HE SAID NO. HIS BEST FRIEND DIDN'T.

Grant Carrington turned me down when I told him I liked him. After that, I started avoiding him. If he was going to a party, I didn't go.

If we were assigned to the same group for a project, I asked to switch. We stopped having anything to do with each other.

Then one of his buddies posted on the campus dating board, saying he wanted to ask me out. He even tagged Grant. [Grant, you know more girls than anyone.

Ever seen her before?] Chapter 1 My roommate forwarded me the post. “Look! Someone's trying to find you on the campus dating board!” she said excitedly.

I opened it on my phone and read the title. [Does anyone know this beautiful girl outside the library at three this afternoon?

I want to ask her out.] The attached photo showed me in profile. “Nobody was replying at first, so he tagged Grant,” my roommate said. “Then all of a sudden, the post took off.” There probably wasn't a person at Wickford University who didn't know Grant.

He came from one of the most prominent families, had excellent grades, and looked like he could be a movie star.

More to the point, he'd gone through more than ten girlfriends in just two and a half years, from freshman year to now. Every single one had been stunning.

He had so much going for him, and he was such a player, that people actually made bets in private about which major's prettiest girl would be his next girlfriend.

I glanced through the comments. Quite a few people had recognized me and posted my name and the class I was in. Someone else had written: [I think she has a class with Grant.

He must know her. Time to suck up to your buddy and get him to help you ask her out.] People were saying all sorts of things. But Grant never replied to the post.

Not once. “Come to think of it, you and Grant were pretty close last month,” my roommate said, eager for gossip. “I thought you two were going to get together.

Then he went and started dating Dawn Callahan.” For a moment, I went still. I remembered what had happened not long before.

In a dim hallway, he'd casually taken my love letter from my hand, lifted his eyes to mine, and spoken in that lazy voice of his. “Sorry.

Have we been spending so much time together that you got the wrong idea? I don't like you that way.” I'd aimed too high.

He'd helped me with a few problems and bought me breakfast a couple of times, and I'd taken that to mean he liked me. Still, I couldn't help wondering why. Was I really that bad?

He'd dated so many girls, yet when it came to me, he wouldn't give me even the slightest hope. I never got the chance to ask him.

The very next day, he'd gone public with his new relationship in a post. I came back to myself and pinched my palm, forcing myself to calm down. “No.

I barely know him.” That night, the post was deleted.

A friend request came through on my phone. [I'm the guy who posted about you on the campus dating board today.] I looked at it but didn't accept.

Grant and I hadn't spoken in two weeks, not since he'd turned me down. I'd made up my mind to stay away from him. Getting involved with his buddy wouldn't do me any good.

I didn't fall asleep until after two that night, so I overslept a little the next morning. By the time I got to class, only a few open seats remained, all in the front row.

I sat down and had just taken my textbook out of my bag when someone sat beside me. Almost immediately, I caught the scent of her perfume. It was faint, but it smelled wonderful.

Chapter 2 She turned to me with a bright smile. “Hi, I'm here to sit in on my boyfriend's class. He's gone to buy water, so he's not here yet. Could I borrow your fountain pen?

I forgot mine.” I stiffened a little. She didn't know me. But I knew her. The prettiest girl in the literature program. Grant's new girlfriend.

Over the past two weeks, I'd seen them eating together in the dining hall. She ate slowly, and he waited beside her, occasionally taking a couple of pictures of her.

Before that, he'd never eaten there. I'd also seen them shopping together at the mall. If something caught her eye, he'd have it wrapped up without a second thought.

He had so much going for him, and she was beautiful. They made a perfect pair.

Afraid she might notice something was wrong, I hurried to hand Dawn my fountain pen. “Here.” “Thanks,” she said with a smile, then bent over her notebook and began to write.

Two minutes later, Grant came in. His gaze swept over me, and his brow creased ever so slightly.

He sat down. “Why'd you sit here?” he asked casually. “These were the only seats left when I got here,” Dawn said.

She slid the notebook in front of him, her voice light and playful. “I had nothing to do, so I copied a line of poetry.

Want to see?” Without thinking, I glanced over and read what she'd written. [Grant me twenty years and more, each dawn and dusk with you.] She was so innocent and carefree.

On a perfectly ordinary morning, she'd written out a line of poetry just to make him happy. His name was in it, and so was hers. Even I was moved by the thought she'd put into it.

Sure enough, a moment later, I heard Grant give a low chuckle. “I guess we're a perfect match, Dawn.” I spent the entire class on edge.

Thankfully, Grant paid close attention to the lecture. There were no more displays of affection between them. They left when class ended.

Once everyone else was gone, I stayed behind. I felt a little dizzy, probably from lack of sleep, so I rested my head on the desk and dozed for a while.

Through the haze of sleep, I heard someone tap my desk. “Cecily Palmer. What's wrong?” The voice was cool and clear.

I lifted my head and saw Grant standing in front of me, looking down at me. He was holding Dawn's bag, an elegant pink one. I'd seen it online before.

One of those cost several thousand dollars. I looked away and answered as if nothing were wrong. “Nothing.

