fall into a routine, bouncing class conversations off each other, and not diving too deep into personal conversations that surround Danny outside of class. Sometimes he’ll bring up random things from the past, but usually it’s about my older brother, and even that is a sore subject considering we don’t speak.
“Piper?” he examines me, then my car.
“My car won’t start.”
“I didn’t know it was you,” he admits, jabbing his finger toward the faculty parking lot that neighbors the commuter one. “I thought I saw someone in here without it on.”
“Yeah, well…” I shake my head and try not to curse like I want to. All I want is to go home and change into something warm and fuzzy. Hell, I might even find myself bold enough to knock on East’s door.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve found ourselves seeking each other’s company more often. Sometimes he’ll come home in a bad mood and tell me business is bad or Jay annoys him, and then we do a whole lot of not talking until he leaves. Except, there’s been two more times when he stays longer than normal. He’ll stay, ask me questions. We’ll just talk about anything.
And the weird thing is … I don’t mind it.
“…if you want.” I blink, embarrassed to admit I didn’t hear anything he just said. Instead, I wrap my arms around myself and slide out of the car once I have my bag and phone in my hands. “Unless you have someone else to call,” he adds, watching me close the door.
He offered me a ride home.
I shake my head. “I don’t. Well, not anyone nearby. Mom and Dad would come get me, but I don’t want them out here in this.”
The snow has picked up and based on the way it pelts the knit hat Mom made me last year, I know it’s starting to mix. Sleet. Ice. I need to get home.
Carter gestures toward the other parking lot, gently putting his hand on the small of my back to guide me over the small strip of grass that separates the parking lots, to a large black Sedan parked a row away from where I parked. He opens the passenger side door for me and smiles before closing it, opening the back up to set his stuff down on the seat.
When we’re both inside, he cranks up the heat and turns the vents to point on me. “You look like an icicle right now.”
I blush, but the warmth of my cheeks feels anything but. Putting my hands up to the heat, I rub them together for friction before letting out a tiny breath of relief. “I was sitting there for twenty minutes.”
He stares at me. “You should have tried finding someone,” he scolds, backing out of the spot. “Or calling a tow truck at least.”
I don’t want to tell him that I can’t afford another tow. My paychecks haven’t been great, and I was already forced to use some of Danny’s money to pay my half of the bills. I know it’s what the funds are there for, to keep a roof over Ainsley’s head and food in the fridge, but it feels wrong. Like dirty money somehow.
“I would have figured something out,” is all I can say, staring out the window as we drive through campus toward the main road.
After a long stretch of silence, he breaks it with a question I should have logically given him an answer to before shutting down. “Where do you live?”
Playing with the bag draped on my lap, I give him my address and watch him nod. It seems like an eternity before he opts to reach over and turn the radio on. It’s playing the type of rock songs that I remember Jesse always listening to.
It makes me smile. “Jesse got me into this band,” I tell him quietly, easing back into the seat and getting comfortable. “He’d tell me I didn’t have to listen to country all the time just because my parents liked it.”
He chuckles. “This was his favorite. We’d go out sometimes and he’d always be playing their CD until I wanted to smack him.”
Sounds like him. “Have you talked with him lately? I should probably check in, but we don’t really do that much these days.”
His face screws as he glances at me for a millisecond. “Why?”
I shrug. “We just don’t. We’re both busy and living our own lives. It’s not a big deal or anything. Jesse and I were never that