Chapter 46: Phase Two
Walking back to class next to Nina, my mind was a mess. The cafeteria noise faded into a dull roar in my head, replaced by a single, looping thought: this was a problem.
Ruby wasn’t looking for a relationship. She said it herself—she just studies alone, it’s easier that way. That wasn’t the tone of a girl waiting for someone to ask her out. That was the tone of someone who was perfectly fine on her own. And I had to somehow get Jake, a guy who sweats when she looks in his direction, to break through that.
My mission just got ten times harder.
"You’re doing it again."
I blinked, pulled out of my thoughts. Nina was looking at me, her head tilted with that familiar, curious expression. "Doing what?"
"That thing where you look like you’re trying to solve a complicated problem in your head," she said, a small smile on her face. "Your eyebrows get all scrunched up. It’s very serious."
My hand instinctively went to my forehead. "They do not."
"They totally do," she said with a laugh. "So, what is it this time? Are you secretly plotting world domination?"
I wished it was that simple. "Just thinking," I mumbled.
She didn’t press, just bumped her shoulder against mine lightly. "Well, try not to sprain your brain. We still have 4 more classes to survive."
She let it go, but I could feel her watching me for a second longer before turning her attention forward. She was getting too good at reading me.