I kept my eyes on my paper. “I’ve gone to lunch with him once, he’s given me a ride home a few times, and I’ve see him around town…,” I was purposefully vague. I didn’t know where the conversation was headed.

“So what was that, at the pub? Why did he show up with his sister to tell you he wasn’t there with her?”

“I haven’t talked to him to get that figured out, yet.”

“But you’re going to talk to him?” His voice was growing impatient with my answers.

“I don’t know, Ryan. Why?” I said, unable to conceal my irritation with his line of questioning.

Ryan squirmed in his seat and then turned to face me. “I wanted to ask you…if…you know… if you wanted to grab dinner sometime.”

“Oh,” I rubbed my forehead, “I’ve got a lot on my plate right now.”

Ryan nodded indifferently. “I just thought I’d ask. I didn’t know if you and that guy were….”

“It’s not about Jared,” I lied.

“Do you think he came there to check up on you?”

I contemplated that for a moment. “I don’t know, maybe. I’ve been running into him a lot, lately.”

“That’s pretty creepy.”

“I like to think of it as fate stepping in,” I mused.

Ryan’s face twisted to petulance. “Sounds like stalking to me.”

“You should talk, trying to fight over a girl you barely know.”

“He had his hands on you,” he grumbled.

“Thank you,” I smiled, nudging him.

“You’re welcome. You know that guy’s got to be bad news, right?”

“I don’t believe that.” Ryan scowled at my words, but I shrugged off his skepticism. “I can’t explain it. There’s something in his eyes.”

Ryan shook his head in disapproval. “I just don’t want you to get hurt. His little sister is insane.”

“I’m with you on that one.”

We both laughed and then Ryan shrugged. “Maybe once you get things all sorted out with your stalker, you’ll reconsider.”

“He’s not a stalker.”

“MmmHmm,” he said, trying to appear interested in his algebra book.

Beth began gathering her plethora of organizational aides and Kim stood up and stretched. The rest of the group disbanded as Kim, Beth, Ryan and I walked out of the library together.

“I’m starving,” Kim said.

“I could eat,” Beth chimed in.

Ryan turned to me. “Is an after study snack out of the question?”

They all eyed me expectantly. “Let’s eat,” I shrugged.

Ryan and Kim went over possible plans for the weekend over pancakes and hash browns while Beth and I discussed our intentions to attend the basketball game. Even with the ever-growing puzzle that was Jared, life was a shade of ordinary again. I felt the unease I’d been feeling for weeks slowly dissipate into the greasy air.