hot to go • hailey van lith

Chapter Six

The second Clare opened the door of the auditorium, she and Elysia shared a wide-eyed look and said, at the same time, "Holy shit."

In her two years at LSU, she had been to multiple seminars, lectures, and classes in this very lecture hall, but she had never seen it this full. Maybe the speaker—Bill Statsny—was giving out free alcohol.

"I think they made this talk mandatory for immunology and pharmacology," Elysia said. "And I overheard like five people in the hall saying that Statsny is a 'known hottie.'" She gave a judgmental look over to the podium, where Bill was talking to Dr. Stepan from immunology. "I guess he's cute. Though not nearly as cute as Charles."

Clare smiled. The air in the room was hot and moist, and it smelled like sweat from too many humans being gathered in such a humid area. "You don't have to stay. This is probably some sort of fire hazard and not even relevant to you—"

"It's better than doing actual work." She grabbed Clare's arm, pulling her through the crowd of students around the entrance and down the stairs on the side. They were just as packed. There was nowhere to sit, not even on the floor or the steps. Clare's eyes landed on Hailey in an aisle seat a few feet away. She was in a white tank top and deep in conversation with Theo Carlo. When Hailey's eyes met Clare's, the latter grinned and waved at the former. For some unknown reason that probably had to do with the fact that they were sharing a massive, crazy, unusual secret, Hailey now felt like a friendly face. She didn't wave back, but her gaze softened and warmed, and her mouth pulled up into that small tilt that Clare'd learned to recognize as a smile—Hailey's smile.

"I can't believe they didn't switch this talk to one of the bigger auditoriums. There isn't nearly enough space for—Oh, no. No, no, no."

Clare looked over at what Elysia was looking at and saw what looked like around twenty new people walking in. The crowd instantly started pushing Clare towards the front of the room. Elysia yelped when a neuroscience student who was probably more than double her size stepped on her foot. "This is insane."

"I know. I can't believe more people are—"

Clare's hip bumped against something—or rather someone. She turned around so she could apologize, and—it was Hailey. She'd just bumped into Hailey's shoulder. She was still talking to Theo Carlo, who had an annoyed expression on his face and was muttering, "Why are we even here?"

"Because he's a friend," Hailey said.

"Not my friend."

Hailey sighed and turned to look at Clare.

"Hey—sorry." She motioned to the entrance. "A whole lot of new people just came in and there is dwindling space in this room. Something about physics. Math. Whatever."

"It's okay."

"I would take a step back if I could, but..."

At the podium, Dr. Stepan took the microphone and began to introduce Bill.

"Here," Hailey said to Clare, about to stand up from her seat. "Take my seat."

"Oh." It was very nice of her to offer. Clare couldn't accept. "Thank you, but—"

"That would be a dumb idea," Elysia cut in, her eyes darting quickly between Clare and Hailey before settling on Clare. "You could just sit on your girlfriend's lap. It would leave one less person standing."

Clare blinked. And then again. And then a few more times. At the podium, Dr. Stepan was still introducing Bill, but her voice sounded like it was far away. Maybe because Clare couldn't stop thinking about what Elysia suggested, which was just...