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The familiar masculine voice coming from the other side of the wall made her sink into the pillows and close her eyes. They needed to come up with a better way to let one another know when they were coming into the apartment. Maybe texting first. She didn’t know if her heart could handle the unexpected scares.

“Is it?” Blaire said, her voice sounding panicked.

Pulling in a deep lungful of air, she opened her eyes to see both Lukas and Blaire staring at her with concern. “It’s just Aiden.”

“What’s just me?”

“You’re texting me before you come in next time. You about gave me a heart attack.”

Aiden looked over his shoulder, back to where he came from, and then at her. “I scared you? Shit, I’m so sorry.” He lowered himself to sit next to her against the pillows, his arm brushing hers. “I’ll text you next time. I put your notebook on the kitchen counter. You left it in class. Noah dropped it off.” He finally took notice of the phone. “Oh, hey. Why didn’t you tell her it was me?”

“Hey,” Blaire said. “I didn’t know.”

“No, I mean, him.”

Lukas shrugged. “I didn’t know. We’ve been off the phone for a little while. Told you I was going to get a game.”

Blaire waved a hand, dismissing their back and forth, making Charlotte giggle. “Charlotte was just telling me about her little… big problem.”

“Yeah?” Aiden looked from the screen to Charlotte.

“Yeah.” She looked at Lukas, noting his expression didn’t hold an ounce of confusion. She looked at Aiden. “You told him?”

Both Lukas and Aiden’s eyes widened in response to the question. Bingo.

“It’s okay,” she mumbled. “He’s your best friend, and you’re kinda living with me for now. Besides, I didn’t really expect Blaire to keep it a secret.”

“Hey, I can keep a secret. It’s Riley you have to worry about.”

“To be fair, she’s gotten better about that,” Lukas said.

“It’s not that I didn’t think you couldn’t keep it to yourself,” Charlotte said. “I just didn’t expect you to keep something so serious from him. Lukas is my friend. I want him to know.”

Lukas cleared his throat and lowered his eyes, his hand raking through his long hair as he sat back out of frame.

Blaire laughed. “He’s shy.”

“Hardly,” Lukas said with a grunt.

“What? You’re not happy she considers you her friend?”

“By the stars, woman,” he muttered. “Yes. She’s my friend.” With a sigh, he added in a gruff tone, “I’m happy about it.”

Charlotte’s brows pinched. “Did you just say, ‘by the stars’?”

Blaire’s head whipped to look at the screen, her laughter fading. “What?”

“Stars? I’ve never heard that phrase before.”

“I didn’t hear that.” Blaire looked at Lukas again, and he shrugged.

“I’m starving,” Aiden said, drawing Charlotte’s attention. “You want to do takeout?”

“I can’t really splurge after the grocery shopping we did.” She frowned. “I can cook.”

“Well, it would be my treat, but I won’t turn down a home-cooked meal.” His smile made her stomach swoop.

“We’ll let you guys go. We’re heading down to the cafeteria for dinner, too.” Blaire’s cheerful expression fell. “Please call me if anything happens, Char. I love you. I want you to be safe. If it’s too bad, promise me you’ll come home.”