I just didn't sleep well last night.” He looked down at me for a long moment. “Oh, is that it? Did you see that post?” He wanted to know if that post had kept me awake.

Instead of answering his question, I said, “I don't think that's any of your business.” I got straight up and left the classroom without looking to see how he reacted.

Dawn was coming in as I reached the door, and we brushed past each other. “What took you so long to pick something up?” I heard her ask. “I saw you talking to that girl.

Do you know her well? She's nice. She lent me her fountain pen earlier.” Grant's voice was flat, giving nothing away. “Her? …Not really.” I walked out of the building.

No one was in our dorm room when I got back. My roommates had all gone to eat. Chapter 3 I stood at the sink and washed my face. Outside the window, the spring day was beautiful.

Yet as I looked at my reflection, tears suddenly poured down my cheeks. I'd known Grant far longer than he realized.

Our high schools had been close, just across the street from each other. I passed his school every day on my way home. In tenth grade, a few thugs had blocked my path after school.

I'd been terrified, with no idea what to do, and Grant had gotten me out of it. It was such a cliché. Before that, I'd hated stories where the hero rescued the damsel in distress.

Yet that was exactly how I'd fallen for him. For the last three years of high school, I'd tried countless times to run into him.

I'd asked around about him, and everything I'd learned had only shown me how extraordinary he was. Fortunately, I did very well in school.

I'd gotten into the same university, just as I'd hoped, and we'd even ended up taking a class together. For more than two years, I hadn't dared approach him.

I'd simply watched from the sidelines as he went from one relationship to the next. Then, a month earlier, he'd accidentally hit me with a basketball while he was playing.

We'd added each other on social media. To apologize, he'd brought me food a few times. I'd also worked up the nerve to ask him for help with my coursework.

Sometimes our fingertips would brush, and there would be a hint of something between us. He'd watch me quietly, laugh softly, and say my name in that lazy voice. “Cecily.

Look at the problem, not at me.” He hadn't dated anyone during that time. Someone had teased him, asking if he was interested in me. He'd said neither yes nor no.

He'd just kicked that person's chair and clicked his tongue. “Nothing better to do?” Thinking back on it, I really had read too much into everything.

He hadn't stayed single because of me. He simply hadn't met anyone he wanted to date yet. Whatever the reason, we were strangers now. There was no going back.

I pulled myself out of my thoughts, patted my cheeks, and wiped away my tears. I was going to the library. But just as I was about to leave, my roommate Piper Wheeler came back.

The sight of me seemed to remind her of something. She walked over with a conspiratorial look. “Cecily, do you know who that guy is?

The one who said he wanted to ask you out on the campus dating board?” I shook my head. “No.” I hadn't accepted his friend request, after all. I didn't even know his name.

Piper patted my shoulder. “Well, I found out a little. Apparently, he and Grant grew up together. They're really close. He doesn't go here, though.

He's at Briarford University next door.

Sounds like he's tall, rich, and handsome, too.” I paused, but I wasn't very interested. “I'm not looking to date anyone right now.” “Why not?” she asked, a little surprised. “I'd rather wait until after graduation,” I said offhandedly.

That night, though, the guy sent two more notes with his friend request. [Not going to accept?] [I've been in Maplewick for a competition. How about I come see you when I get back?

We can meet before you decide whether to add me. What do you think?] I looked at the screen, about to turn him down outright.

Then another note came through. [You don't have to reply. We can talk when we meet. Good night.] I stared at those words for a long while.

In the end, I said nothing and turned off the screen. For nearly two weeks after that, I often saw Dawn in our classroom. I always sat far away from them, though.

I heard people whispering. Chapter 4 “Isn't this the longest Grant's ever stayed with a girlfriend?” “I think it is.

Has he finally given up being a player?” “My friend is going to be furious. She's liked Grant forever. She's just been waiting for him and Dawn to break up.” I listened in silence.

When I looked back at the board, I couldn't help losing focus. At the end of the month, we had a class activity, a game we had to play in person that counted toward our grade.

Participation was mandatory. We were assigned partners. Somehow, I'd ended up with Grant again.

In the past, whenever something like this came up, I'd silently prayed for a chance to be paired with him. It had never happened.

Now that I wanted to avoid him, we'd been put together twice in a row. But the first time had been a study group with seven or eight people.

Switching groups hadn't drawn much attention. No one would have connected it to Grant.

This time, though… I looked up at the man in front of me and said slowly, “I'll ask my roommate if she can switch with me.” His face darkened a little. “Oh?” His smile didn't reach his eyes.

Then it occurred to me. Things were going so well with Dawn that he probably didn't want a girl as his partner.

But I didn't really know the guys in our class, either. “Or I could switch with one of your friends,” I offered. It was a bright, sunny day.

The field was crowded, and just as I finished speaking, someone passing by accidentally bumped into me. I nearly fell. Grant reached out, caught my wrist, and steadied me.

The moment our skin touched, I quickly pulled free and stepped back. “Come on, who am I switching with?

It'll be too late once the activity starts.” Grant loosely curled his hand into a fist. After a long pause, he said coldly, “Either