I Think I Love You | Randy

track 15. landslide - fleetwood mac

"Hey," she said, making me look at her. "I'm here to talk if you need, hun."

"Thank you," I replied with a tight smile, wishing I could take her up on the offer. It would be nice to have at least one friend who could be objective. But if Brook didn't want to know, I sure as hell wasn't going to tell anyone else.

***

Olivia and I had a break at the same time, deciding to wander into the central hub of campus for lunch instead of eating in the theatre, needing a break from the claustrophobia and the craziness. We found a little cafe, Olivia grabbing us a table while I went up to order coffees. A familiar sandy haired lad smiled at me from across the counter.

"Hey Andy," he greeted me.

"Harvey," I smiled back. "You work here?"

"Have to fund the parties somehow," he grinned. "How you doing?"

We caught up over exam and football schedules, Harvey commiserating with me over how busy I was between coursework and the musical before taking my coffee orders. He was just as friendly as he'd been at the party, and I stood around to chat with him while his coworker made the drinks.

"Hey, tell Rye he's welcome back on the team anytime by the way," he added casually, the comment throwing me.

"He's welcome back?"

"Yeah, I mean usually he'd have to wait until next season to retrial but between us, he's such a good player I know the coach would just let him straight back in," Harvey went on.

"Are you telling me Rye isn't on the football team anymore?" I wasn't quite understanding what I was hearing.

"He quit right after Christmas break," Harvey said. "He didn't tell you? I thought you two were super close."

"I uh... I guess he forgot to mention it," I mumbled, my brain spinning at this revelation.

"Ah, I get it, you're drifting," Harvey nodded knowingly. "It happens. I'm not friends with any of my old mates from college anymore. It's a thing."

"We're not drifting," I snapped back, my tone sharper than I intended. "We're just... I don't know... going through a rough patch."

"That's how it starts," Harvey grimaced. He hesitated as my face dropped, clearly realising that he'd hit a nerve. "I'm sure you two will sort it out though."

"We will," I said defiantly, though his words had definitely made me nervous. "Did he say why he was quitting?"

"Just said he'd lost interest," Harvey shrugged. "Here's your coffee anyway."

"Thanks," I murmured, walking them over to the table, my thoughts beginning to spiral.

"You okay?" Olivia asked. "You look very disturbed."

"I just need to check something," I said, pulling out my phone as I sat down. I pulled up our university intranet app, using Rye's Gmail and the password he used for everything to get access to his student profile without any trouble. I scrolled down his record of achievement, the dread within me increasing the further down the list I went. His last economics assignment; C+. Literature essay; not completed. Politics test; absent. I'd known about the commerce test he missed, the essay we'd worked on together being the last decent grade he'd achieved. But he'd said that was an isolated incident. And yet, at the rate he was going, he was dangerously close to flunking the year altogether.