Read Online If Only by A. J. Pine - Free Book Online Page B

day. Whatever it is, he’s made a commitment to her. Otherwise we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
    I clear my throat. “Let’s check some more items off our list.”
    He doesn’t argue. We walk in silence, but this time I don’t speed ahead. I let him fall into stride next to me. More than once our hands brush together, and each time a tiny gasp escapes my lips, only audible to me. But he doesn’t grab my hand again, the wall rebuilding itself. And I let go of the anger, of my assumptions, because he’s right. As much as it feels like he’s been getting under my skin for years, we only met yesterday. I can get past yesterday. At least, that’s what I tell myself as we head back to campus.
    Despite my directionally challenged brain, I successfully get us in the vicinity of King’s College and to three more spots to cross off our list—the computer lab, Students’ Association building, and now a small butcher shop handing out samples of haggis.
    “Duncan’s list says the picture has to show us eating the haggis,” I say, watching Noah gnaw on his top lip, silently relishing his uneasiness. “Gotta hang with the locals, right?”
    I repeat the words I used on him last night, teasing him for drinking an Irish beer in a Scottish bar, anything to mask my own humiliation. No anger tinges my words this time. Instead I challenge us both, and he follows my lead, grabbing a toothpick from the tray on the shop’s counter, a small, crumbly bit of haggis speared on the end.
    We step outside the shop for our photo opportunity. Noah looks at his specimen, wincing.
    “What is this again?” he asks.
    “You’re stalling,” I say.
    “Maybe,” he admits.
    “Fine,” I start. I’ll enjoy torturing him a bit further. “Sheep’s innards, minced and mixed with onions, spices, maybe some oatmeal, and usually cooked inside the sheep’s stomach.”
    He tugs at the casing around the haggis, and the small piece of food falls off the toothpick. Instinctively, I catch it and shove it in Noah’s mouth. I join him, biting my haggis off the end of its spear and snapping a selfie of both of us, eyes squeezed shut in horror.
    “Just swallow it whole!” I yell between peals of laughter. “Whatever you do, don’t chew!”
    But when I open my eyes, that’s exactly what Noah is doing, calmly chewing his Scottish delicacy.
    “It’s pretty good,” he says, no hint of irony. “Should I go back in and get you some more?”
    “Uh-uh. No. Nope. I’m good.” And we’re both laughing now, me clearly the one who was tortured by the whole experience. At least we have our photo.
    “Final stop?” he asks as we trek down High Street.
    “Taylor building. That’s why Duncan split us off by major. The only required choice of our five is where our classes will be. That’s building twenty. Taylor.”
    Noah stops when we get to the entrance and leans on the door to face me. He crosses his arms, and his jaw tightens before he speaks.
    “Do I get to ask any questions?”
    His tone bites, and I don’t know how to respond. We’ve done okay since the library, so I don’t know where this comes from.
    “Okay,” I answer, my voice tentative.
    “What about you and Griffin? You’re not on this tour alone.”
    I mirror his stance, arms crossed to hold myself together because a hint of pain replaces the sting in his voice.
    “Oh,” I say.
    “Yeah. Oh. What about you? Was the train real for you?”
    “God! Of course it was. Do you think I go around kissing random strangers? Griffin and I met on the train, too,” I continue. “But nothing happened with him before we got to Aberdeen.”
    Noah shifts his stance but stays firmly against the door. “And now?” he asks.
    “And now we’re just seeing what happens, having fun. No point in looking for something real in a year with an expiration date, right?”
    Noah’s brows pull together. “Do you really believe that, Brooks?”
    “Ugh!” I step toward the door, pushing him out