Chapter Three: First Day

POV: Haley

"You've been looking at that building entrance for three minutes," Avriel says. "It's a door, Haley."

I force my eyes away. "I'm people watching."

"You're watching for one person."

She bumps my shoulder, quick and easy. She's been doing that since sophomore year, when she and Nathan were lab partners and I was just the girlfriend who showed up to study sessions with takeout.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

She kicks a small pebble off the path. "Nathan told me about dinner."

"Of course he did."

"He said Kai asked about you after you left."

My hands tighten on my bag strap and I try to keep my voice even. "Asked what?"

"Wouldn't say." She shrugs, but her eyes are curious. "Just that you seemed different than he expected. Whatever that means."

Nathan jogs over from the parking lot before we make it to the science building entrance. He's wearing a new jacket, slightly too big in the shoulders, the kind he probably bought because someone told him it looked good and he believed them.

"Avriel, you actually made it."

"Barely. Someone kept me up late texting about a certain dinner."

Nathan's smile slips for half a second. Then it's back. "Kai's here somewhere. He went to find the bathroom."

Avriel snorts. "First day and already lost."

"He's not lost. He's figuring it out."

"That's just a nicer way of saying lost."

Nathan laughs, and his shoulders drop the way they only do when he's not thinking about being seen. 

Then Kai rounds the corner of the building and walks toward us.

He's wearing a gray sweater, sleeves pushed to the elbow, a watch on his wrist that probably costs more than three months of my rent.

Avriel leans toward me without turning her head. "Okay. I get it now."

"Get what?"

"Nothing."

Kai stops beside Nathan. "The bathrooms are in the basement."

"I told you to turn left."

"You told me to turn right."

"It's the same."

"It is literally the opposite direction."

Avriel grins. "You two are exhausting."

Nathan tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. "I have a department meeting. Avriel, you're good to stay with her?"

"She's not a houseplant, Nathan."

"I know." He jogs off toward the right wing.

Avriel looks between me and Kai, then picks up her bag. "I have class. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

She leaves.

Kai and I stand there.

The quad moves around us, students cutting across the grass, someone's folder splitting open and papers skidding across the path. Normal Monday morning chaos.

"So," I say.

"So."

"Which building are you headed to?"

"Humanities."

I look at him. "Same."

We start walking.

We don't talk. Just move through the crowd with a foot of space between us — close enough to feel, far enough to deny.

A guy on a skateboard cuts through the crowd without warning and I step back at the same time Kai does. We go in opposite directions first, then correct, then somehow end up stepping into each other anyway. His arm catches my shoulder, steadying me before I fully process what happened.

"Sorry," I say.

"My fault."

We keep walking.

"You didn't have to come this way," I say, after a moment.

"Our class is in the same building. I'm not walking with you, I'm walking to class."

A group of girls passes us. One of them slows, eyes on Kai, and mutters something to her friend. The friend laughs.

Kai doesn't turn his head. He rolls his shoulders once and keeps moving.

"People are looking at you," I say.

"People look at everyone."

"They're looking at you specifically."

"Maybe they're looking at you."

"They're not."

He glances at me. "How do you know?"

I don't answer that. I just watch the sidewalk cracks pass under my shoes.

---

The classroom is almost full by the time we get there. A few seats left scattered around. We take two near the back without discussing it, ending up next to each other.

The professor walks in. Older man, gray hair, glasses sitting low on his nose.

"Welcome back." He drops his folder on the desk. "Before we start, we have a transfer student joining us." He looks toward the back row, then finds Kai. "Mr. Remington. Would you like to say anything?"

Kai stands. The room turns toward him all at once.

"Kai Remington."

He sits back down.

The whispers start before the professor can open his mouth again.

"Remington? Like the hotels?"

"The ones on Fifth and downtown?"

"My cousin did an internship at one of their offices. The family owns half the development on the east side."

"Then what is he doing in a lecture hall with us?"

Kai's reaction stays the same. He opens his notebook and looks at the board like the room isn't talking about him at all.

"Page forty-two," the professor says.

The room settles.

