Easy

Ch—Dr. Heller called me. Look through our emails. I never called myself Landon.”
    I shrugged from his grasp. “But you let me call you Landon.”
    His hands dropped but he stared down at me, keeping me from moving. “You’re right, this was my fault. And I’m sorry. I wanted you, and this couldn’t happen as Landon. Anything between us is against the rules, and I broke them.”
    I swallowed thickly, combating choking up. I heard what he hadn’t said, yet. He was telling me it was over, just like that. The awful reality of desertion that Kennedy had begun weeks before came rushing back as though a dam had broken, and with no notice I was drowning in it. My parents had deserted me, Kennedy had deserted me, my friends, except for Erin and Maggie, had deserted me. And now Lucas—and Landon. Two different relationships, both of which had become significant.
    “So it’s just over.”
    He stared, and I couldn’t have felt it more if his fingers roamed over my face. “Your grade could be at stake otherwise. I’ll take responsibility for this, tonight, when I get back; Dr. Heller won’t hold you accountable.”
    “So it’s just over,” I repeated.
    “Yes,” he said.
    I turned and walked into the building, and didn’t hear the engine of the Harley rumble to life until my foot was on the bottom stair.

Chapter 16

    “Ms. Wallace, please see me for just a moment after class.”
    I glanced up to meet Dr. Heller’s gaze at the end of the lecture Monday, and nodded my assent.
    “Ooohhh,” Benji said. “You little troublemaker.” His smile fell when he saw my face. “What’s the matter? You aren’t actually in trouble are you?” He glanced to the back of the classroom, zeroing in on the only reason I could be in hot water with the professor. “Did he find out about—you know.” He inclined his head in Lucas’s direction.
    “Yes.”
    His eyes widened and he lowered his voice. “Oh, shit , are you serious? How?”
    I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. He found out, and it’s over.”
    Pinning his lips together, he stuffed his notebook into his backpack and sighed. “Oh, man. I’m sorry.” His hazel eyes were full of sympathy. “Anything I can do?”
    I shook my head again, needing to redirect the conversation. “I’ll be fine. How did the coming out go?”
    Smiling broadly, he held his arms wide. “As you can see, I’m still in one piece, with all essential parts accounted for.” He waggled his brows, tossing his backpack over his shoulder after I gave him a shove. “It was good. Getting everything out in the open was a relief—to both of us, I think.”
    “Good.” I was happy for him, though I’d not had the same experience with recent public revelations. I wouldn’t glance back at Lucas. He’d stared at his sketchbook when I’d entered the classroom, resolutely against even looking at me.
    “Hey, Jacqueline.” Kennedy smiled as we passed in the aisle, as though he was proud of himself for finally remembering my name.
    “Hi,” I returned, slipping by him on my way down to the front of the lecture hall.
    When I stopped on the lowest step, Dr. Heller glanced over the heads of the students clustered around him and requested that I come in during his afternoon office hours to pick up my paper. His unflinching expression said it wasn’t an invitation as much as a directive. My face warm, I told him I would be there.

    ***
    “You haven’t done anything wrong, so you have nothing to be worried about. Probably he just wants to make sure Lucas-Landon-Sideshow Bob-whoever the hell he is didn’t take advantage of you.”
    I appreciated Erin’s reassurances, as mistaken as they might be.
    Reclining on my bed, booted feet hanging off the end, I stared at the square of leaden sky visible from our single four-by-four window. Even in our overly warm room, I shivered. Erin and I discovered last winter that the ancient central heating would pump hot air into our little room until it was a sauna, only to click off and resume a slow slide back to frigid before rebooting back to sauna. It was a wonder we hadn’t both ended up with pneumonia by February.
    “ Landon was the perfect tutor. What’s between Lucas and me is no one’s business.”
    “Except mine,” Erin quipped.
    I turned my head and half-smiled. “Except yours.”
    She added the finishing touches to a glitter-covered, sorority-themed poster. “What time are you supposed to be there?”
    “Between 3:30 and