Everything Is Just Fine

Chapter 14

The next night, I'm a sweaty ball of nerves again.

Toby is laying on his bed, reading a novel for his English class. It seems he's no longer upset about my date with Abel. We never talked about his odd reaction to the news, and there's still this tension between us. I don't like it.

"Are you sure I can't bring my headphones?" I ask, looking at myself in the full-length mirror attached to our bathroom door.

I'm wearing my favorite black jeans, a maroon long-sleeved shirt, my denim jacket covered with a large variety of pins and patches, and my gray high tops.

Should I change again?

I can feel Toby's eyes on me, but when I turn to look at him, he's looking at his book.

"You can't take your headphones, Jay."

I sigh heavily. "You'll call with an 'emergency' if I text you the codeword, right?"

"Parsnip, right?" He doesn't look up at me, but his lips curl at his joke.

"No! Pineapple!"

Toby places his book on his bed and stands. He places his hands on my shoulders, steadying me. "Jay. You're going to be fine. You don't need your headphones or codewords. Just be your awesome self."

I scoff. "I am not awesome."

"Fine. Just be yourself, even if it's not awesome."

He makes me laugh, and I calm down a little bit.

His phone rings. When he looks at the screen, his face lights up.

"Mads! Hey!" he says into the device. He goes back to his bed with his phone pressed between his ear and shoulder. "I miss you!"

I look at myself in the mirror again. I want to ask Toby if I should change my shirt, but I don't want to take away from his Madison time, so I decide that I'm just going with the maroon and dealing with it.

My alarm goes off, telling me it's time to leave and meet Abel by the library. I wave bye to Toby, and he mouths 'good luck' to me while Madison chatters in his ear.

I take the elevator to the lobby, surprised to find Abel leaning against the light gray wall by the door.

He looks great. He's wearing a painted leather jacket, ripped blue jeans, combat boots, and a Rob Zombie shirt. His hair is tied up in a messy ponytail, and he's playing with his lip ring. When he sees me, his lips curl into the biggest smile I have ever seen.

"Hey."

"H-hey. I thought we were meeting at the library."

"I finished my paper early, and had some time to come pick you up like a proper gentleman."

My stomach flips, and I have to bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling.

We fall into step, side by side, as we leave the dorm.

He's taller than me, which isn't a hard feat on his part, considering I'm only five-seven. I barely come up to his shoulder. I don't know why I'm thinking about this, but I realize he and Toby are the same height.

The wind blows his hair, and I find myself fascinated with the way the black strands dance around his face.

He smiles. "You're staring."

My cheeks heat. "Sorry." I advert my gaze, looking at the quad.

"I didn't say I didn't like it."

I smile to myself, but don't look back at him.