Autumn Flame (Seasons #2 )

Chapter 3: Dinner Date from Hell

The wind sweeps fallen leaves before my feet. They make a satisfying crunch under my shoes as I make my way across campus.

I find Preston on a bench under a tree that looks like a giant flame. He flips the phone screen to me.

"Say hi to Fee," he says.

I wave at Felicity on the screen. "Are you coming down this weekend?" I ask.

"If you get my boyfriend to shave by then, yes," she replies sassily.

Preston sighs dramatically. "It was just an experiment."

"It failed," says Felicity. "You look like a mountain recluse with a bear as a pet."

"I agree," I say and Preston takes the phone away.

I watch as he mushes his face into the screen, kissing it repeatedly before hanging up.

"Shameless," I say.

"Lucky," he corrects, jumping onto the bench with open arms. "I don't care what you think, let the whole world see it! I'm in love with the greatest girl on Earth!"

"Alright, alright, quit rubbing your happiness in other people's faces," I tell him. "It's too early in the morning for that."

"On that note," he rises. "We should get to class."

I quickly scan my phone as we walk to the classroom. An email catches my eye. The words "invitation" and "foreign students" jump out at me.

"You see this?" I show Preston.

"What's that?" he asks.

"The Dean of our Business School is hosting a special welcome dinner this week for the marketing plan competition participants," I summarize. "Since our school is a sponsor, they wanted to do something special for all of us. I saw that he invited all the foreign students who are in town for it."

Preston looks unperturbed as he taps on his screen. "So?"

I punch his shoulder. "So?"

He looks up at me with a look of dismay. "Ooh."

"Yeah, ooh," I grimace.

He sighs, his heavy shoulders lifting and dropping dramatically. "I'll get some special gummies to help you relax before."

I punch his shoulder again.

"Ow! What?" he cries.

"I don't need gummies! I need to know if she's going to be there or not!" I hiss.

"Well, yeah," Preston says, "obviously. She's technically a foreign student," he counts off on his fingers, "who is participating in this competition y'all are in, and it's natural that if it would make you miserable, she must attend. These are the rules of the universe, I don't make 'em."

I roll my eyes. "C'mon. Let's go before we get dinged on attendance."

I spend the next few days floating through lectures and student club meetings and going from completely forgetting about the dinner, to completely dreading the dinner.

And then a text comes and I yeet my phone across the room in reflex.

Preston, sitting on the other side, jumps up in panic. "What happened?!"

I groan and crawl over from my beanbag to pick up my phone. "Got a text," I mumble.

"Dumbass," says Preston. "Freaked me out, man."

I pick up my phone and open the text.

Wanna go to Dean's dinner together? Xo. Syd

I show it to Preston who says, "Say yes! It's like a safe date. You can't fuck it up."