Page 36 of Fundamentals of Chemistry

Silvia: ?!?!?!

Silvia: Details.

Silvia: Now.

I sighed heavily as I left Franklin Hall and crossed the empty quad, heading back toward my apartment. Lunch in a noisy cafeteria was the last thing I needed right now.

I looked back at my phone. Where to begin?

Mel: You know the prank war with Cooper? Well… things might have escalated today.

My phone started ringing within a millisecond. “Hey, Sil—”

“Melanie Elizabeth Burke,” she whisper-shouted into the phone. “Please tell me—for the love of all that is good and just in this ugly world—that you didn’t fuck the abs-hole!”

I replied in a whisper too. “No! We just almost kissed—”

“Kissed? That’s even worse!” she hissed.

“Almost-kissed!” I insisted. “We didn’t actually do anything. And why are we whispering?”

“Ugh. Hold on.” There was some muffled bumping and shuffling on the other end of the line like she had her hand over the receiver rather than just pressing the mute button.

A few dried leaves crunched under my shoes as I meandered down a sidewalk, phone propped against my ear. It was only September, but fall was definitely in the air. The October Lovers were on to something. The trees, just starting to show hints of yellow among the green, would be completely gorgeous in another couple of weeks when they reached their peak orange and red hues.

“Okay, I’m somewhere I can talk now.” Silvia’s voice sounded normal again.

“You were just explaining,” I prompted, “how almost-kissing Cooper is somehow worse than fucking him. For the record—I disagree.”

She sighed the most dramatic sigh, and I rolled my eyes.

“It’s like Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman,” Silvia explained with the air of someone repeating a common sense rule to a stubborn child. “You can fuck a guy and not have feelings. It doesn’t have to mean anything. But kissing is where the romance is. Kissing means you’re falling for him.”

I scoffed at the absurdity. “I’m not falling for Cooper.”

“Then why did you almost-kiss him?”

I walked slightly out of my way to step on a particularly crunchy looking leaf. I wrinkled my nose when it did not crunch.

“I don’t know,” I said helplessly. “I was thinking about him, and then he was just sort of there. He smelled so good.”

“Ugh. Did you learn nothing from the time I fucked Kenneth? I had to sit next to him for the next two years and try not to think about his weird moles.”

“I know. I know. It was a moment of weakness. I promise I’m staying away from him.”

“Liar.” Her voice was deadpan. I could practically see her roll her eyes through the phone.

“Excuse me?”

“We both know you’re not going to stay away from him.”

“And how do we know that?” I challenged.

“Mel, you smelled him. You’re in trouble.”

A gust of wind blew across the lake, cutting through the thin fabric of my blouse and skirt. I should have worn a jacket this morning. I should have done other things differently this morning too.

“Tell me something I don’t know,” I said.