by Calia Read
“Uh...are you here for Mac?”
“No, I’m trying to be friendly.” Severine displayed the drinks held between her hands. “Coffee?”
His smirk was grateful as he took the cue and grabbed the container holding the drinks together.
“You really didn’t have to.”
“Yeah, well, sometimes I get this really weird urge to be considerate.” She yanked her gray snowcap from her head and dragged a hand through her messy hair. A strange expression crossed Thayer’s face as he watched her.
Severine wanted to keep today’s visit on the fence. She wasn’t here for Macsen or Thayer. This atypical drop by was for her. When she walked out of the front door, her thoughts of Thayer would be left behind, along with last night.
Severine grabbed a packet of sugar and ripped it open. “I guess today is one of those days. Don’t hold your breath for me to ever do this again.”
While rubbing his temples, he gently sat down on the kitchen barstool. Lily and Severine never had any males at their dorm. So seeing a shirtless and disheveled Thayer, with every muscle displayed, was torture.
Severine shifted her eyes away and repeatedly beat the sugar packet against her palm. “So, was last night barf-fest for you?”
Thayer shook his head and took a drink. “I’m sure you’re dying for me to say yes.” He placed his drink on the counter and settled his hands on his thighs. “But no, I slept like a rock.”
Severine nodded her head. “Good.” He’d never know that she slept like shit wondering about him. “You wanna put a shirt on?”
Thayer’s lips kicked up into a devious smile. “I was waiting for you to stop drooling.”
“I like you better drunk,” Severine muttered.
“Hmm?”
Severine leaned back in her chair and smiled sweetly. “I said, I think you wish I was!”
He responded with an expression that said, ‘Yeah, right.’ When he walked away, Severine examined his back muscles.
Seconds later, he came back out with a basketball shirt on. “Is that your high school team?”
“What?” he glanced down at his shirt. “Oh yeah, as you can see, we were the Cardinals.”
“Ah.” Severine sipped thoughtfully. “Vicious!”
“Sev? What are you doing here?” Macsen asked. His hair was stuck up in every direction. Instead, of sexy disheveled like his brother, he looked almost innocent. Severine wanted to walk up to him, push his hair in the right direction and simply hug him.
“I came to check on Thayer.” Her eyes drifted toward where he sat. He was already gone. “I figured you would let him sit in his own puke before you remembered.”
“And you brought coffee,” Macsen stated.
Severine grinned. “I did.” He eagerly took the one she held out for him. “Now that I can see you’re both alive, I’m gonna go. I have some shopping to do.”
“I know that Thayer might not remember, but do you know what happened last night?” Macsen stared down at his drink as he asked the question.
The cowardly part of her was willing to walk away without talking to Macsen about last night. Never mind the fact that his words chipped away at her already exhausted feelings. She wanted Thayer to remember.
But Macsen saw through it. Severine walked around the table and stood across from him.
“Remember what? That your brother drunk-texted me?”
Macsen rubbed his eyes. “I’m not talking about that.”
“Get to the point, then,” Severine emphasized her words slowly.
“You and my brother. What the fuck was that about?”
Her anger vibrated off her, expanding around the room. If Macsen couldn’t feel it, he was choosing to ignore it. “I helped him get to bed. That was it.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Really.” Severine buttoned up her coat and walked to the door. Before she opened it, she glanced back at Macsen. She never was good at backing down. “I wanna know. What do you think happened? You seemed pissed at me for reasons I don’t really know.”
Macsen clenched his lips together. From his red cheeks, Severine knew he was pissed. “Last night you stared at Thayer like you—”
“I stared at him in no way!” Severine interrupted loudly. Her heart hammered from his words. She didn’t want to discover how he would’ve ended that sentence. “This conversation’s going nowhere fast.”
“All I want to know is what I saw!”
“What you saw was nothing!” Severine shot back. “Besides, why should it bother you?”
Macsen took a step back as if he had gotten burned. Impossible. Severine would be the one with the scars.
“It doesn’t bother me.”
Nothing much to say to that. All Severine gave him was a small smile. “Then there you go. You answered your own question.”
Her hand reached for the doorknob. She was out of the apartment before Macsen could say anything else to take her spiraling mood to even lower levels.
Walking out into the crisp, fall air only reminded her that the main task for coming here hadn’t been achieved. If anything, she was leaving with more thoughts afflicting her mind.
“Hey, wait,” Thayer called out.
Severine picked her pace up and dug around for her keys. Why, when she really needed to get away, did her keys magically seem to disappear?
“Are you deaf?” Thayer asked as he caught up to her. His body blocked the path to her car. Severine looked at it longingly. It stood there in the sun, beckoning her to get the hell out of here.
“No,” Severine said with frustration. “I just need to get out of here.”
Thayer zipped up his jacket and looked around the parking lot. “Why? What’s bothering you?”
Everything. Macsen. You. This whole mess we’ve created.
“I heard you with Macsen.”
Severine groaned, “Is there ever a time when you two aren’t listening in?”
“From you?” His smile was harsh. “No. We’re never too far from you.”
“That’s a bad idea.”
