Beth rolled her eyes and looked at me. “Will you put some tape on her mouth?”

“I don’t think tape would help,” I grinned.

We walked back to Andrews and Kim waved goodbye, continuing to her room. I collapsed on my bed as Beth gathered her things to head to the showers. As I traced the imperfections of the ceiling with my eyes, my mind drifted to Jared. Not only had I gone from never seeing him to running into him regularly; it was as if I was seeing him at will.

“Ryan asked you out for this weekend?” Beth burst in, towel-drying her hair.

“No. He asked us out for this weekend. I guess some of his friends are going for drinks; he asked us to come along.”

“What did you say?” she asked, suddenly interested.

“I said it sounded like fun.”

“You want to go?” she squealed.

“I guess you do,” I chuckled, rolling my eyes.

“Yes! I do! You wanna go? Please say yes!” she dropped to her knees beside me on my bed.

“I want to go,” I said flatly.

Beth tackled me. “Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!” she cried.

“You’re welcome! Now get off!” I laughed.

The next day was warmer, a good day to take a walk off-campus. Providence transformed from a beautiful crystalline city of white into the soiled, wet mess the cars and mud quickly created. The pristine snow had become a grey-brown sludge lining the roadways and sidewalks. I happily slipped on my black and white fleur de lis galoshes and stomped through the slush in hopes of proving my sheer-will theory concerning Jared.

After an hour of walking, the sun no longer kept me warm. I slipped into the first coffee shop I came upon and ordered the largest size they offered, thawing by the window.

It occurred to me how ridiculous I had become; walking around in near-arctic temperatures to see if Jared would materialize. I was the future savvy CEO of Providence’s premiere shipping company for the love of all things holy! What kind of crack pot had I turned into? Over a boy? An incredibly attractive, intelligent, courteous, well-dressed, fantastically-smelling boy. But he was just a boy. Man. Boy. They were all boys.

When the blood circulated again in my fingertips, I made my way back to the school. It was closer to sunset than I would have liked so far from campus, so I quickened my pace.

Two blocks from the school, I pressed the button at the light and kept my distance from the corner, fearful of the inevitable splashing of the cars passing by. The light changed and I trotted across, noting that the warmth from my coffee was waning.