As A Friend

31: West's Night

"How'd it go?" Kat asks, pretending as though she hadn't watched the entire thing.

"He has a girlfriend," Taylor reveals as she drops in her seat. I sit forward a bit as I stare at her with furrowed eyebrows. Excuse me? Kat also looks a little shocked. "I'm not surprised. You can't look like that and not have a girlfriend. Whoever she is, she's lucky."

"I was not aware of that," Kat says, slightly apologetic.

"It's whatever," Taylor says. "I can still admire him from afar." I stare at Dominic and contemplate approaching him. Taylor would probably be surprised, not that it matters much to me.

Dominic and I have been good these past few days. The hooking up has lessened to once a day but I think it's for a couple reasons. The first being that I'm still a little nervous about the whole 'I love you' scenario. He makes jokes about it now and clearly wasn't too affected by it. I can't help but remember the look on his face when I said it. It makes me wonder what was going on in his mind. Not to mention, midterms are approaching and we've decided to study separately seeing as every time we study together, it becomes a heated make-out session, which usually gets cut short by Jack walking in. We usually pretend to be napping or cuddling in Dominic's bed but we've almost been caught a couple times. Thankfully Jack is clueless enough not to notice.

I twirl my phone in my hands as I gaze at my best friend. I decide to text him and ask if he wants to get dinner. I send the message and watch as he glances at his phone. He lifts the device, smiles at the screen, and hastily types a reply. It takes a few seconds for it to reach my inbox and when it does, I skim it. Yeah, when? I suggest now just to see what he'll say. I expect him to put it off for a half hour or so seeing as he just sat down five minutes ago. I keep my eyes on him as he stares at his phone, patiently waiting for my response. When it goes through, he quickly types up a message before unzipping his bag and closing his laptop.

"I'm going to go," I tell Kat and she gives me a pleading look as Taylor talks her ears off. "Bye, Taylor. It was nice meeting you."

"You, too," she says before offering me a smile. She turns back to Kat to engage her in conversation.

"I'll see you," my friend whispers with begging eyes.

"Sorry," I mouth as I grab my bag and rush to the lobby. I lean against the wall in an attempt to look cool but I mostly just scratch the back of my arms on the brick surface.

Dominic emerges a second later with his earbuds playing loudly. He shuffles right past me and I duck behind him, looping my finger into his hood. He halts in his stride when he notices my grip and turns around to see the culprit. His eyes settle on me and he tilts his head curiously and I can already tell what he's thinking. I tug his earbuds from his ears and lightly swing them in my hands.

"Hey," I greet him.

"How'd you know I was here?" he asks with a small smile.

"I saw you," I reply and his eyebrows knit together in confusion. I drop his earbuds into his pocket before leading the way to the exit. "I was with Kat and...her friend."

"Interesting," he responds.

"I have a question," I blurt as we exit the library into the cool courtyard. I'd thank Mother Nature for the nice late February weather but I have a feeling it's not her doing.

"Ask away," he encourages as he matches my stride.

"What do you say when girls approach you?" I inquire as I gaze up at him.

"What do you mean?" he requests clarification.

"Like if a girl comes up to you and calls you cute; what would you say back?" I specify.