And I think that maybe, if I want to get out of her shadow, as I came here to do, it’s time to make some big moves for myself.

I take a deep breath, put my own cup down next to his, and flash what I hope is an alluring smile. “Well, I happen to be just such a girl. Would you like a tour?”

My heart pounds as we slip out of the Student Center and head toward Rumson, even though no one’s paying attention to two students milling about campus when there are so many still making their way to the Student Center. No one even looks twice as we enter Rumson, and no one’s there to see me lead him to my room and close the door behind me.

Now that we’re inside, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do or say; I hadn’t gotten quite that far in my determination to be fiercely adventurous. But Lucas seems perfectly comfortable glancing around my room, and though I wait for the inevitable “Where’s all your stuff?,” it doesn’t come. Instead he just says, “You’re cute.”

Heat rises into my cheeks with a vengeance. “Am I?”

“You know you are, Rumson Girl,” he says with a grin, and it’s the least I’ve ever hated that nickname. “I would get in a lot of trouble if there was a girl like you sleeping right across the hall from me.”

“What kind of trouble?” I try not to wince at how shakily my voice comes out, but he just sounds so … confident. Adult. Like someone who gets into trouble often, and likes it.

And the way he’s looking at me, it’s like he thinks maybe I’m that kind of someone too.

Which, I guess I can’t blame him for thinking. I did invite him here, and I did close my door—or at least I think I’m the one who closed it. But now that we’re here, alone, it strikes me that I know nothing about Lucas, and he knows nothing about me, and the idea that we’ve escaped together to my room is just so absurd that I can’t help it—I start to laugh.

I’m immediately shut up by his mouth on mine.