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energy.
    Elizabeth had gotten under my skin. Exposed who I really was just by reflecting her light onto me.
    She didn’t have to voice it. It was spoken in the way she resisted me the first day, in the assumptions she made that weren’t really assumptions at all because they were nothing but the truth. It was clear in the way her eyes clouded with a token of distrust, a barrier she had to place between us to protect herself from me.
    Because Elizabeth knew she could just as easily be like Lisa, left alone upstairs, instead of my friend who I couldn’t wait to see again.
    I ran back to my apartment and let myself into the darkness. I went straight into the bathroom and blasted the showerhead, turning it as hot as it would go. I shucked my clothes. Steam filled the room, and I stepped into the water and welcomed its relief. Hot sheets blanketed my back, and I raised my head, let the waves flow down my face, let it wash the night from my body.
    Stepping from the shower, I toweled myself off, slipped into a pair of boxers, and fell back against my bed. I lay, staring at the ceiling, not knowing what the hell I was supposed to do. I was completely mixed up, but in some strange way, I felt okay with it.
    Shaking my head at myself, I grabbed my phone. It was just before one in the morning, earlier than I normally would come crawling back to my apartment, but late enough that Elizabeth would probably think I was complete freak if I gave in and called her just to check that she’d had a good night.
    Instead I tapped out a message and pushed send.
    I was shocked when my phone buzzed a few seconds later. I couldn’t help but smile when I read the words. Sleep well, Christian .
     
    ~
     
    Elizabeth
    A tiny sigh escaped my lips as I clutched my phone to my chest. Darkness crawled along my ceiling, all except for a thin strip of light that slanted off to one side as it snuck through the top edge of the blind.
    It turned out I was right about Christian.
    There was no doubt the first impressions were true, too, the ones about the girls and how quickly he flew through them. I knew if I wasn’t careful, I could so easily end up one of them.
    But beyond that, he was kind.
    And he needed a friend.
    I reread the text I received a few minutes earlier.
    Wanted to tell you how much tonight meant to me. TY Elizabeth .
    It was late, though the city was still alive, horns and sirens echoing outside my door, magnifying how intensely quiet it was within the walls of my apartment.
    And I felt warm. Good. Thankful.
    Thankful Christian had become a part of my life.

Chapter Four
    Christian
     
    The next Friday, Elizabeth and I were back at the café where we first met. Even though we’d just met here yesterday, we decided to meet again tonight so we could cram in a few extra hours of studying for our first American Government quiz next week.
    Elizabeth downed the last of her coffee. “So I think I’ve finally got it,” she said, though her tone hinted that she was only trying to convince herself, her head nodding as if she were mentally calculating another problem.
    Of course, I’d spent most of the time trying to help her with her calculus homework, trying to ingrain these concepts that continued to try to slip right over the top of her head. Finally, it seemed to have snapped into place, this light flicking on and warming the honey of her eyes. I’d just sat there, staring as she came to understanding, wondering why I felt like some inflated hero when she looked at me like that.
    Now she chatted ceaselessly, as if I’d managed to toss the weight from her shoulders. “I really didn’t think I would. I mean, I studied it again and again and it just wouldn’t sink in.” She climbed to her feet and grabbed her backpack from the floor. She flopped it on the table and began stuffing her things inside. There was nothing ditsy in her words, just this thankfulness that oozed from her mouth. “Thank God I met you, Christian.”
    She glanced up at