And yet, as we neared Gracehaven, something kept fluttering inside me. Not hope maybe, but its restless, more anxious cousin. I wanted…something.

“Is your group doing the cosplay thing again this Wednesday?” I kept my voice casual, distant even.

“We are. It’s not always all of us every week, but those of us who can, try to go at least weekly.”

“Cool. I… Cool.” I wasn’t quite sure how to move the conversation to where I wanted to nudge it without seeming overeager.

“Are you asking because you want to join us?” Direct. And this time I appreciated that quality in him that much more because it saved me a lot of waffling.

“‘Want’ is a strong word.” I tried to keep my eyes on the increasingly slushy road even as my brain felt equally difficult to navigate. “But we’ve got more cards to track down. And the weather’s supposed to be bad most of next week, so teaching you to drive a stick might have to wait. If showing up as the toga guy gets me more of your Google-wizard searching skills, then I’ll be there.”

“Sure.” Jasper sounded as carefully indifferent as me. “Prince Neptune is always popular with the kids. I was planning on only making you do the command appearance thing for the costume ball, but sure, you should come Wednesday. If the weather’s bad, I’ll drive you home so you don’t freeze at the bus stop.”

“Sounds good.” Actually, it sounded terrifying, but I now had a guaranteed time this week to see Jasper, so win. Also, we finally reached the Gracehaven exit, which I took slowly. “No sudden moves” seemed like a good motto right then. The campus was relatively dead for a Saturday night, everyone probably huddling indoors, but the lights of the library and the dorms added a certain warmth to the winter scene.

“It’s neat that you get to go here. I know how much you wanted it as a kid.” Most of the students at the near-Ivy college were from out of state. Townies like Jasper getting big scholarships were relatively uncommon.

“Yeah. I got lucky. If I hadn’t won the scholarship, I still would have stayed local. I couldn’t see going too far from my family.”

“You’re a good guy,” I said as I pulled even with the sidewalk near Jasper’s dorm. The parking lot was deserted, most cars covered with a thin blanket of snow like they’d been there all day. “And you’re the opposite of me. I couldn’t wait to get out of this place. Thought college would be a fresh start.”

“What happened?”

Part of me wanted to spill the entire tale right then, but the other part of me was still recovering from having my emotions scraped raw earlier. I already felt too exposed. No way could I air all my dirty laundry at once.