Don’t Be in Love

3

Don’t Be So Sure of the First Name

You’re Given — Adelaide

“Why am I even surprised?” Mia laughed, walking into the kitchen in her pajamas the next morning, spotting me at the kitchen table with a glass of water and The New Yorker . “You were out until almost two in the morning last night and are, somehow, still awake before everyone and look ready for a Pilates class with single moms.” She rubbed the gook out of her eyes.

Not knowing whether that last comment was a compliment or not, I said, “We start classes tomorrow! I couldn’t sleep.”

She sat down across from me, taking a big sip of her coffee with both hands. “So no immediate mention of last night? Because I know going on the Tube was not the only thing that happened. I want to hear every single detail. ” She leaned forward with curiosity.

Running to the Tube in my heels with Rye’s coat on my shoulders felt like a scene from a movie. He paid for both of our rides with his Oyster card and showed me how to pay with my own card for the future. The he latched onto my hand, pulling me onto the departing train before its doors could close, and explained all the colorful lines that made up the routes on the roof of the Tube.

One minute we were racing up and down the empty train, and the next, I was bumping into him when it came to a full stop. I perfectly landed on him in the plastic seat. My face hovered above his, giving me the ability to explore the angles of his cheeks, and the flecks of gold and valleys of chestnut brown appearing in his eyes when only inches away from them. Before I realized it, I was kissing him and going to his—

“Every detail of what! What did you guys do last night?” Sabrina yelled from the hallway in her charming accent. Her voice grew as she walked into the kitchen, pulling her short hair into a pony, and ruffling her bangs. Champagne-colored pajamas made of silk hung from her frame. The opposite of Mia’s gray sweatpants and a black Washington State University hoodie.

“Adelaide danced with the hottest man I’d ever laid my eyes on,” Mia announced in glee.

“ That hot?” Sabrina gasped in amusement. Her eyes were wide, genuinely curious.

“ That hot!”

“Well, I want to hear every single detai— oh my gosh !” Sabrina began screaming in front of the coffee machine, clutching her phone, jumping up and down.

“What!” Mia and I shouted in unison, not knowing whether to be fearful or excited.

“ Look!” She ran to the kitchen table, shoving her phone in our faces. “ Dorian Blackwood is back in London! He was spotted in London last night at a jazz club! He must be returning to Townsen this semester!” she screamed, jumping with excitement so violently that her long blond bob fell out of its elastic.

My heart plummeted. All my pumping blood evacuated the premises and fled to my face. It stole the air right out of my lungs and wrapped it around my throat in suffocation.

The photo. That photo—of Dorian Blackwood—the man Sabrina hadn’t stopped talking about since the day I met her.

I turned to Mia for confirmation, and I found the same look of horror in her dropped jaw.

That was a photo of Rye on her phone.

“ That’s Dorian Blackwood?” Mia looked up in question. I sat still, processing this nightmare. Rye is Dorian Blackwood. I slept with Dorian Blackwood. As in the Dorian Blackwood they call the UK Bachelor. As in the man my newest best friend is in love with .

“What’s wrong?” Sabrina’s excitement diminished, looking

between me and Mia.

“Oh—oh! Nothing, nothing! I’m just stunned, he’s cuter than I imagined,” Mia spoke quickly, smiling up at her.

“ I know! I can’t believe we’ll be attending university with him now! He’s been abroad for the past year so it’s as if he wasn’t even a student. Maybe I’ll get the chance to introduce myself.” Her shoulders were high, and her smile reached the furthest depths of her cheeks. The way she squeezed her coffee mug and continued to talk in a high-pitched tone was enough to prove her feelings for Rye— Dorian. I had yet to see her smile this big before.

Oh my god. She couldn’t know what happened last night. She could never know. She would be heartbroken . I already knew how she thought of herself; the way she rejected compliments and used self-deprecating humor. If she was gathering the confidence to talk to him, then I needed to be her support system, not her reason to give up.

The last thing she needed was to find out that her best friend slept with the guy she was in love with.

Sabrina loved him, and I couldn’t be the one to ruin that.

I … I could simply avoid him at school. There was a minimal chance I’d ever see him! And there was an extremely high chance he had enough alcohol in his system last night to not even remember me.

I wouldn’t ruin this for her. I wouldn’t let him jeopardize this friendship.

It was only one night anyways.