I'm already becoming paranoid. 

How can it be that I always see Dean Walker everywhere? I'm pretty sure I spotted him three times on campus, but only his back was noticeable, then I mistook a boy from my class for him, and right now I see him again ─ right outside my apartment door.

I quickly grab my umbrella and hold it out threateningly in front of me.

Actually, my caution is ridiculous, after all, yesterday when we were talking on my sofa there was almost not a leaf between us, but still, I want to at least try to be firm and suspicious. Besides, I don't want to see him all the time, everywhere. I don't want to see him at all because, despite everything, he's still a murder suspect I shouldn't have anything to do with. Before I met him, my biggest worries were whether I could even handle my new college life, but now I have to expect to see him at almost any moment. And that really pisses me off. 

"I think you got the wrong door," I say as I stand right behind him. Only now, I realize that the person in front of me doesn't look like Dean Walker. Dean is, in my opinion, much taller and also a little broader. 

"Actually, this is exactly the right door." 

The man's voice is deep and intimidates me a little, but the moment he turns to face me, my fear fades as quickly as it came. In fact, I have to restrain myself from laughing out loud, because that really would have been completely inappropriate and out of line. The guy in front of me looks like the clone of Ron from Harry Potter. I wonder how I could have even assumed that this was Dean.

Ron raises an eyebrow. "What exactly is so funny?"

Why can't I put a poker face on? I sigh. "Nothing's funny. You're just in my way, and I wonder why. Anyway, I've never seen you here before, and unless you're some friend of Bronwyn's, I don't know what you're doing here. Or are you one of Kolin's friends? Anyway, if that's the case, you can go right now and tell him that I am ─"

He really has the nerve to interrupt me. "Okay, you definitely talk too much, and I definitely don't have enough time."

Irritated, I open my mouth. "Excuse me?" 

"Accepted," he says with the hint of a smile. "I'm serious, we don't have much time, so I'll keep it short. I'm not a friend of Bronwyn or of any Kolin. My name is Gavin."

"Gavin Reyes, isn't it?"

He raises his red eyebrows proudly. "So you've heard from me. And you're Sydney, another one-night stand Dean dragged into the whole thing." 

One-night stand? 

"Just to be clear, Sydney. You're not going to tell anyone about Dean, but if you already have, I hope for you that those people can keep it tight. If I find out you've gone to the police, you're going to be in serious trouble with me, and I don't think you want that."

I blink in perplexity. 

He sighs. "God, he really needs to stop hitting on random girls. Sweetie, you really don't want a relationship with someone like Dean, okay? After all, it's exhausting enough being his best friend sometimes, always pulling him out of shit. So do me a favor and please don't start crying right now. I always get overwhelmed when people start crying in front of me."

I would definitely not cry. Rather than being sad, as he suspects, I'm boiling with anger. "He said I was a one-night stand?" 

"Not exactly," Gavin answers hesitantly. "We didn't have much time, so he just gave me your name and room number so that I could talk to you." 

At least Dean isn't a liar, so that soothes me a little. "Okay, Ron, after all, I didn't sleep with him. All I did was let him in so he could hide at my damn dorm, but then these guys showed up and he suddenly wanted to jump out the window, and by the way, my roommate overheard all of that and she's pissed because I won't tell her what went down last night and I talk too much because I'm angry and nervous, so you either deal with it or find someone that you can harass."

Now Gavin is the one who blinks. "You allowed him to hide at your damn dorm? Even though you don't know him?"

I nod slowly because I'm a hopeless case. 

Ron suddenly smiles. "I take back everything I've said before, Sydney. How about if we start fresh?"

He holds out his hand to me, but I refuse to shake it, not because I'm offended, but because I'm so overwhelmed by the whole situation that I don't know what to do for a moment. Gavin makes a small pout. "It would be a real shame if you have a bad opinion of me from now on, sweetie. You're brave and kind, someone Dean and I could really use to get out of this situation alive."

"Get out alive?" I ask, irritated. 

"Besides, you're really pretty," he says, not considering my words. "I can understand why Dean's eyes literally glowed the moment he said your name."

"His eyes glowed?" Am I an echo now?

"Yes, and I thought it was because he was thinking back to your night together." Gavin gives a short laugh. "But I'm starting to understand why you guys didn't hook up. You're really snarky and you clearly never give a damn about anything."

"I'm snarky?" I ask in a sharp tone that actually already confirms how snarky I can be. I know I'm not an easy person to deal with, and I've never claimed to be. After all, I talk too much, eat too much chocolate, and can tend to overreact and make a mountain out of a molehill in the most innocuous of situations. But the fact that Gavin figures all this out in less than five minutes says a lot about his knowledge of the human race.

