"Hey, stranger," Nicky said. "What'd you think of Matt?"

"He seems fine," Neil said, not slowing on his way by.

"He is fine," Nicky called after him with a laugh.

Neil took the stairs down, checked his watch at the front door, and ran to the store. The conditioned air felt like heaven on his warm skin as he paced the aisles, taking what he needed without lingering long over the details. He stocked up on everything from bed sheets to hair dye and groceries, and then backtracked for a messenger bag. His duffel bag was the perfect size for everything he owned, which meant there was no spare room for schoolbooks and notepads. He checked the small hardware section, didn't find a lock he thought he could install on anything in his room, and went back to the office and school supplies.

At the end of the row were fireproof safes: too small to fit his bag, definitely too small to fit his clothes, but large enough for what he needed to hide most. Neil lugged one with him to checkout and piled everything onto the belt. The safe made his trip back to the dormitory more than a little awkward, since it was too heavy fit into a bag without tearing it.

He knew he made good time, but the girls' flight must have landed ahead of schedule, because Matt's truck was in the parking lot when Neil returned. Neil detoured past it and put a hand to the hood, but he couldn't tell if the heat was from the sun or the engine. He shouldered his way inside and ran upstairs with his heart hammering in his chest.

Nicky's door was closed, but now the girls' was partly open. Neil heard voices on his way past but didn't slow to say hello. He hurried to his room. Only when he tested the knob and found it still locked could he breathe a little easier.

He dumped his bags on the bedroom floor to sort through his new things. The sheets went up onto his loft still in their packaging and he piled his scant groceries on top of the dresser. He ripped the cardboard padding off his small safe, skimmed the directions and warnings, and pushed everything else aside to get his bag. It took work to get the drawer open, since his duffel was such a tight fit, but he finally pried the duffel loose and dropped it in front of him. He unzipped it in one long move, folded the flap out of the way, and froze.

On first glance, his bag looked undisturbed. Everything was still in there in the same order he'd left it in, folded but crinkled from recent rough treatment. But Neil got his paranoia from his mother and he packed his clothes in a very specific way. Even a cautious thief would be fooled, since Neil folded everything the same. Neil's code was in the tags. He always bent the tags twice on a shirt in the top layer.