Page 75 of Escape Velocity
“Mason?” Jenna asks as she comes into view, dressed in sweatpants and a sweater herself, like she was settling in for the evening.
Mason’s body freezes as he notices Jenna’s eyes dart back and forth between Mason and Callum.
He wants to melt into his chair. He forgot to update her on anything and had completely forgotten about telling her the whole weekend.
So, this is how she’s going to find out about them.
He’s in deep trouble with her.
“Jenna,” Mason says, fully sitting up in his chair, taking his knee away from Callum’s.
Callum also jolts up, patting down his hair and going into his usual casual persona.
“And Callum,” Jenna comments as he makes eye contact with Jenna, who gives him a tight smile. She glances at Mason knowingly and he plays with a curl of his hair nervously as she puts two and two together.
“We were just…”
“Studying?” she asks, crossing her arms.
“Yeah,” Callum says, nodding.
“Huh,” she comments.
Mason and she have a stare down, like she’s waiting on him to break, but he won’t. He doesn’t know if Callum wants her to know anything or if their moments are for strictly their own eyes and ears.
“Do you want to join us?” Callum says.
Jenna glances at Mason again, raising her eyebrows. He’s not sure if she’s angry or if she’s just surprised.
“Sure,” she says, her voice curt.
She puts her bag down and splays her books and laptop on the desk wordlessly.
Mason expects her to ask why they’re together. Heexpects her to get up and leave as soon as she sits down. But she does nothing except take her study materials out and starts studying like she always does.
The night goes on like the three of them were normal with each other, like they all ended up being friends throughout high school instead of just Mason and Jenna.
Mason keeps stealing glances at Callum for the rest of the night, but his eyes seem to stay firmly planted on his laptop and paper, the same for Jenna.
Mason can’t stop thinking about the way Callum’s been looking at him all night. In the stacks of books. Sitting across from each other. When he showed him the physics problem.
He doesn’t want to stop thinking about it. And that thought is a dangerous one.
He lets it carry him through the rest of his problem sets, hoping that eventually, things will start being normal sooner rather than later.
“I’m not angry at you, you know.”
Mason nods as he crosses his arms.
The previous night had passed as normally as it usually did, with Mason and Jenna calling it a night at eleven o’clock, retiring back to their dorms at the same time as Callum.
It’s a rainy day at Montgomery, and everyone has already set up shop in the cafe, so Mason and Jenna are getting their coffees for takeout and going back to the library to fuel their midterm studying.
“I just would have liked to have found out sooner instead of you ignoring me.”
Mason hangs his head and sighs. “I know. I just—things got?—”
“Difficult.”
