“Hey, Danika.” Nico’s voice cuts through the cacophony. He’s here and he’s standing at my table. The way he thinks he can just walk into any room and get my attention–he’s got another thing coming.
Suddenly, I feel a hand on my back and I tense. Arden has stepped closer. I can feel his breath.
“Nico. Hi.” My voice sounds like ice and I can’t control the hint of malice that seeps in when I say his name. I’ve been avoiding him for years, talking as much shit about him as I can with my best friends. There’s no way I could just flip that switch and be nice to him now. Nor do I want to.
The hand on my back sends warmth across my body and I remember why I brought Arden here in the first place. It’s now or never.Here goes nothing. Finishing the champagne in my hand, I place it less than gently on the table.
“Arden, this is Nico. He’s in my cohort. Nico, this is my boyfriend, Arden.”
A muscle in Nico’s jaw tenses at the wordboyfriendand a silent sense of joy spreads through me. Arden reaches a hand out toward Nico.
“Nice to meet you, man.”
Hesitantly, Nico’s hand meets Arden’s in one firm shake before both men pull away. Arden takes the hand he had on my back and moves it to the top of my shoulders, draping his arm around my neck, pulling me in tighter.
“Are you hungry, baby? We should grab some food,” Arden says, so casually. I know this is fake but there’s a teenage girl inside of me screaming about the fact that Arden Davis just called me “baby”.
“Yes, let’s do it. See you guys in a bit.”
I smile at both Gemma, who looks amused, and Nico, who looks suddenly ill, before turning with Arden and heading toward the buffet. We walk the entire way with his arm on my shoulders and he only drops the pose once we hit the table.
“So, that’s the chode, huh?” Arden remarks, handing me a place before grabbing his own.
I balk. “Don’t call him that!”
“Why not?”
I think for a moment. “Actually, nevermind. He is a chode. A lying, cheating miserable bast—”
“Ms. Freeman, is that you?”
Whipping around, I shut my mouth the moment I come face to face with my undergrad advisor, Dr. Wilson.
“Dr. Wilson, hello! It’s so nice to see you. I hope you had a nice summer.”
“It’s nice to see you, as well. I did, if you can describe running after two toddlers twenty-four/seven to benice,” she chuckles, grabbing an empty plate and joining us in line.
“Oh, totally. More like hectic, I’m sure,” I reply, piling mounds of macaroni salad on my plate. One thing I’ll never get tired of is Tomlin University macaroni salad. I attribute my freshman fifteen to that carb loaded dish alone. I’m going to need to bribe the chefs to give me the recipe before I graduate med school.
“In the best way,” Dr. Wilson smiles, grabbing a portion–nowhere near as large as mine—of macaroni salad and an even larger spoonful of bean salad, which I conveniently avoided. “Who’s your friend?”
“Oh, this is Arden,” I say, spinning around to pull him closer to the conversation. “He’s my boyfriend.” Even saying it has sixteen year old Danika emerging from her slumber.
Arden smiles and shakes my advisor’s hand. “Nice to meet you, m’am.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Arden. Are you a med student, as well?”
Arden scoffs. “Oh absolutely not.” The hand I have on his arm tightens. “I just mean…it seems like a lot of work. I’m an engineering major.”
I smile at Dr. Wilson. “Arden is starting college a bit later in life, but I’ve always encouraged him to do whatever he wants.”
Dr. Wilson chuckles. “It’s great that you’re here now earning your degree.” Arden smiles in return and then someone behind beckons her attention and she leaves the buffet line to chat with someone else.
Arden and I fill our plates with free food and then find an empty table to post up at. “She seems nice,” Arden remarks, filling his mouth with a mystery creme puff.
“Yeah, she’s great. Got me through a lot of hard times in undergrad. I should offer to babysit her kids sometime,” I reply absent-mindedly. I’m looking around the room to catch a glimpse of Nico, but he’s nowhere to be seen.
“I’ve gotta take a leak.”