CHAPTER 28

CHAPTER 28

EZRA

The afternoon sun was hot, and I was sandwiched between Lily and Jake on the way to class. Lily was complaining about her professor again, and Jake—who was chatty when he wanted to be—just nodded along with the occasional sarcastic remark.

“Tell me why Professor Hart still assigns handwritten essays like it’s 1820,” Lily groaned, shoving her hair out of her face. “It’s the twenty-first century. We have laptops. We have printers.”

Jake smirked. “Maybe he wants to see if you can spell without autocorrect.”

“Maybe he wants me to lose my mind,” she shot back.

I laughed quietly. “You’ll survive.”

“Barely,” she muttered, then elbowed me. “You’ve got, what, two exams in one week? And you’re not dead yet?”

“Give it time,” I said dryly.

Jake chuckled. “Overachievers always look alive until the last second. Then they collapse.”

“Encouraging,” I said.

“Realistic,” he countered.

I shook my head, smiling. Somehow, we all just… clicked. Even Jake, who could go quiet for an hour and then drop the most random comment like he’d been listening the whole time.

My phone buzzed.

Eros.

Library. Need to meet. Now.

I frowned.

Lily peeked over my shoulder. “Oooh, library date?”

“It’s not—” I stuffed my phone away. “It’s project work.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, smirking.

Jake raised a brow but didn’t say anything.

The library was cool, quiet, smelling like dust and ink. I spotted Eros right away at the back table. He didn’t look good.

“Hey,” I said softly, sliding into the chair beside him. “You okay?”

He looked up, eyes red, hair messy. “Not really.”

My chest tightened. “What happened?”

He ran a hand through his hair, shaking his head. “My ex. The guy I told you about. He already has someone else. He didn’t even wait a month. Just… moved on.”

I blinked. “Oh.”

“Yeah.” He gave a humorless laugh. “I feel like an idiot. I keep replaying everything in my head, wondering what I could’ve done differently. And now he’s out there kissing someone else while I’m…” His voice cracked. “I’m sitting here crying like a loser.”

“You’re not a loser,” I said quickly.

He looked at me, eyes glassy. “Feels like it.”

I hesitated, then reached out, touching his arm. “Look, you cared. That doesn’t make you weak. It makes you human.”

He swallowed hard. “Yeah, but humans suck.”

“Sometimes,” I admitted. “But not always. You’ll be okay, Eros.”

He gave me a shaky smile. “You say things like that. Simple. But it makes sense.”

“Because it’s true,” I said.

For a moment, we just sat there, quiet. Then he cleared his throat, pulled out his laptop. “We should work before I completely spiral.”

“Agreed.”

We bent over notes and slides, typing, muttering about which sections to take. For a while, it felt normal again.

Until I realized he wasn’t typing anymore.

I glanced sideways.

Eros’s eyes were closed, his head tipped against my shoulder.

My entire body froze.

“Uh,” I whispered, staring at the top of his head. His curls brushed against my shirt.

My brain scrambled for what to do. Wake him up? Let him sleep? Shove him off?

He looked exhausted.

So I stayed still.

Across the room, a student coughed. Someone whispered. But here, at this tiny table, it was just me, my notes, and a very attractive guy asleep on my shoulder.

I sighed quietly, trying to focus on my laptop.

But my chest felt weirdly warm.

“Ezra.”

I jumped.

Lily stood a few feet away, smirking at me like she’d just caught me red-handed.

“It’s not what it looks like,” I whispered quickly.

She leaned in, whispering back. “Looks like a romance novel to me.”

I glared. “Shut up.”

She grinned wider. “You’re blushing.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

I looked down at Eros, who was snoring softly now.

God help me.