Undeclared (The Woodlands) - By Jen Frederick Page 0,33

I never thought Noah Jackson would be into this sort of thing. Who do you think he’s dating?” Flip went his hair.

“Dunno,” I mumbled. This thought had tormented me all afternoon, and by dinnertime I had stoked my anxiety into anger. Mike seemed nervous, and maybe if we were on a real date, I would be nervous too. Instead, I was kind of angry, and anger burned away nervousness and made me feel stupidly brave. Anger: the sober student’s high.

I broached the Sarah subject with Mike, figuring this might be the only time I’d have alone with him before the movie started. “We should’ve invited Sarah.”

“Why?” Mike asked, this time pushing his hair back with his hand.

“Because she’s a cool girl, and I think she’d have liked this movie.”

“Really? I got the impression she didn’t like movies,” Mike said.

“How so?”

He shrugged, shoving both hands in his pockets. “I asked her to a few, and she always had excuses not to go. Maybe she just didn’t want to go with me.”

Good lord. Was it possible that Sarah’s unrequited feelings were actually returned, but through a series of miscommunications, Sarah and Mike each thought the other didn’t return their feelings? It was like a classic romance novel, where I could play the adorable Cupid matchmaker, doing something productive for once. In the book, however, I’d have tangled red curls. I always loved the heroines with red hair—and so did their male counterparts. Before I could ask any questions, though, we arrived at the theater.

Noah was already standing there, and Bo was standing right next to him. There were three theater students, all beautiful, talking to both of them. One of them had tangled red hair. The universe hated me. Was this like a multiple couple thing, a sextuplet? An orgy of moviegoers? Noah broke away from the group when he saw us arrive.

“Which one’s your date?” I asked, bracing myself. Please don’t let it be the cute redhead, I prayed.

“Bo’s my date,” Noah smiled, turned and gestured for Bo to extricate himself from the others.

“You two are dating?” Mike asked, mouth agape. Apparently, to Mike, Noah Jackson liking movies with subtitles was less astonishing than Noah liking men. I could only sigh in relief that I wasn’t in competition with some gorgeous romance book heroine with red hair.

“Nope, just needed some bro time,” Noah said, and he turned and bumped fists with Bo.

“Bro time at a foreign, subtitled film?” I asked, skepticism heavy in my tone.

“Sure. Aren’t we here to be better educated?” This was from Bo. He handed out tickets to Mike and me.

I stared at Bo and Noah’s smiling faces when the reality of the situation struck me. Noah hadn’t brought a date. He’d brought his best friend and battle buddy. Most importantly, he had brought a guy. I felt guilty at all the angry thoughts I had directed at him earlier while having dinner with the Alpha Phis. I felt even worse having used Mike as a defense against my feelings toward Noah. Neither one of them deserved that.

“Thanks,” Mike snatched his up. He didn’t offer to reimburse them.

“What do we owe you?” I asked. Bo looked offended, and Noah shook his head in mock dismay.

“Bo’s momma is still alive, but hearing that her son didn’t buy a girl’s movie ticket might send her to an early death,” Noah said, drawing out his vowels to exaggerate his Texas accent.

I rolled my eyes, but Mike just shrugged. When we got inside, Bo said, “Why don’t you and Noah grab some seats, and Mike and I’ll field the refreshments.”

“Why don’t you and Noah go get the seats, and Mike and I will get the popcorn and stuff.” I wanted to speak to Mike about Sarah before the movie started, and being separated wouldn’t provide that opportunity.

“Since you paid for the movie,” Mike added. I realized that Mike’s silence on the tickets wasn’t him being a cheap jerk, just picking his battles. Maybe I had misconceptions of Mike too. This made me want to work even harder to get him together with Sarah and make up for my jerkiness.

I left Noah, Bo, and Mike debating who was going to buy popcorn, soda, and water (the latter being Noah’s drink of choice), and found an open section a quarter of the way down the auditorium-style seats. The Varsity Theatre was old and the royal blue velvet seats hadn’t been updated for at least a couple decades. The cloth was worn through on the