Midnight Secrets

Grass crunched beneath my feet as I stepped off the sidewalk to avoid the jackasses taking up the entire fucking path. Muttering swears under my breath, I stepped back onto the sidewalk as I headed to my first class. It was the first day of my junior year at Shadowhaven University—yes, a weird name for a college, but despite the name, the school was normal—and I was already in a terrible mood.

Not only had I struggled to fall asleep last night, but I had little doubt today would be long and boring. You know, the long kind of day where the teachers read off the syllabus’ explaining their expectations, and if they were big enough assholes, they made us do icebreakers. I swear, there’s a special place in hell for those who think icebreakers are fun.

First days were pointless in my mind since we didn’t learn or do anything. It wasn’t like I was one of those students who just loved learning. I wasn’t particularly studious, I did my work, but I never went above and beyond. Nor did I ever enjoy homework. More often than not, I had to bribe myself to get papers done early so I wasn’t doing a rush job the night before it was due.

By the time dinner rolled around, all I wanted to do was go back to my room and possibly sleep. But unfortunately, the day wasn’t done with me: I still had one more class. A night class, which I was now seriously regretting. Why did I think this was a good idea? I wouldn’t have ever put myself through the annoyance of taking a night class if I had any choice. This was the only time that fit into my schedule, and I needed this class.

“You know who is fine as hell with his new haircut?” My roommate Selene—we never called her that; we always called her Sel—asked with a sly grin, twirling a strand of her brunette hair. “Smith.”

We were sitting at a small round table in the dining hall, near the back. The room was packed, with only a few tables open. Despite our college being in the relatively small town of Shadowhaven Valley, Maine—hence the name of the college—the school was fairly big with multiple buildings and a decent sized campus.

Snorting under my breath, I ignored her as I continued eating.

“He is!” She defended, lightly kicking my foot.

“None of us can take him seriously after he streaked across the baseball field, in the middle of winter.” I gave her a pointed stare, silently begging her not to start up anything with a guy who didn’t know when to stop when he was drinking.

“You know who’s also looking good?” Sel prompted, looking at someone over my shoulder.

Based on her tone, I had a sneaking suspicion about who she was talking about, and I was far from being in the mood. “No.”

Her grin grew as she began saying, “Cass—”

“No.”

“Cassius.”

It didn’t take a genius to figure out he was nearby since she mentioned him out of the blue, but no part of me wanted to look around and find out. Okay, that was a lie. Part of me wanted to have a look at him myself since I hadn’t seen him in months, but I shoved that part aside because fuck him.

“You’re missing out. That boy is fine as fuck. The things I’d let him do to me.” She shook her head as she presumably imagined all the things she’d let him do. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who talked about sex more than her.

“Aw, Smith will be heartbroken to know you prefer Cassius.” Despite my resolution not to take a look, I gave in and subtly scanned around the room, pretending to stretch my back. He was several tables away, hanging out with his friends, his head thrown back as he laughed. His dark curls fell onto his forehead as he shook his head. My entire focus was locked in on his hand running through his hair and the subtle flexing of the muscles in his arm.

“It’s your turn: who are your prospects this semester?” Sel asked, yanking my attention from Cassius. If she noticed me staring at him, she didn’t mention it, and I appreciated it more than words could say.

“Honestly, after the mess of a ‘relationship’ I had with Jared, I’m not sure I have it in me to deal with any of that bullshit anytime soon. It’s more stress than it’s worth.” I shrugged, taking a sip of my sprite.

Another sly grin lifted her lips. “So, what you’re saying is you only want to do hookups?”

My low sigh was barely audible above the noise of the dining hall as I set down my fork. “I’m not sure what I want. Maybe I should just go with the flow.” I’d been in three relationships in college, although I was loosely using the word, and all of them had been stressful and left me feeling drained afterward. Maybe I should hold off on any more relationships or anything resembling them until I knew what I wanted.

“Well, you know what I’ve always said: the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.” As she said her line, I said it along with her and let out another sigh, having heard it multiple times over our two years of friendship.

“Hey guys, what did I miss?” Our other roommate, Addie, asked as she dropped onto the open seat beside me.

“Rhea’s planning on being a slut this semester,” Sel said before I could form a response.

“You’re a jackass.” It may be childish, but I threw my roll at Sel, which only made her laugh harder as she leaned to the side to avoid it. I narrowed my eyes at her as she pretended to wipe fake tears from her eyes. Fine, two could play this game. “Sel has the hots for Smith.”

Addie’s focus snapped to Sel, horror painting her expression. “Do you not remember the time he fell down the stairs? Or how about the time he passed out on the pool table and pissed himself?”

My palm smacking the table stung, and I wished I hadn’t done it. “Oh yeah! I forgot all about that.”

A frown pulled Sel’s eyebrows together as she looked at the ceiling. “I must’ve been too drunk to remember.”

“Take my word, Smith is a walking ick,” Addie said, pointing at Sel as she stood from the table to get food.

Sel shrugged like this didn’t really bother her. “Eh, there are other hot guys out there.”

“Attagirl,” I said as I patted her hand.

When Addie returned to the table, I checked my phone and realized my ancient mythology class was starting soon. Saying goodbye to them, I grabbed my bag and hurried from the dining hall.

The lecture hall was spacious, with tiered seating for over a hundred students. Relief flooded my body when I found an empty spot in the middle, right next to the aisle. I hadn’t realized how long the walk here would take, and I had barely made it in time. I was just sitting down when the professor began speaking. Even though I doubted we’d be taking notes, I pulled out my notebook and pen.

I was right. He went over the syllabus, telling us the dates our research papers and presentations were due. Several groans ran through the crowd when he mentioned group projects. They were the fucking worst. I’d rather do more research papers or even presentations than group projects.

When he announced we’d be playing classmate bingo, I wasn’t the only one groaning again. “Come on, it’ll be a fun way to get to know your fellow classmates,” he said as he handed stacks of paper to the front row for them to pass back.

We had fifteen minutes to complete this, and I vaguely wondered if we’d actually get in trouble if we refused to participate. It was tempting to try, but I’d rather not risk getting on my professor’s bad side on the first day.

I was nearly finished, needing only one more signature for “Has been out of the country” and I’d finally be done with this stupid game. As I stepped to the side to avoid a girl practically running down the aisle stairs, I slammed into someone behind me. They were like an unmovable brick wall and were rude enough not to even attempt to stabilize me as I stumbled to the side.

“I’m sorry about that, I didn’t know you were there,” I said as I spun around to face them. The first thing I noticed was that he was tall compared to my 5’8” height. The second thing I noticed was the scowl holding his expression as I met his hazel eyes. All my instincts screamed at me to back the hell up at the emptiness I found in their depths. All annoyance bled from his expression as he scanned my face, and his nostrils flared, but it was somehow worse. A chill raced down my spine as the urge to get away from him grew.

As I took a deep breath to shove down the strange urge to run, I inhaled his intoxicating cologne, noting sandalwood, patchouli, and a sweet citrusy scent, maybe mandarin. At that moment, I had the urge to move closer and bury my nose in the crux of his neck to inhale his scent, but at the same time, I still wanted to be as far away as possible.

Not only did he smell insanely good, but his features were perfectly crafted like he was a marble statue of a god. The planes of his face were sharp and angular, with a long, straight nose and a sharp jawline. In most cases, blonde hair like his made their skin more tan. Not him. He was pale, like doesn’t go out in the sun kind of pale.

He didn’t say anything in favor of staring at me like a fucking creep, his facial expression giving nothing away. Just as I was about to back away from him, wondering what the hell was wrong with him, his hand snapped out and grabbed the paper from my frozen hand. As his gaze flicked over the paper, I shifted from foot to foot as I reined in the urge to put some distance between us.

I jerked away from him when he reached toward me again and took my pen from my hand. His hand brushed mine and was fucking freezing. He didn’t take offense to my reaction, scribbling on the empty square and handing it back to me.

His steps were light and soundless as he headed down the stairs. All I could do was stare at him dumbfounded, squeezing my paper in a death grip as he casually headed across the front of the room. He balled up his piece of paper and threw it in the trash as he neared the open door. Class wasn’t over, we still had nearly twenty minutes left. The teacher didn’t seem to notice, too busy looking at his computer.

Before the stranger exited the classroom, he glanced over his shoulder at me. It was brief but was enough to send ice skittering down my spine, making me shudder and had me taking a step back.

What the hell was that?