Classic (17 page)

She let it carry her right back out the door and into the night.

J
enny waited for Isaac’s English seminar to let out from its evening meeting, shifting impatiently from one foot to the other
in the brutally overheated foyer of Hunter Hall. She’d carefully dressed in a dark red Anthropologie sweater with ruffled
sleeves. If things went poorly, she was counting on her favorite sweater to make her feel a little bit better.

The seminar room door opened, and she took a quick, deep breath. She could do this. She
needed
to do this. It was what normal people did in normal relationships, without all the worrying and wondering and dire warnings
from their friends. They needed to just talk.

So why did it feel so hard?

Owls flooded down the steps, complaining loudly that they were hungry and it was too dark, but Jenny only smiled and nodded
absently at faces she recognized, like bleached
blond Evelyn Dahlie, because she was looking for one face in particular.

Isaac’s. He walked out of the seminar room, and when he saw her standing there his face broke into a smile. Immediately some
of Jenny’s panic eased. His dark hair curled messily, and his pale green eyes contrasted with his tanned skin. She suddenly
remembered seeing him for the first time, on the first day of the new term, when she’d been sitting in the chapel and he’d
been up on stage behind his dad. He’d caught her eye and smiled at her like he’d known her forever. She felt the same warmth
spread through her now.

“Hey,” he said, walking over to her. “What are you doing here?”

“I thought I’d surprise you,” Jenny replied. She handed him one of the insulated travel mugs she’d been holding in her hands.
“I even brought you hot chocolate. It’s pretty cold out there.” He’d brought them both hot chocolate when they went on their
first “date,” a winter walk to the crater. She’d been swept away by the sweet gesture, and now she hoped he would be, too.

Isaac’s smile deepened, and he moved closer. “How awesome are you?” he asked, taking the mug gratefully. He stepped out of
the flow of traffic and joined Jenny in the little alcove by the windows above the stairs.

“I want to ask you something,” Jenny blurted out, afraid if she waited she’d lose her nerve.

“Sure,” Isaac said easily. He took a sip of his hot chocolate and made an approving noise. He sank down on the top step and
patted the space beside him. Jenny sat down on the wide, cold stone, feeling encouraged. Isaac didn’t seem nervous. Surely,
if he was hiding something, he would be nervous that she wanted to ask him questions, wouldn’t he?

She waited until the last student had sailed through the heavy outside doors and then squared her shoulders. “Is there something
I should know about?” she asked. She willed herself to look him in the eye.

Isaac frowned, confused. “I don’t think so,” he said slowly. “Unless you want me to tell you about Virginia Woolf. We just
talked about her in class. But you’ve probably read
A Room of One’s Own
, right?”

Jenny bit her lip to keep from smiling and plowed on. “It’s just that you were really weird earlier this week,” she said quickly.
Maybe if they got this over with, they really
could
talk about Virginia Woolf or something else entirely. “You usually walk me all the way to Dumbarton, but the minute I started
talking about Valentine’s Day, you took off. Was something going on?”

Their eyes met. Jenny panicked. What if he wasn’t going to answer? What if he
was
going to answer and it was something bad? But then Isaac blinked.

“Oh my God,” he said, shaking his head. “I am so sorry.” His green eyes were serious when they met hers. “Of course you thought
something was up.” He sighed. “What was up was that I completely forgot it was Valentine’s Day. I had some things that I had
to take care of. But now it’s done, and I can focus all my energy on you.”

Jenny imagined the ball again, with Isaac looking at her exactly the way he was now, so serious and earnest, dipping her over
his arm, then spinning her around and around….

“Okay,” she said softly. “I just wondered.”

“I had this cute girl wanting me to be romantic so of course I froze,” Isaac said gently, moving closer to her on the step.
“I was wondering how I could possibly have forgotten. I mean, Valentine’s Day requires some preparation, Jenny.”

“It does?” Jenny asked, but she could feel a goofy grin taking over her face. She couldn’t believe that she’d been so worried
about this for so long, and he’d just been dealing with something else entirely. And he’d called her
cute.

