Whatever Happens

Chapter 17

"How did you do?" Dean asked as I met him in the hall after the Algebra final.

I cringed. "I don't know. At least it's done." My concentration hadn't improved after Ben visited my room. Thankfully, Dean still just thought I was upset from "fighting" with him.

"Well, at least you already had a strong A in the class," he said as we started walking.

"True." I sighed. It was a very good thing that the majority of my grades were going to come from the first part of the semester and not these last few weeks.

"You probably aced it." I smiled at him.

He shrugged. "Maybe. I wasn't totally focused either."

"Sorry," I said. I couldn't exactly take all the credit for all this tension lately, but it was basically all my fault.

He just smiled a little and put his arm around my shoulders.

"How many more finals do you have?" I asked.

"Just one tomorrow," he said. "You?"

"I have two tomorrow, but that's all."

And then I was going to have to figure out how I was getting home. If I didn't trust myself with Ben before, I really didn't trust myself now.

"You hungry?" Dean asked as we walked outside.

"Sure." I smiled at him. I wasn't terribly hungry, but that was no reason he shouldn't eat.

We rounded the corner and stopped short, nearly running into Ben. I hadn't seen him since he left my room, and for a second, we all just stood there awkwardly. Dean's arm was still around me and Ben frowned, seeing it.

"Hey," I said, feeling myself flush.

"Hey." He nodded stiffly and then glanced at Dean.

Feeling like I was waiting for something to explode, I nervously glanced between them. When I saw the look on Dean's face, I knew I'd been stupid to assume he didn't have an idea of what was really going on. He met my eyes and I blushed deeper and glanced away.

"See you later," Ben said vaguely before walking around us.

Dean and I just stood there for a moment, not speaking. That tension was back, and it was worse than ever.

"Come on," he said, sounding tired. Removing his arm from around my shoulders, Dean took my hand and began walking.

I was surprised when he didn't lead me to his car or even the dinning hall. Instead, he found a deserted section of the campus. When he turned and met my eyes, I got a really bad feeling. Apparently, he wanted to talk.

"I've asked to switch rooms next semester," he said, surprising me.

"What?" I knew things were tense between them, but I hadn't realized they were quite that bad.

Dean just looked at me, and again, I felt stupid for not realizing something so obvious.

"I'm sorry," I said, feeling terrible.

"Why are you apologizing?"

I knew by the way he was watching me, he wasn't actually curious. He couldn't know everything that had been going on between me and Ben, but clearly, he knew enough. If he hadn't at first, the way I'd been acting, thanks to my excessive guilt, probably clued him in.

Feeling my face warm again, I looked down.

"What's really going on, Becca?"

I looked into his eyes and tears filled mine.