Chapter 12: Twelve

“Long night, Wills?” Jacob’s voice sounded from beside me. I did not have it in me to turn to my right and look at him. Bile rose up my throat, and I grabbed my water bottle, chugging down half of the mint water I had kept for myself. I felt a little bit better, so I looked up at him. His dark brown eyes bore down at me, searching my face.

“Heavy drinking.” I smiled a little.

Mara laughed at me. “The age gap in grad school is so hilarious to me. I almost forget that you’re just twenty three. You should definitely be heavily drinking on school nights.”

I shook my head, drinking more water. We were in our classroom just after class had ended. We had Declan’s lecture in an hour and had to kill time. Marta wanted to get coffee but I was hardly in a state to move around.

“Where did you guys go?” Mara asked, “I want to take this girl I’m seeing to a nice place.”

“Um, its called Key. Its supposed to be really private on the weekends. I’ll ask my rommmate to get you in. She knows some people.”

Mara beamed at me. “You’re an angel, Willow.”

Jacob’s phone rang loudly. His ringtone was a jingle from an old advertisement. I usually found it hilarious; but today it felt like it would make my ears bleed. I must have winced visibly, because he apologized. I shook my head. “No, no, not your fault.” I groaned lightly. “I’m never drinking again.”

He frowned. “Well, not like this. What have you eaten since the morning?”

“Nothing, I was in a rush, I could only grab some water.”

He stood up from his seat, and so did Mara, following his suit. I looked up at them, weary eyed.

“Come on,” Jacob announced, “We have to feed you, man.”

“I can’t move. I’ll really be fine, guys.”

He grabbed my arm lightly, pulling me up from the chair I was so comfortable in. I sighed, but let him drag me out of the room and into the cafeteria. The five-minute walk in the sun was excruciating. Earlier I had just been feeling dizzy. Now my head hurt and felt like it would split open any second. All I could think about was just one thing – I hate alcohol.

We made it to the cafeteria, and Jacob made me sit down while he got me food. Mara sat down beside me.

“Jacob is sweet on you, huh?”  She remarked, her voice low but giddy. “Is something brewing there? Man, I don’t want to third wheel you two. You’re my only

friends in class.”

I remembered few days ago when Jacob had asked me out. He had asked me to dinner, but then we had never spoken about it again. I looked up and saw him standing in line at the counter. He was staring at me headon.

I don’t think I had that kind of interest in him. Sure, he was sweet and he was easy on the eyes. And he was treating me so nicely, but I just didn’t feel anything remotely romantic for him. God, I was so caught off guard that day, I had told him yes. Was I leading him on? I had to let him down slowly. Or at least, clarify things from my end.

I laughed at Mara’s statement. “He’s just being a good friend.”

She rolled her eyes. “Last week I texted him that I have a fever and he told me to fuck off.”

“He did?”

She smiled lightly, “Well, not those words. But he surely didn’t do what he’s doing for you.”

She fell silent as she saw him approaching. He put down a sandwich in front of me. He had bought Mara a coffee, and a protein bar for himself. I looked sideways at Mara. “Told you,” I mouthed.

“Um, rude.” Jacob said.

I shook my head, “We were just talking about how nice you are.”

He shrugged, “I’ll expect payment in kind.” He looked at me pointedly. “You have to come to my uncle’s birthday party with me.”

I cocked my head to the side, “But why?”

“Its complicated,” he took a bite of his protein bar and chewed for a good two minutes while Mara and I waited for his explanation. “He wants to set me up with his wife’s niece. I just need a girl with me to ward that off.”

Mara spoke this time, “So why don’t you want to give the wife’s niece a chance?”

He pursed his lips. “She’s just not my type. And I don’t want to make it weird for my aunt by rejecting her, you know?”

I bit into my sandwich. It was veggies and deli meat, but I was so starved it tasted gourmet to me. “I’ll go with you, don’t worry.”

“You’re an angel, Wills.”

He had even given me a nickname. I felt a little saddened by the thought of rejecting him. He was my friend and I didn’t want to make things weird. But things would get weirder if I dragged him along. I had to do it soon.

While we ate, we talked about the assignment we had been given today. Mara and Jacob were working on their together, while I was doing mine alone.

I thanked Jacob for the food and then we walked back to class together. I wasn’t ready at all to see Declan, but I had to. Things were so weird now. He had been jealous.

Chris had texted me in the morning but I hadn’t responded to him yet. God I couldn’t have imagined this is how grad school would have started for me. Stuck.

Between three men. And one of them was my fricking professor.