“How are you not three hundred pounds?” I asked Abby with wide eyes. “I’m going to be tempted to indulge if I’m surrounded by delicious smells every day.”
She laughed. “Pace yourself. I need you to eat froyo with me, so I don’t feel bad about cheating on my diet. I think meeting my new best friend calls for a little something special.”
I grinned at her. “I’m down for that.”
While the thought of stuffing my face with a ridiculous amount of calories gave me severe anxiety, I could dip my toes in the water a little by indulging in some froyo. That counted as living life, right?
We sat down to chat once we had gotten our sushi, and I was amazed at how easy it was to hang out with Abby. I’d never really had close girlfriends, maybe because I’d always had Ryan, but I felt like I had known Abby forever. She was just that easy to talk to. Before we even got to the froyo, I’d already invited her to spend the weekend at the house with me.
“Abby,” a cute guy said as he slid in the seat next to her. “I don’t think I’ve been introduced to your lovely companion?”
Abby laughed. “Down, boy, this is Kat. She’s going to be a junior with me this year. Kat, this is Evan. Don’t believe a word he says.”
“Kat,” he said with a smile. “Do you have a last name?”
I shook my head and grinned at him. “Just Kat, like Madonna.”
He chuckled. “A woman of mystery, I like it.”
Abby elbowed him. “Stay away. Kat’s my new best friend, and I don’t want you ruining our new relationship.”
Evan gave a heavy sigh. “I don’t know why you even try, Abby. I’m pretty sure Kat and I are going to be even better friends.” He winked at me.
“Yo, Haverford, you trying to poach my girls?” Kingston sat next to me and put an arm around my shoulder before stealing a piece of my volcano roll.
Evan frowned at me, his disappointment evident on his face. “Nah, bro. I was just leaving.”
I pushed Kingston’s arm off my shoulder as Evan walked away. “You aren’t going to make it easy for me to make friends here, are you?”
“You don’t need friends like him,” Maverik’s cool voice came from behind me and sent a chill up my spine.
I avoided turning around to look at him and stared off into the distance. “I wasn’t aware I needed to get your approval for who I was allowed to speak to.”
“Well, now you know,” Maverik said smugly. “Don’t fuck up again.”
I rolled my eyes as Abby stared at Maverik standing behind me. “Whatever. Is it froyo time yet?” I asked Abby.
“Yeah,” she said enthusiastically after jerking her eyes off of Maverik. “I think I saw those little brownie bites to go on top, too.”
I completely ignored Maverik and Kingston as I got up to follow Abby to the other side of the cafeteria, but I could still feel their eyes on me.
“What was that?” Abby hissed at me.
I shrugged. “That was my new brothers just being themselves.”
“Um, I hate to break it to you, but Maverik was definitely not looking very brotherly.”
I reached for an empty bowl before checking out the flavor selection. “Yeah, I always lock my door at night in case he’s feeling particularly murderous towards me.”
Abby nudged me out of the way so that she could get to the double dark chocolate. “He wants to murder your pussy, maybe.”
“Abby!” I laughed.
“What?” she asked as she popped one of the little pieces of brownie into her mouth. “Whipped cream?”
I let her load up my fat-free, low-carb froyo with tons of sugar and fat. “I think the toppings kind of defeat the purpose,” I laughed nervously.
“Nope,” she argued. “The purpose is to make us happy, and I have to say, I am feeling pretty good about this.”
“Back to the low-carb thing tomorrow?” I teased her. My tummy was already full of sushi, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat more than a few bites of this. Just the thought of downing a thousand calories at once was enough to make me feel nauseous. I didn’t want to ruin Abby’s fun, so I kept the grin on my face.
Abby stuck a spoon into her creation before leading me back to our table. “I think a new best friend celebration should last the minimum of a week. Don’t you agree?”
I giggled. “Oh, absolutely. But you know that means we need to plan at least one best friend activity per day.”
“On it!” she exclaimed. “Let me have your number so I can start blowing up your phone with texts.”
We got back to the table to see that the guys had abandoned us for food. I glanced around the cafeteria for them and saw they were both standing in line waiting. My eyes met Maverik’s, and I realized he had probably been watching Abby and me all along. Kingston was too busy flirting with a pretty brunette that was giggling at whatever he was saying to notice Maverik staring in my direction.
“They’re going to come back and sit with us, right?” Abby asked in a whisper.
I shrugged. “Who cares? I just need them to bring me home at some point today.”
Abby fanned herself. “You are so lucky to be sharing a house with them. I