“Never said it was right. We’re probably both fucking idiots,” Thayer spoke the truth. His words warmed her up just as goosebumps broke across her skin. “Thanks for coming over last night. I think I drunk-texted you?”
Severine narrowed her eyes. He remembered last night. His eyes flicking everywhere but to hers showed he knew every detail. “Did you like me taking your shirt off?” Severine taunted him.
For once, he was shocked. “I’m trying to let you walk away here scot free,” Thayer warned.
“Apparently, I’m just like you and your brother. A fucking idiot.”
“Look, I’m trying to be decent for once in my life. I’m letting you forget. Unless you want me to go upstairs and tell Macsen how you really looked at me?”
Severine opened her mouth. Thayer’s warm hand covered her lips. “You don’t always have to retort back with something snarky.”
Right now, he was asking her to forget. She wanted to remember. Severine hated herself for desperately wanting to hang onto the feelings from last night. In lieu of everything she wanted, Severine briskly nodded her head. Second choices always had the worst quality.
“You’re making me late.”
“For?”
Severine stepped to her left and Thayer mirrored her movements. “I’m meeting Lily.” He looked bored by her answer. Severine wanted to say something to throw him off his feet. “I want a dress for my date tonight.”
He glanced at her for a few seconds. “Really?”
Satisfaction illuminated her face. “Yup.”
“Who’s the guy?” he immediately asked.
“Will Pratt.” Severine moved to the right and left Thayer behind.
Thayer turned. His expression strange, he said, “William Pratt?”
Severine looked up from digging in her purse and saw the large grin on his face. “What?” His smile became wider. “Tell me, Thayer!”
“That guy
is the biggest pus-,” he rephrased his wording, “the biggest wimp to ever step foot on campus.”
Severine shrugged and turned back toward her car.“Ehh, he seemed all right to me.”
“Because he’s halfway good looking,” Thayer said dryly.
“Thayer, he’s more than halfway,” she said with a saucy grin.
“I’m pretty sure he’s on the chess team.”
“No, he’s not. And do we even have a chess team?”
“I wouldn’t know. I have a life. But have fun with Willy.”
“It’s Will!” Severine snapped back. After digging in her purse for one too many minutes, she groaned. “Where the hell are my keys?”
Thayer reached into his pocket and dangled them in front of her. “Is this what you’ve been looking for?”
“Gimme.”
He held the keys high in the air. Severine was standing next to a dude that was six-foot-nine. Jumping for them would make her look stupid. Grabbing them would be impossible. It’d be like reaching for the sky.
“Give them to me.”
“No.”
“I’m okay with walking,” Severine warned.
Thayer shrugged. “Believe me, I’m okay with watching you walk.”
“Quit being a dickchin. Hand them over.”
“You’re so fucking demanding.”
“When you have something I want, yes, yes I am.”
“Look, I’ll give them to you. All you gotta do is sweetly ask for them back.”
“Ask or beg?”
“Both.”
One step forward with Thayer could never be that simple. Whenever she was around him, tension seemed to hover. Severine drug her tongue across her teeth and looked around. She never liked saying, ‘please’ or ‘sorry.’ It was like she was admitting defeat. Forever and always, it’d be a blow to the self-esteem.
“Please hand me my keys, Thayer,” Severine gritted out.
He lowered his hand. “I’ve been waiting for you to say ‘please’ to me since the first day I saw you.”
Severine snatched her keys from his fingers and quickly opened her car door. “Well, it’s the last time you’ll ever hear it from me.”
“Yeah, right,” Thayer mumbled.
She heard his words clearly. With her eyes clenched tightly, she slammed her car door and pulled away.
A block away, she parked in an empty parking lot. Her hands shook as she scrolled through her phone for the number she wanted.
After four rings, a male voice answered anxiously.
“Hey, Severine.”
“I changed my mind, Will. I’d love to see you tonight.”
Chapter Ten
Tell Severine to do something.
Usually, she ended up doing the opposite. Most of the time, she walked away feeling victorious. That wasn’t the case tonight.
She was on round twenty of crossing and re-crossing her legs underneath the table. She had a severe case of restlessness, and it wasn’t going to let up anytime too soon.
Everything had started out so great. Will had picked her up, and they talked on the way to the restaurant. Over a plate of breadsticks, Severine realized the truth. Will Pratt had a severe case of momma’s boy syndrome.
While she stuffed her face with breadsticks, her date continued to tell her why his mom preferred for him to be called William, and not Will. Will was a child’s name. If he was going to someday have a career, who would listen to a Will?
After that, Severine tuned him out. Their food came, and she quickly ate all her pasta. To think she wasted her sexy dress on a dude that couldn’t cut the cord.
The highlight of her evening was the sound of her phone ringing. Severine practically banged her head against the table to reach it.
“Hey, Lily.” Severine took the phone away from her ear and briefly mouthed to William, ‘It’s my friend.’
“So, I have some bad news,” Lily said on the other side of the line.
“Oh no,” Severine said with shock. “What’s wrong?”
“Your mom called me. Apparently, your imaginary brother is gone.”
