RUSH

Ch. 26: Intentions

I'd only sneaked my way out once the last bus of the night was set to pass, thankfully not bumping into Mason or his friend on my way out.

"The only one embarrassed will be Jason!"

"Mason."

"Right, the rat."

"Wouldn't you rather hang out with me?" I asked, flashing a weak smile.

Eve just huffed in annoyance and sat back down, angrily tearing into a pizza slice before offering me a bite. I just eyed it hesitantly before grimacing in response, shaking my smoothie at her. "I'm alright."

"You haven't even touched your food," she pointed out, signaling towards my untouched container of pasta.

"I'm saving it for work. I get hungry between classes," I replied, which was not necessarily a lie. Honestly, with how conflicted I felt at the moment, I just didn't have much of an appetite. I did take another sip of my pineapple smoothie, though, while continuing to aimlessly scroll through Eve's timeline. "Can you sit down, now? I'm not in the mood to chase you down if you decide to head to... the parking lot?"

"Fine, whatever," she grumbled before sitting back down beside me, leaning against my shoulder and sighing out in annoyance. "You win. I don't know what building Econ courses are held at..."

I chuckled at that, grinning against my backpack, but my eyes were still focused on the device. "Bit too far to walk there from here, honestly."

She hummed. "Isn't it by the main bookstore?"

I rolled my eyes, making it clear I wasn't giving any clues.

"Bennett..."

"Besides, what are you planning to do? Go to every single room until you hopefully find him? What if he doesn't have any classes at this time? Or even today?"

Eve narrowed her eyes, but she stopped arguing about it. "I see who's side you're on."

I shrugged. "My own? I want to keep my job."

"Fine..."

I sighed, relieved that I wasn't going to be forced to help Mason's family find a gravesite. Besides, the thought of running into Mason on campus was... a completely different depth of terrifying. What if I bumped into him while he was with his friends? Or worse, a girlfriend?

Hell no.

"Also, do you know when you're getting your phone back?" Eve asked while taking her phone back. I tried to complain, but I'd taken it prisoner for over an hour; in that case, perhaps it was time. "I miss texting you."

I shook my head slowly, sighing under my breath. "I'm likely going to have to get myself a new one. So, I need to wait until my next paycheck comes in... a week? I get paid every other Friday."

"Get the new one," she encouraged, albeit half-heartedly considering she had an older model herself.

"Well, he takes like seventy-five percent of it. I'll be lucky if I can afford a brick phone," I murmured in response,

Eve groaned. "He's the worst."

"Yep."

---

"Marissa," I acknowledged while casually walking up to the front desk, waiting as she took her sweet time replying back to a text before disinterestedly glancing up to meet my gaze. I shifted some weight off my left leg while leaning on the edge of the counter, still trying not to put too much strain on it while it recovered.