Shrugging a shoulder, he replies, “Why not?”

Oh, he smells nice, too, like he’s fresh out of the shower. I want to step close.

“I don’t know you.”

“I know. Do you see my problem now?”

I shake my head. “No, not really.”

Laughing, he steps closer. “I’m Caleb,” he says.

I know who he is, but I don’t know him.

“Piper,” I reply.

“Nice name.”

“Thanks.” What is he doing talking to me?

“Are you at the university here or…?”

I shake my head, feeling like a child. “High school.”

“Ah, I thought you might be.”

“I look like I’m in high school then,” I mutter. Maybe I should have tried a little more makeup. Nah, I would’ve looked like a clown.

“No. The opposite actually. It’s just my luck that you’re not yet eighteen, so I can’t ask you out.”

Lifting my eyebrow, I feel some of the initial shock of him coming up to me beginning to wear off and the snarky girl returning. “What makes you think I would want to go out with you anyway?”

His blue eyes shine in amusement. “I think I could convince you.”

I think he could, too.

“Well, Caleb, I guess we’ll never know. I’m not quite eighteen yet.”

And by not quite, I mean my eighteenth birthday is ten months away.

Chewing on his lip, he watches me for a second, his mind seeming to work overtime. God, I would love to get inside his head right now. I wait to see whether I’m going to be privileged enough to hear what he’s thinking. “I’m twenty-one.”

Four years isn’t that much of an age gap. Okay, who am I kidding, and why am I even thinking about this?

Dusting off the stupid thoughts running through my mind, I take one step back as if the slightly larger distance will somehow make me think straight. “I should find my friend. She’s waiting for me at the lake.”

He looks down the trail, his eyes scanning for something or someone, then his attention is back on me. “You’re going alone?”

“Yeah. I left my bike at the bike rack outside the library.”

He looks back at the trail to the lake. “Let me walk you.”

“Thanks, Caleb, but I’ve done this tons of times before.”

So, maybe not tons, because Hazel and I haven’t been here before, but I don’t want to sound like a loser in front of him. For some dumb reason, and this is the first time this has happened, I care what someone thinks of me—what a boy thinks of me.

Oh, how things can change in a heartbeat.

“You’re sure?” His prominent frown deepens. “I don’t like the idea of you walking alone.”

“Totally. Thanks anyway.” I turn to leave, but Caleb captures my wrist.

“Wait a sec. Are you on Facebook?”