Chapter 37. Phobia

ARDEN

What happened at the bus stop yesterday still lingered in my mind. The conversation had taken a downturn so suddenly, and even then, I couldn’t help but wonder what I had said so wrong for Cade to react that way.

It was strange how I was more fixated on his response than on the fact that he now knew I was a virgin. I didn’t know what he would do with that information. Would he treat me differently? That was how I predicted things would go. However, much to my surprise, he seemed to ignore my presence altogether.

“Earth to Arden!” Tessa exclaimed, cheerfully nudging my shoulder. I turned to her, still somewhat lost in thought.

“Yeah?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Alright, something is definitely wrong,” she finally said. “I thought you were just under the weather, but you’ve been in this absentminded state since the first class.”

I smiled sheepishly. “Sorry about that. Yeah, there’s a lot on my mind.”

Tessa sighed in concern. “You can tell m