Great.
She’s avoiding me, and I don’t have the balls to explain while we’re standing in the center of campus.
“Thanks for giving my mobile back.”
Ten
Eliza
Am I in the friend section?
The friend zone.
He asked if I’ve put him in the friend zone as if there were any other place where he would be.
What an odd question.
Where the hell else would he be?!
Friend section.
Who says that?
They have the term friend zone in England—I googled it to be sure.
I can’t concentrate as I unpack my book bag and throw everything on my bed to get organized, maybe even do a little bit of homework before watching TV this afternoon. I’ve been on campus most of the day since early this morning. Kinda tired, actually. Maybe I should lie down for a little bit—a nap is something I rarely do but often something I look forward to. More people should take naps…that’s my motto anyway.
I decide to flop down on the bed after kicking my shoes off, pulling my phone over and thumbing it open. My eye goes immediately to that dating app—I ignore the new icons that have appeared on my screen, the new apps Jack downloaded while he had my phone the past day or so.
The little red flame dating app icon has a tiny red six by it, indicating that I have six new updates or messages.
I groan as I open it, dreading whatever I’m about to discover.
I have four new matches and two new messages from guys I have never seen a day in my life or swiped on. This is all Jack’s doing, clearly, and I set to work investigating these new people.
He’s in the middle of a conversation with a young man named Jessie and another one named Mason. Neither of them appears to be my type, if I’m going by appearances alone.
But first thing is first: I want to read the new bio he’s written for me.
I poke around until I’m at my profile, holding my breath as my eyes scan the words—words I did not put there.
ELIZA, 20
I’m a salty little thing with lots of spunk. I enjoy eating chips on the couch but not sharing them. Breakfast food. Secret coffee shops. Handsome rugby players full of mud and comic book heroes.
You: Tall, dark, accented, not from here. Sometimes you have a beard, sometimes you don’t.
DON’T BE BORING.
That last part is in all caps and…
Oh.
My.
God.
There is so much wrong with this profile I don’t even know where to begin, but I’ll start with where he calls me salty.
Salty!
Do you believe that?! I’m not salty—I’m fun, dammit! Where on earth does he get off? I’m going to wring his neck.
And let’s not glaze over the fact that he’s basically describing himself in the last part of this bio—tall, accented, not from here?
What nerve!
I can’t believe there are guys out there actually swiping on me after reading a profile like this! I’m so embarrassed I could bury my head and hide. Oh my god. There are probably guys on campus who viewed my profile and walked past me at school today. Certainly one of them recognized me from the app!
I don’t even know where to begin with this.
I don’t actually need the app to score dates to begin with and have been ignoring it for the past few weeks—haven’t been on a single date since last year.
What do I even have the app downloaded onto my phone for?
I can easily walk into any party house on campus and get myself a date for Friday night if I actually wanted to try. I’m not completely unfortunate-looking; I know I’m cute.
I also know Jack finds me cute although I’m not sure what the extent of his attraction for me is.
I will not be finding out.
I delete the dating app altogether, tossing my phone onto the bed and closing my eyes for a quick nap.
“Eliza? Are you up?”
My eyes crack open but see nothing; seems I’ve slept through most of the early afternoon and into the early evening.
“What time is it?”
“It’s seven.”
Kaylee is standing in the door, silhouetted by the lights in the hallway.
“Are you sick?”
“No, I just lay down and closed my eyes. I must have passed out.” I roll to the side and lie there blinking, doing my best to wake up.
Groggy.
Ugh.
“That’s always a mistake.” She chuckles. “Lilly and I are getting dinner and we’re also going out tonight—there’s a party at Gamma Xi if you want to come.” She pauses. “Say you’ll come. The three of us haven’t been out together in ages! Lilly is always with Kyle, and you’re always studying or drawing or watching comic books.”
Watching comic books, ha!
I do like how she phrased that.
“What are you getting for dinner?” I’m hungry, and it would be nice not to have to root around for my own sustenance.
“Probably Chinese? Or pho? Both sound good, don’t they? We’re going to order it now, and it should be here in a half hour or whatever.”