“Let’s go get her. I need to see these moves of yours in action.”
We did. And he was right.
Amelia smiled for him the whole time.
Reese
On Saturday, the Rodner Sharks were playing an away game in Kentucky, a game the band wasn’t traveling to for budgetary reasons. Which meant I didn’t have plans for Saturday that revolved around school. Which meant… Laird was finally going to cook those steaks for us at his place this weekend. And I’d be packing an overnight bag.
My stomach fluttered at the thought, anticipation and nerves rioting out of control.
But before that, I had to pass tomorrow’s calculus exam, a totally different breed of anxiety. Derivatives, bright and early on Friday morning. Every college freshman’s dream come true.
The rest of the guys were headed out for pizza and cheap beer after the Thursday night practice we’d just finished, but I trudged the opposite direction, following the cracked sidewalk back to my dorm, where I would be solving differentials into the darkest hours of the morning. At least they’d invited me, which was more than I expected. Smith had asked me to join them and Bubba had seconded the request. Unsurprisingly, Marco had glowered from the middle of the group, a smug smirk splitting his face when I’d declined. I hated that it somehow felt like a victory for him in this battle between us.
And despite my simmering need to knock Marco off his pedestal whenever the opportunity arose, academics had to come first, regardless of how good melted cheese and cold beer sounded.
By the time I emerged from the communal bathroom on the floor of my dorm—eight shower stalls for thirty girls—my stomach growled its demands to be fed. I made my way back to room 407, a cheap towel wrapped like a turban around my head and my pajamas sticking to my damp skin, doing a mental inventory of my food stash.
Some microwave popcorn. Store-brand granola bars. A few apples and half a jar of creamy peanut butter. The requisite ramen noodle packs, chicken flavor. And three cases of Cherry Coke Zero.
It sounded like MSG for dinner with a side of caffeine to balance it out.
I stowed my shower caddy on the floor of my closet and gathered up a bowl to fill with water for my noodles. Except I got no further than opening my door again to head for the fourth-floor kitchen when I found Laird, my white knight with a full bag from Sammy’s cradled in his arm, his bookbag hanging off his broad shoulders.
I fumbled to set the bowl down and take the bag from him. It smelled like freshly baked carbs. My favorite.
“What’s this?” I inhaled, shoving my entire face into the bag, opening and sniffing deeply.
“Turkey-and-cranberry subs. Two of them. Plus, chips and brownies.” He stepped closer, his shoes inches from my bare toes, and plucked the towel from my head. My hair fell in wet clumps around my shoulders, covering my eyes and clinging to my cheeks. I shook my head, trying to clear my vision, my hands occupied with the more important task of holding dinner. Rough fingers smoothed over my forehead, parting the strands and pushing them back behind my ears. His thumbs lingered on the base of my skull, massaging small circles into the tense muscle. It took all my willpower not to purr like a cat and lean into his touch.
I sighed. “Laird, thank you. But I can’t hang out tonight. I have this huge test tomorr—”
“—and you need to study.” He reclaimed the bag, moving to the empty bed that would’ve belonged to my roommate if she’d shown up, and pushed aside the small mountain of dirty clothes I’d piled there. “So do I. I thought we could do it together. Or, not together so much as in the same room. You have Calc tomorrow, right? I have my first Anatomy test too.” I paused at the evidence that he knew my schedule so well, wondering if he knew how telling that small fact was.
He pulled out the two oversized sandwiches, kettle chips, and brownies wrapped in parchment paper. He lined up everything and set two jumbo-sized cups on the floor where they wouldn’t spill. Laird glanced up to where I hadn’t budged from the doorway, and dipped his chin, giving me a stern glare. “You have to eat dinner. And you know you’d rather have this sandwich than those noodles you were getting ready to nuke.”
My stomach betrayed me, choosing that moment to rumble an agreement, and I frowned at the pack of ramen still hanging loosely from my fingers.
He grinned and patted the mattress next to him. “Come eat. I promise I’ll behave.”
My dubious look only made him laugh.
“I’ll use this desk all the way over here on the other side of the room to study.” The paper crinkled as he unwrapped his sub. “You won’t even know I’m here.”
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other and finger-combed my hair, highly aware of my makeup-free face and lack of bra. “What’s in the cup?” I asked the question as if his fate in this room hedged on his answer.
“Wild Cherry Pepsi.”
I gasped, curling my lip in disgust.
He took a bite of his sub, chewing and swallowing before he spoke again, chuckling lightly. “Relax. It’s Cherry Coke Zero. Now get your ass over here and eat dinner before it gets cold. And you’re welcome, by the way.”
Guilt sprouted inside of me, and I blushed, appalled at my lack of manners. “Thank you for bringing me dinner, Laird.” I hunched my shoulders as I crossed the room, knowing there was no way I could surreptitiously slip a bra on. “I figured you’d be heading out with the guys for pizza. It sounded like that’s where everyone was going.”
He took a long sip and waited while I settled myself on the other side of the extra-long twin mattress, standard college issue. “I still have things to figure out about you. Things I couldn’t discover if I was there and you were here.”
“Like what?” I sank my teeth into the freshly baked bread and wondered briefly if saliva wasn’t simply your taste buds ejaculating in the presence of yummy food.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth as he watched me eat. “Like if you play music while you study or prefer silence. If you read the facts out loud to yourself, like I sometimes do. If you throw your textbook when you get frustrated. If you eat to relieve your stress. Or exercise. Or masturbate.” A piece of shredded lettuce fell out of my sub, landing on the bare skin of my calf I had tucked up next to me. “Personally, I like the last option the best.”
I barely tasted the food after he started talking, the mouthful I had sliding roughly down my throat before my teeth finished doing their job. “You want to know a lot of things.” The sentence sounded dumb as soon as I said it, and I winced as I plucked at the rogue piece of lettuce and set it back on the wrapper.
Laird put his sandwich down and licked his thumb clean. I zeroed in on his mouth, on that small glimpse of his tongue slipping out. His words came out low and careful, but with authority, the way you’d approach a skittish puppy. “I want to know it all.” I lifted my eyes from the full curve of his lower lip and his gaze seared me, digging past the superficial and burrowing into the fragile, hidden depths that I didn’t allow most people to see. The parts of me most people never thought to look for.
“I feel like you’re talking about more than just one study session.” I reached down for my drink and took a nervous swallow to keep my hands busy.
A faint smile crossed his face. “If that’s an invitation, I accept.”
Was it? I turned my focus to the sub as I replayed his words in my head, needing the distraction of something simple. The tartness of the cranberry played off the creaminess of the melted cheese, and the hand-carved turkey melted in my mouth. The bread was soft and yeasty, still warm from the oven, the perfect contrast to the cool, crunchy lettuce. Sandwiches were so underrated as a dinner option.
Laird whipped his shirt off and dropped it on the bed behind him, then opened his bag of chips like nothing unusual had just happened. I lowered the partially eaten half of the sub, my eyes caught on all that skin suddenly on full display. My nipples tightened behind my thin t-shirt, one I’m pretty sure had a hole in the armpit.
“What are you doing?” Dear fearless gravity-defying Jesus walking on water.
He crunched a chip. “Eating.”
“Without your shirt on?”