Page 8 of A Stealthy Situation

“Here’s what we’ll do. Straight after class, we’ll head to the dining hall and watch an episode. If you laugh, you owe me lunch. If you don’t?—”

An idea jumps into my head, fully formed. “You come to a party at my house this weekend.”

“You’re having a party?”

“We are now.”

“I’m guessing you don’t live alone?” he asks. “How will your roommates like that?”

“Considering I’m a DIK and my brothers throw random parties always, I don’t think they’ll care.”

Harrison holds out his hand. “Deal.”

I shake it, trying to ignore the sparks going off in my palm.

I guess the universe owed me one anyway.

3

HARRISON

There’s something different about Benny today. He seems … distracted. Normally he’s super invested in class, and I have to ask him to break things down for me, but today, his brain is elsewhere. I only met him at the start of the semester, but he’s been a savior in wrapping my head around this class. I originally took it in freshman year, and considering I need to take advanced stats soon, I decided to audit this one as a refresher, which is lucky because I hadn’t realized how much I’d forgotten.

Benny’s also never been interested in hanging out before. I’ve asked once if he wanted to grab lunch, but after it was clear he was only interested in small talk and statistics, I let him be. There was no hesitation today though. British sitcoms really can win anyone over.

“Okay.” He drops his bag under the table, then grabs a chair that he flips around and straddles. “Do your best.”

“Because I really love a free lunch, we’re going to skip the sitcoms and go straight to a comedy panel that will have you dying.”

“You’re totally overhyping it.”

“Benny-boy, let me introduce you to Would I Lie to You?”

He just stares at me. Benny is an interesting guy to look at. He has this young face, big lips, but eyes that give off the feeling they’ve seen too much. And those eyes couldn’t hold more skepticism if they tried.

“You’ll be eating your words,” I promise him.

“There you go assuming I have a sense of humor again.”

I like this version of Benny. Hell, he’s cool otherwise, but this is the first time I’ve seen him so relaxed. Because I’m determined to win and only have half an hour to do it in, I go right for one of the funniest episodes I’ve seen lately and click on it to start.

The first couple of minutes, he keeps shooting me confused looks. Then when they get into the game, I catch him smiling a time or two. One of the stories a guest tells has me hunched over, trying to catch my breath, even though I’ve heard it all before, but when I peek up at Benny … his eyes aren’t even on the screen.

He’s watching me—but at least he looks close to amusement this time.

“There’s something wrong with you,” I say when I catch my breath.

“They’re funny, just not …” He waves his hand over me. “You looked like you were about to suffocate.”

“Because that’s how normal people react to comedy.”

“You are not a cute laugher, FYI. I recommend you never use this as a date suggestion.”

I twist my cap forward, then backward again. “Noted.”

The show wraps up, and a smug look crosses Benny’s face. “I guess I win.”

“Did you? I think enjoying myself makes me the real winner.”

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