And yet he seems to like me somehow, so I finally hold out my hand to him and smile slightly. He shakes it and replies with my tentative smile with a huge grin. "Well then, nice to meet you, Sydney. Now please tell me that no one except your roommate knows Dean was with you yesterday." 

"Yeah, only Bronwyn saw him, but I haven't gotten around to talking to her about it yet. Actually, I was going to do it now, but then you showed up and did ─"

"Perfect!" He claps his hands and makes a move to open my apartment door, until he realizes he can't open it without a key. "Open it now! We'll talk to Bronwyn together."

Is he serious? The determination in his gaze almost screams "Yes!" at my question, but I'm still not sure if Bronwyn wants to talk to a complete stranger who looks like Ron Weasley or talk to me, because I think she's still angry about the fact that I didn't say a word about Dean Walker last night or this morning.

Gavin seems to like me, but he still doesn't trust me because of that. Otherwise, he would let me talk to Bronwyn alone, but he can't do that because he's not sure if I will really do it. The fact that Dean is so important to him kind of touches me and also makes me happy because it means Dean won't get lonely so quickly. Gavin will stand behind him no matter what and this fact makes me believe a little more in Dean and his innocence in the murder case. 

That's why I let Gavin into the apartment, and he looks around with curiosity and interest. Bronwyn is home, I can tell by the mess in the kitchen. After a hard day at college, she goes to the kitchen every time and makes herself something to eat ─ she always ignores the ensuing mess until she has to cook herself something again. However, I can't spot my roommate anywhere, which probably means she's in her room studying. 

"Where is Dean anyway?" The question slips out of my mouth, just as my bag slides off my shoulder and onto the floor in response. Shocked, my eyes widen and I look at Gavin and wait, hoping he doesn't notice how much I care about where Dean is right now.

If he suspects anything about my interest, he doesn't show it. "Dean's not here." 

"Yeah, I can see that," I reply slowly, confused. "I don't want to seem pushy or nosy, but ─" 

"And I don't want my best friend to end up in jail." Gavin may have averted his eyes from me and is pretending to enjoy Bronwyn's stacked sheets of design sketches, but secretly I know he doesn't want to show his sadness and desperation. 

He reminds me of Dean at that moment, and a piece of my last vestige of distrust falls away from me. 

I swallow hard and take a step toward him. "I'm sorry." 

"What is there to be sorry about?"

"I'm sorry that you both have to go through this. I believe everything Dean told me, even though it might be stupid to believe anything you two say, but I do. And I'm sorry because you ─ especially Dean ─ don't deserve this." 

"Oh man, do you actually know that it's really hard not to like you?" He smiles in my direction and runs a hand through his unruly red hair. "Alright, Dean's staying hidden until the Catchers are out of the area. He won't come back here until then."

"Catchers? Is that the name of the guys from last night?"

Gavin grins up to his ears. "No, they don't really have a name, but I just called them that. It fits those idiots, right?" 

I just grin in response. "Bronwyn is in her room probably listening to music. I'll go get her for a minute and you can wait here if that's okay for you." 

Now Gavin is the one grinning. 

Even before I open Bronwyn's room door, I hear a familiar rap song playing and I automatically start humming along. Bronwyn's taste in music is pretty diverse, but I still wouldn't have thought she'd hear a song like that. She's so engrossed in her drawing that she doesn't even notice me at first and just looks down at her paper, looking tense and frowning. Then she suddenly looks up and sticks her pencil into her messy bun in surprise. 

Now I have her full attention. "Hey, Bron," I say to her, stammering a little. Her facial expression, however, says nothing about her current state of anger. "Do you have a minute?" 

"If it's about what went on here last night, then yes." She scrunches her eyes together. "By the way, I ate all your yogurt chocolate as punishment for dodging me and my questions all this time."

I open my mouth, but she beats on me.

"Now don't tell me I was dreaming or sleepwalking. The lie may have worked last night, but by now I'm pretty sure of what I saw."

I sigh. "That's not what I was trying to say. There's someone in the living room who might be able to explain things to you a little better than I can. It's complicated and I'm sure you'll think I'm pretty naive, which I am, but please don't be mad at me anymore because I had to ignore Candice's looks today without you and because I really love chocolate and you ate it and I did ─"

"Okay, okay." She wrings a smile out of herself. "I won't be mad if you don't hide things from me anymore, and I definitely won't think you're naive. About the chocolate ... I'm actually rather less sorry."

For that last sentence, she has to take a light tap on her shoulder. "Just come with me." As she stands up, however, I hold her back once more and have to stifle a laugh. "So it's that in our apartment there's Gavin Reyes, maybe you know him. He's ... Dean Walker's best friend, and he's here because he wants to make sure you don't tell anyone about last night." 

"There's something else, isn't it?" 

I grin. "Yes. Because he looks exactly like Ron from Harry Potter. You'll be impressed."

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