I take notes I probably won't read later. The lecture drags, the kind of pace that makes you check the clock and feel worse when you see how little time has passed.

---

Nathan is waiting outside the building after class, holding two coffees.

"One is for you." He hands me both. "The other is also for you because I didn't know what you'd want."

"I don't drink coffee."

"I know. But I didn't want to come empty-handed."

Kai comes out behind me and stops when he sees Nathan. A girl stumbles against Kai, her drink sways, and a little spills near Kai's sleeve.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry." She's already reaching for the napkins in her bag, face going red. "I wasn't looking, let me just—"

"It's fine."

"No, really, I can—"

"It's fine." He wipes his sleeve with the back of his hand and the conversation is over. Then she walks away.

Nathan is trying not to grin. "That happen a lot?"

Kai looks at him. "What?"

"Girls finding reasons to be near you."

"They're annoying."

"You don't even notice them."

"I notice." He doesn't look particularly pleased about it.

Nathan turns to me, shifting gears the way he does. "I wanted to ask you something."

"What?"

"Come over tonight."

"I have class tomorrow morning."

"Skip it."

"I can't."

"You can. You just won't." He looks at me and his face goes quiet. "Please."

Nathan doesn't beg. He asks, he plans, he shows up.

"Okay," I say.

He cups my face and kisses me twice, quick. When I look up, Kai is already walking toward the parking lot. I hand the coffees back to Nathan and he takes them without a word. 

Kai is standing near a black SUV when we reach the lot. A driver is holding the door open, standing straight, waiting.

I slow without meaning to.

Nathan notices. "He doesn't drive himself. Family thing."

"He has a driver?"

"Always has."

The SUV is clean and dark-windowed, the kind of car that doesn't announce itself but turns heads anyway. Kai gets in without looking around. The driver closes the door and moves to the front.

Nathan opens his car door for me. "You good?"

"Yeah." I get in.

The SUV pulls out first, quiet and smooth. Nathan follows.

---

Nathan's apartment is on the third floor. The elevator is broken again so we take the stairs, his hand loose around mine. Inside, the apartment is tidy and lived in, his mother's handwriting on sticky notes pressed to the fridge door.

I sit on the couch. He sits beside me, not pulling me close, not reaching for the remote. Just sits.

"I feel like I've been absent lately," he says.

"You haven't."

"I have. Between work and Kai being back." He leans forward, elbows on his knees. "That's not an excuse."

"Nathan, it's okay."

"It's not." He turns to look at me. "You're my girlfriend. You should come first."

He reaches over and links our fingers together. "Stay tonight."

"I said I would."

"No, I mean actually stay. Not just be here physically. Actually stay."

"What's the difference?"

He looks at me for a long moment, then pulls me closer, firm but gentle. He leans in and kisses me, slow and deliberate, and I let him.

He pulls back and looks at my face.

"Stay," he says again.

"Nathan—"

"In my bed. We don't have to do anything. I just want you there."

The room is quiet. A car zooms past on the street below.

"Okay," I say.

He exhales, slow and long, presses his forehead against mine.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not saying no."

He pulls back after a moment, lifting a hand to my face. His thumb moves slowly along my cheekbone.

"You're still not here," he says.

"I'm right here, Nathan."

"You're looking at me like I'm a stranger."

"I'm not."

His eyes don't leave mine.

"Then kiss me like you know me."

I lean in.

His lips are warm and familiar and I close my eyes and try to just be here, just this room, just him.

But for one second, one stupid, uninvited second, I'm somewhere else entirely.

A bathroom. Cold water on my hands. A voice at the door, flat and certain.

I pull back.

Nathan is watching me. His hand is still on my face but it's gone still.

"There," he says quietly. "You just left again."

"I didn't go anywhere."

"You did." He drops his hand and walks to the kitchen without another word.

I hear the sound of drawers opening and closing in the kitchen. A tap runs and turns off. 

I pull at a loose thread on the hem of my jeans until it snaps. 

Then I reach for my phone. I don't know who I'm texting until the message is already sent.

Are you still awake?

---