I froze. Completely. My hands were planted firmly on Theo's chest, my cheek burning against the soft fabric of his hoodie as I scrambled to sit upright.
Gasps echoed from the hallway, a few not-so-subtle camera clicks following.
"Oh my god, Meilin just face-planted into Theo's lap."
"Dude, she's so dead."
"Oh to be her right now—"
"SHUT UP!" I snapped, waving my hand blindly in the direction of the crowd. "You guys ever heard of personal space? Or decency? Or not filming people?!"
Austin was laughing like a maniac. "I'm sorry—no I'm not—that was the most chaotic five seconds of my life. My soul left my body. My eyes need bleach. I'll never recover."
"I tripped!" I shouted, face red, arms flailing.
"You leaped, darling," he grinned.
Before I could shout at him again, Theo's arm slipped around my waist, firm but casual like he did this sort of thing every day. "You're loud for someone who just landed in my lap."
"I said I tripped!"
His eyebrow raised, a teasing smirk curling at his lips as his fingers reached for the hood of his sweatshirt. "Alright, Firecracker," he said, pulling his hoodie over his head and draping it over mine. "Now you can hide from your fans."
His hoodie swallowed me whole. It smelled like him—warm, smoky, and annoyingly comforting. I tugged the edge over my eyes, trying to disappear. I heard whispers turning into giggles and Austin say something about "marking territory," which made Theo chuckle and me want to scream.
My face hidden beneath the hoodie, I mumbled, "I hate you all."
Theo leaned closer and whispered just enough for only me to hear, "You look cute when you're embarrassed."
I peeked out from under the fabric just enough to glare at him. "Stop talking."
"Not a chance."
---
Back in our dorm room, I paced the floor like a possessed Roomba.
Ava was lounging on the bed, legs crossed, watching me like I was her evening entertainment. "You tripped. Into his lap. In front of, like, the entire law department. Including that nosy girl from Media Studies who probably already made it into an edit with sparkles and Taylor Swift audio."
I groaned, flopping face-first into my pillow. "Kill me. Just kill me. I'll write you into my will."
"No thanks," she said, patting my back sympathetically. "But I will take Theo's hoodie as inheritance."
"AVA."
She giggled. "I'm just saying, for a girl who claims she's so annoyed by him, you wore that hoodie back all the way from the cafeteria like it was a security blanket. And it reeked of him."
"It doesn't reek! It just… smells like his cologne. And smoke. And a little ego."
She smirked. "Admit it. You don't hate him as much as you pretend to."
Before I could lie or scream or do both, my phone buzzed.
Theo:
Hey Firecracker. You alive? That fall looked fatal.
Theo:
Also, you still have my hoodie. I'm filing a missing property report.
Theo:
Also also, you looked good in it. Keep it. Or don't. I can always come take it back.
My soul left my body.
Ava peeked over my shoulder. "He texts like he smirks."
I stared at the screen, heart skipping.
Me:
You're not funny.
Theo:
That's not what you were saying when you landed in my lap.
I chucked the phone across the bed. "I hate him."
Ava laughed so hard she fell off the bed.