“Is he okay?” Severine whispered. “What happened?”
“He was walking through some unknown city and disappeared.”
“That’s horrible.”
“I am guessing you want me to pick you up?”
“Yes, that would be great. Lily, thank you so much for calling me!” Severine said in mock sadness.
Across the phone, Lily laughed, “No problem. Be there in five minutes.”
“Oh no, Will.”
“William,” he interjected.
Severine ignored him and continued, “I need to go. Apparently my brother is really ill. I need to get there. Now.”
“Do you need me to drop you off anywhere?”
“That’s so kind, but my friend is picking me up. We’re going straight to him.” Her hands were through her coat sleeves instantly.
“Well...tonight was fun,” William said frowning.
“I know, had a blast. Let’s do it again. Adios, Will!” Quickly, she rushed out into the frigid temperature. The air immediately gave her a chill. She could be suffering from hypothermia, and she’d still feel relieved. She now realized Thayer’s gleefulness over her date.
The minute she was allowed to date, she created a system with Lily. Call ‘em and leave ‘em. It was their routine and always ran smoothly. Some may call it cruel. Severine just called it genius thinking. Who wanted to sit through a date that made you lose the William to live?
Her heels clicked loudly on the payment as she made her way toward Ben’s car.
Severine shut the door and relaxed back in her seat. “I should feel bad about interrupting you guys, but...I’m really not.”
“You two are going to hell for that stunt,” Ben mumbled as he pulled back onto the road.
“Hey!” Lily protested.
“Take it back, Benji. I’ll have you know that our stunt has been working for years. Why, I’ve had cats, baby gerbils, pet wildebeests, and like tonight, imaginary brothers that were in dire straits!” Severine said.
“She’s right. Our calls save lives,” Lily stated solemnly.
“You guys can drop me off back at the dorms, if you want,” Severine offered. She was already exhausted. Adding third wheel to the list of tonight’s activities didn’t seem fun.
“Nah, it’s no big deal.” Ben glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “We’re just getting some pizza with a few guys.”
“Cool.” Severine looked down at her dark green sweater dress and knew she was overdressed. It was too cute of an outfit to waste, even if she’d look out of place.
They parked, and Lily waited for Severine to get out. She took in Lily’s bomber jacket, paired with a flowery top and jeans.
“You look cute tonight.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Well, I have a hot date...at a pizza place.”
“Benji pick this place out tonight?”
“Do you think I’d voluntarily come here?” Lily asked sarcastically.
The minute Ben held open the door, Severine could hear the combined mixture of voices. It was packed with people. Severine followed alongside Ben and Lily as they were guided toward the back. A long row of tables had been placed next to each other. Severine recognized a few faces from around campus.
A loud whistle rang the room. Severine looked at Chris. “What the hell, Save-ah-reen! You’ve been holding out on me!”
He sat in the back. Severine made her way to the open seat close to him. “Hey, where are Dumb and Dumber?”
Chris answered instantly, “Thayer’s coming later. He had a date with this hot freshman. And I think Macsen’s playing some game or something.”
She wasn’t surprised Thayer was out with a girl. Their treaty didn’t include sincere. He could go out just like she could.
Things with Macsen didn’t end how she wanted—she wanted him here tonight. Parting on a bitter note with him just felt askew.
/> “I’m surprised Thayer can walk in a straight line after last night.”
“Ah dude, it was epic!” Chris rubbed his hands together just from the thought. “I’ve never seen him that wasted.”
“You’re such a good influence, Chris,” Severine deadpanned.
“Hey!” Chris objected. “I didn’t drag him to the bar. He suggested it.”
Severine snorted and grabbed a piece of pizza from his plate.
There was a low hum of conversation in the room. It tempted her to text Macsen—she wanted someone to talk to and she wanted to clear the air with him.
Severine grabbed her phone and immediately her hands moved across the screen.
I’m with everyone at Charlie’s. Get over here!
I’ve already eaten. Had Chinese.
I’m choking on all the male testosterone! I repeat, get over here now!
Wimp. Be there soon.
Even though he couldn’t see it, she smiled at her screen. He brought a smile to her face. The thought of seeing those chartreuse eyes made her jolt in excitement.
“Ten o’clock.” Two hands rounded over her shoulders. They fit perfectly. “You’re already finished with your date? I’m shocked,” Thayer declared in her ear.
The chair next to her was open, and Thayer’s body filled the seat. Severine cut him down with a glare. “We’re not talking right now.”
“Because?”
The real Thayer was back in the shadows. Severine was now faced with the pretext that he exhibited for the world. He was a chameleon. No one could mask his or her emotions better than him, save Severine.
Severine pretended to go along. That’s all she could really do. “You knew he was some puppet momma’s boy. They’re the worst!”
He pushed up the sleeves of his flannel shirt. “You called him Will?”
“Yeah, that was my first sign he was a freak of nature!”
He laughed silently, but his shoulders shook up and down.
“You could have warned me about the name thing,” Severine grumbled.
“You didn’t ask if he was still breastfed, so I didn’t tell,” Thayer corrected.