“Of course,” Isaac said. He handed her back the mug she’d given him and dug around in his bag. He pulled out a thin, flat
box and suddenly looked almost shy.

“I wanted you to have this,” he said. Jenny’s hands were full, so he opened the box and pulled out a small, framed sketch.
Jenny recognized it immediately. One afternoon during Jan Plan, she and Isaac had been sitting in Maxwell while Jenny sketched,
and she had sketched their hands as they’d both held on to a single cappuccino mug. It had just been a silly doodle.

“That’s the first picture you ever drew of us,” Isaac said. His mouth curved. “I thought it should be framed.”

Something warm started to glow inside of her, heating her up from the inside out. “I think you’re kind of amazing,” Jenny
said, smiling up at him.

“I’m glad you think so,” Isaac said. He looked down and then met her gaze again. “Because I’m hoping you’ll go to the
Valentine’s Day Ball with me. I mean, I know we’re supposed to go with our Perfect Matches and everything, but I’m sure Brett
will be busy with Sebastian….”

Jenny’s heart felt too big for her chest. It was really happening. She could almost
see
the two of them dancing, Isaac’s strong arms tight around her, his face pressed close to hers, as her dress swished and swayed
to the music….

“Yes,” she whispered dreamily. “I’d love to.” She thought she might overflow with happiness. Thank God she’d asked Isaac what
was happening instead of continuing to stress. Julian’s advice was spot-on.

She felt an odd twinge then, thinking of Julian, but she forgot it almost immediately when Isaac moved closer and slid his
arm around her shoulders. She tilted her head back to look at him, her heart fluttering wildly as he leaned over and then
pressed his lips to hers.

Jenny felt her toes curl in her carefully chosen Frye boots.

Everything was absolutely and perfectly okay.

C
allie nervously smoothed her hands along the ruched sides of her formfitting, scarlet Zac Posen dress, shifting her weight
from one hot pink Kate Spade sling-back to the other. She’d spent hours perfecting her casual yet sophisticated side-swept
ponytail, and she knew her hair looked terrific. Even Alan, currently standing next to her and zoning out on one of the slowly
spinning disco balls suspended from the ceiling, had managed to focus long enough to tell her she looked pretty.

Now if only Easy would show up, everything would be the way it was supposed to be. Callie bit her lip as her eyes scanned
the Owls crowding into the transformed Reynolds Atrium. It was a two-story space courtesy of a hefty donation from Ryan Reynolds’s
contact-lens-king father, complete with a glass barrel-vaulted ceiling designed by I. M. Pei. The Valentine’s Day Ball
committee had done an incredible job. The space shone with red and gold and pink and silver—from the helium balloons in V-Day
colors to the gentle pink lights that made the room feel more intimate than it was. The usual red Pottery Barn couches blended
right in, and the green-and-gold paisley carpet was covered by a temporary dance floor. Even Callie, who was admittedly jaded
about some things, thought the room looked gorgeous.

She adjusted the bright red strap on her shoulder and smiled automatically at the familiar faces that streamed by her, as
all the Perfect Match couples wandered into the ball in varying states of awkwardness. Tinsley and Brett marched in arm in
arm, whispering to each other, while Heath and Sebastian trailed behind, sharing sips from Heath’s trusty flask. Jenny, wearing
one of Callie’s dresses, was making googly eyes at Isaac, despite the fact that he was technically Brett’s date. On her other
side, Julian McCafferty walked quietly with a resigned look on his face. Rifat Jones was leaning so far into Teague Williams’s
side, laughing and whispering in his ear, that it was hard to see where her Betsey Johnson dress ended and his Hugo Boss suit
began. But Callie couldn’t even giggle at the way Kara Whalen and Ryan Reynolds marched in, side by side, looking like they
were headed toward a firing squad. She could only really concentrate on peering around Alan’s shoulder and wondering why she
couldn’t spot Easy in the crowd.