What I Should Have Done ✓

Chapter 14

"¡Buen día!" I called cheerfully as I approached Jessica in the dining hall.

She jumped. 9 am breakfast wasn't early, but Jessica had been slumped over the table. I, on the other hand, had been up for more than an hour and had even gotten started on my readings for the following week.

"Why do you sound so chipper?" Jessica groaned into her cup of coffee.

I shrugged, still smiling widely, and dropped my bag and jacket on the chair opposite my best friend. "I got a good night's sleep with sweet dreams."

At the mention of this, she perked up and grinned mischievously. "Ooh, did that 'dream' appear in bed?"

"Yes, Jessica. In my own room, when I was alone and asleep. Get your mind out of the gutter."

Reluctantly, she peeled herself off her chair and followed me to the buffet. The weekend croissant was my choice to change up my granola routine while Jessica made herself a breakfast burrito. I filled the remaining space on my plate with tofu scramble and scrambled egg on which I sprinkled some grated cheese. Living in a cheese state had its perks: so many varieties of real dairy cheese every day. Vegetarian I could easily do, but if Mother Nature had wanted me to be vegan, she should not have let humankind create cheese.

"Morning, Grace," a male voice behind me greeted.

I turned around to find Aidan heaping his plate with plain tofu from the salad bar. He may have been an athlete, but no one had this enormous of a need for protein.

"Hey, Aidan."

"Didn't see you at the game last weekend, or the weekend before. And you haven't been coming to pregames. Everything okay?"

"No, yeah, totally," I strung together with great effort. "I've been busy. Midterms, you know how it is."

"I don't blame you. It was probably for the best to lay low for a while." His green eyes conveyed the deeper meaning of his words. Great. The only question was: did everyone know or only Aidan? And Greg and Linh? And Devin? Okay, basically everyone was already aware. Fan-flippin'-tastic.

"That being said," he continued and scratched his scalp through his thick, dark hair, "I hope you can make it this afternoon. We're playing Tufts in the quarterfinals, they're this year's top contender for the NESCACs. And bring your friends. We could use all the support we can get."

"Um, yeah, sure. What time is it again, 1:30?"

I knew full well when it was. And I had not been planning on going. Attending soccer games was the opposite of laying low.

"Yep. See you there! Can't wait."

"What was that about?" Jessica had materialized beside me, eyebrows arched.

"Looks like we're going to the soccer game this afternoon. I'll ask Liam."

"Gracie, I guarantee you Liam doesn't want to come."

"They're my friends. He needs to get over himself."

***

The early November wind made us glad to be wrapped up in our winter coats if we were to be sitting in the bleachers for 90 minutes. The guys were running laps around the field to warm up. Meanwhile, I was shivering even through the layers I had put on. Liam's hands holding mine helped some. They would have been even warmer stuffed into my lined pockets, but I didn't want to be rude.

Jessica was seated to my right at the end of the bleachers. A power session of homework in the library after breakfast had enabled us to watch the game without too much guilt. Through a lucky turn of fate, one of my classes and thus the readings for it had been canceled on Friday so I would be able to enjoy a mostly free Sunday, too. It felt good to be ahead on my assignments for once.