Chapter 2: Chapter 2
Plus, if they hadn’t been here, they never would have run into Chase.
“So tell me about him,” Trevor said as they set up the board.
Jorge glanced around. “’Bout who?”
“Chase,” he said, making it clear that it was obvious.
“Oh, I dunno.” Jorge shrugged. “I have a class with him. All the girls fawn all over him, but he’s pretty dismissive—standoffish, ya know? Not that it stops them mobbing him when a group project comes up.” Jorge grunted and set out fieryfor fifteen points. “But he’s stupid smart and always has an answer, so I wouldn’t mind working with him either.”
“And he’s good-looking, eh?”
Jorge snorted. “Noticed that, did you? Yeah, I wouldn’t mind partnering with him that way either, but from what I hear he’s betrothed to some heiress, which is why he turns down all the ladies.”
Trevor threw a skeptical look across the table as he laid down yoursfor sixteen points. “That sounds like the least-reliable rumor ever.”
Jorge shrugged. “Why do you care?”
“I embarrassed myself in front of one of the most attractive guys I’ve ever seen—and I’m not sure how I’ve never seen him before—”
“I think he just transferred.”
Made sense. Trevor nodded as he collected replacement tiles. “Anyway, wouldn’t you want to know all about the stunning creature you ran into?”
“Not when he’s a pompous jerk.”
“If he is a pompous jerk.” But what if he wasn’t? That look Chase had given him when he’d said Trevor’s shoes were untied. The shock and slight coloring when he’d realized what he’d caused. Okay, he had stormed out in a hissy fit, but not until Jorge got involved. Maybe he was antisocial, or had a panic attack, or had Asperger’s, or something.
“Oh no,” Jorge said.
Trevor stared down at the unchanged board in front of him. “What?”
“I know that look.” Jorge stabbed an accusing finger at him. “That’s the I’ve spotted a puzzlelook! No! Bad, Trevor!”
“What? I’m just thinking about my next move,” he lied.
Jorge raised a brow.
Trevor fiddled with his tiles.
“Suuure.” Jorge sighed and played regret. “If that’s the case, you should be right rarin’ to go.”
Squinting at the tiles, Trevor saw a whole lot of jack shit. “Uh.”
“Called it.” Jorge shook his head. “Whatever, buddy. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
It was the last they said on the matter, although it was not the last Trevor thought about it. Or more accurately, about Chase. How cute he was and that look they’d shared and his odd behavior. Trevor didn’t know anything about the guy, but that didn’t stop him. In fact, it just made him more curious.
Jorge was right: he had spotted a puzzle. And it was a beautiful thing.
Finding the puzzle, however, wasn’t enough. Solvingit was the true pleasure. Not that Trevor went out of his way to find puzzles to solve. Just when they were blue-eyed models who had an ass he could bounce a quarter off of, and a smile that enchanted him. He’d likely look into it, find out the guy was just a sexy jerk, and move on, no puzzle to solve after all.
But first, he had to learn more about the puzzle. He lingered in the common area after Jorge had left, and when he was fairly certain—as certain as he could be without looking down the hall, and no he wasn’t that pitiful—his friend was out of earshot, he stood on his chair. “Hey, anyone know anything about that Chase guy who was in here earlier?”
What? Sometimes the straightforward method was the best.
Unfortunately, most of the people blinked at him, then resumed ignoring him. Only one girl kept his gaze, and although she didn’t speak up, he made his way over to her.
“Hey,” he said when he was closer, “you know Chase?”
She shrugged. “His room’s next to mine.”
“Yeah? And what room is that?”
“No offense, but why do you want to know?”
“I ran into him earlier and he left upset and I wanted to make sure I didn’t offend him or something.” He tried a charming smile on, though it was probably more “adorkable doofus.” Whatever worked.
She shrugged again. “He probably didn’t care. I think he just hates people; he’s always isolating himself in his room. I tried to drag him to some hall events, and he, like, slammed the door in my face.”
Trevor added that to his list of known facts. “Either way, I’d like to make sure. My friend can be a bit dense, but he means no harm, so I wanted to make sure Chase knew that.”
“Whatever. He’s in room 202.” She paused, raking her gaze over his body in a calculating manner. “Good luck.”
He didn’t ask what she meant, just went back to gather his board game. He had plotting to do.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone