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1187 Words
“Hey.” Donovan’s breath hit the back of my neck. “You haven’t taken any more random walks alone, have you?”
The concern in his voice thrilled me. “No, I haven’t.” I turned so I could see him.
His blue eyes were bright, making my breath catch, and his gaze landed on my lips. “Good, I couldn’t have something bad happening to my lab partner.”
I licked my lips before I could stop myself. “You might enjoy a bigger group.” This had to be the most civil conversation we’d ever had. “Less work that way.”
“Nope, I have a hard time getting along with people.” He leaned back in his seat, putting some much-needed distance between us. “So, it would be an extra person I’d have to tolerate. You’re the lesser of two evils.”
“Wow.” I giggled. “You’re such a sweet talker.”
“I’ve been that once or twice.” His face scrunched up like he smelled something disgusting. “This is the face that really does it for them.”
“I can see why.” This felt so normal and comfortable. How had we been at odds before? “It’s the less awkward looking of all the expressions I’ve seen so far.”
“Well, thanks.” He grinned. “I aim to please.”
I could think of some serious ways he could please me. My body warmed at all of the thoughts. Ugh, down girl. That couldn’t and wouldn’t happen.
He grabbed a pen and doodled on the clean sheet of paper. “So, we do need to discuss our paper topic.”
Now I felt like an even bigger asshole for tearing up his phone number and email address. “Yeah, you’re right.” Everything inside me told me not to do it, but I wrote my phone number down and handed it to him.
He started and took the paper gingerly like it might bite him. “I was thinking maybe we could meet up and brainstorm together.”
I opened my mouth to tell him no. “What about the Student Center tonight?” What the hell? That wasn’t even close to no. He’d been an ass to me. I had to remember that.
“What about …”
He didn’t have to say anything more. I knew exactly who he was talking about. “Brock has a night class.” It’d been a pleasant surprise that I hadn’t been around him as much as I’d feared when coming here. I thought he’d be monitoring my every waking moment, but between our class schedules and football, I had time to breathe.
“Okay.” He rubbed his chin. “Six?”
“Sounds great.” This was my first meeting with a guy like this, and of course, it was with a human who made me feel things I shouldn’t.
I
should have been running to meet up with the others to scour the woods, but here I was, hanging back after class had been dismissed, hoping to talk more with Donovan.
I wasn’t being smart, but I couldn’t get myself to leave.
He slung his backpack over his shoulder and grinned. “Is this your last class of the day?”
I hadn’t noticed before, but he was dressed in black slacks and a white button-down shirt instead of his usual jeans and t-shirt look. “Yeah, it is. Are you going somewhere?” I wanted to take back the words, but I couldn’t. I was ready for him to retort that it was none of my business.
“Yeah …” He diverted his attention to the ground and huffed. “I’ve got a job interview I’m heading to now.”
“Oh …” I’d forgotten he’d mentioned looking for a job. “I’m guessing Axel is happy about that.”
His eyes flicked to mine. “Why would you say that?”
Shit, I had to stop hanging around him. I kept saying stupid things. I shouldn’t have been able to hear their conversation. “You said that you had to scrape by to get here. I …” I was at a loss for words.
“That makes sense.” He followed me to the door. “I’m being paranoid. Yeah, he will be. He’s got a few interviews lined up too.”
“Are you guys roommates?” I didn’t understand why I couldn’t stop asking questions. I was probably coming off like a stalker.
“Yeah. Are you and your redheaded friend?” he asked as we walked into the hallway. His arm brushed mine, and goosebumps spread across where he’d touched.
I slowed my pace to match his. “Her name is Roxy, and we are.” Maybe he wanted to prolong our time together.
A comfortable silence descended between us as we walked past the double doors.
As I stepped outside, my spine tingled, alerting me that I was being watched. I looked toward the woods and found Lillith, Roxy, Katherine, and Egan there, waiting on me.
He chuckled. “I take it your friends are here for you.”
“Appears so.” I took a step in their direction and stopped, glancing over my shoulder. “Good luck with the interview.”
“Thanks,” he replied with warmth. “I’ll see you soon.”
“Okay.” I forced myself to turn back and head toward my friends.
Roxy’s forehead lined with concern. What’s going on?
Great, she was suspicious. Nothing. Thankfully, I wasn’t close enough for her to smell my lie. That would change in the next few seconds, though. We were talking about our biology paper and how we needed to pick a subject.
Maybe you should change partners.
I reached them. Too late. The professor assigned partners, and we were put together. I left out the part where I had to sit with him, which was asinine. It was the only seat available.
“Okay.” Egan gestured to the library. “We should enter down there instead of in front of all the humans. We don’t need anyone suspicious to follow us.”
“Can’t we eat first?” Roxy asked in defeat.
“How many times are you going to ask that?” Lillith shook her head.
“What happened to meeting at the cafeteria?” I had hoped to eat before doing this as well.
Katherine pursed her lips. “Egan got too impatient and said we needed to search first. You were taking too long, so we came to find you.”
“The longer we wait, the colder the trail gets,” Egan explained as he marched toward the library. “Let’s hunt, and then we can get something to eat.”
Walking beside me, Roxy touched my arm. What is up with this weird obsession?
No clue. He was upset over all of this. But after Brock’s twenty questions, I won’t ask. I figure he’ll tell us when the time comes.
- Writer
