but somehow when it came to sliding that last puzzle piece into place, it didn’t fit.

I was back to square one.

Friendless.

Dateless.

Sexless.

I opened the door to my apartment and was greeted by Alexa practically riding her boyfriend on the living room couch.

“You could knock.” She flipped her hair and spat the words over her shoulder.

“It’s only my apartment,” I said under my breath.

“Hey, Seph.” Dan waved over her shoulder as I trudged out of the room and down the hall into my room. How had a nice guy like him ended up with such an atomic bitch? I supposed that worked both ways—how had my mom ended up with my dad? Relationships changed people, it seemed. They could make people do crazy things they wouldn’t normally do and put up with things anyone on the outside would think they were insane for tolerating.