Page 18 of Play For Me

I glare at him, which he doesn’t even see, too busy digging around in his backpack. “I asked you if you had everything you needed when you got in the car,” I remind him. “You promised me you did.”

“I thought I did.” He pulls two books out of his bag and hands them to me. Several pens and random pieces of crumpled paper spill out in their wake, littering the floor of my car. “Hold these a sec.”

“You’re making a mess,” I mutter. He just laughs. “And you’re going to make us late.”

Jay scoffs. “This is not an officially sanctioned event, Sol. We’re meeting up with my sister at a cafe. There’s no such thing as late.” He catches sight of my face and rolls his eyes because he knows exactly what I’m thinking. “It’s not going to kill you if we end up at a different table.”

It might not kill me, but it will certainly annoy me. And he knows that.

Jay, Emery and I have a Sunday tradition stretching back to freshman year. We meet up at The Daily Grind, a cafe off-campus, to eat dinner and study or do homework. Emery says it’s a good way to get the coming week off to a productive start.

It’s also a way for her to ensure her brother manages at least a few hours of homework a week, but she doesn’t tell him that.

Sunday evening isn’t the busiest time at the cafe, but the place is popular enough with the student body that at least half the chairs will be taken. I prefer to sit in the back, where there’s actual tables, rather than the couches and armchairs most of the students seem to favor. The only thing I hate more than trying to balance food in my lap while I eat is trying to study without a place to spread out my laptop, notes, and books.

“You don’t have to give me that face,” he says.

“And you don’t have to be such an annoying prick, but here we are.”

He completely ignores me—probably because he knows it drives me crazy—and goes back to rummaging in his bag. Just when I’m about ready to leave his ass in the car, he pulls a folded-up sheet of notebook paper out of his bag. “Found it!”

“Those are your Chem notes?” I hand his books over to be shoved back into the garbage dump that is his backpack.

“Sure are. Wouldn’t have gotten very far in my studying without these babies.”

“Remind me to buy you an actual notebook for your birthday.”

He takes his books from me and shoves them back into the bag. “You know I’d just end up losing it.”

I shake my head. “Sometimes it astonishes me that we’re members of the same species.”

He guffaws as he opens his door. “Buddy, I think thatallthe time.”

We finally make it inside and find the place more packed than usual. Jay winces when I glare at him. “I’m sure there’s still a table.” Then he catches sight of his sister waving from our usual spot in the back and lets out a relieved breath.

“Thank fuck you got here first,” he says, tossing his bag down next to the table. “Sol would have killed me for making him late if we couldn’t get a table.”

“Well that sounds like it would be fun to watch,” she says cheerily. “Next time I’ll make sure to run a little late myself.”

“Very funny.” I take my seat across from her. “Did you order yet?”

“Yup. I put in your grilled cheese, too.”

“What about me?” Jay asks.

“You can order your own food.”

He gapes at her in outrage. “But you ordered his!”

“Because Solomon gets the same thing every week. You can never make up your mind.”

“You suck,” he mutters before stalking off to the counter to place his order.

Em watches me as I take my laptop and a few books out of my bag. “How’s it going?”

“Fine.”

“I haven’t seen you much since we went home last weekend. First week of classes go okay?”