His smile seemed to grow even wider as he raced ahead to reach the building’s door before I did. He pulled it open and waved me inside.
“Such a gentleman.”
He cleared his throat. “It’s knight in shining armor, thank you very much.”
I huffed out a quick laugh. “My bad. I forgot.”
We took our regular seats as Professor Manal started his lecture, his fingers weaving through his long dark beard while he talked. Nick rested his hand on top of my knee.
How was I supposed to concentrate on anything with him touching me like that? I turned my head to glance at him, but he was staring at me.
“What?” I whispered, feeling the heat rise into my face.
“Nothing,” he whispered back. “You’re fun.”
The professor cleared his throat, and I glanced up to find him glaring at us . . . again.
Crap.
Nick squeezed my knee, his lips pressed together as he tried not to laugh. I was too scared to do anything, but he leaned toward me. “You heard me, right?”
“I heard you. You’re fun too,” I whispered back.
Professor Manal hopped down from the small stage he lectured on and immediately headed our way.
“Ten.” Frowning, he stalked toward the last row where Nick and I sat. “Nine. Eight. Seven.” He pointed at the two of us and then at the door, all while continuing the countdown.
Confused, I turned toward Nick, mortification flooding through me.
The professor rapped his knuckles on my desk and pointed at the door once more. “Five. Four. Three.”
After grabbing my bag, I rushed toward the door and left the classroom just as Professor Manal called out, “One!”
Nick burst through the door right behind me, and I exhaled a relieved breath. We waited for Professor Manal to come out of the classroom and give us a lecture, or yell at us, but he never did. We stood in the hallway outside the classroom and waited a few seconds more.
“Did we just get kicked out of class?” Nick asked.
“I think so. Who gets kicked out of a college class? I didn’t even think that could happen.” I started pacing back and forth, trying not to freak out.
“Well, shit. Breakfast?” he asked before tossing an arm around my shoulders.
“I guess so.” I didn’t really think I could eat, but what else was I going to do?
We walked like that toward the student union, his arm draped across me, until Nick burst out laughing. I stopped walking to just smile at him, unable to help myself.
“I can’t believe that just happened,” he choked out, still laughing. “I know everyone in that fucking class. I’m going to get so much shit later.”
Frowning, I folded my arms over my chest. “Well, maybe you should learn how to behave.”
“I think it’s your fault we got kicked out. I’ve never been kicked out of a class before, and I’ve been here two years longer than you. So by deduction, this is all your fault,” he said, pretending to be serious.
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I’ll take the blame. I can handle it, since you obviously can’t.”
“You’re so mean to me.” He jutted out his bottom lip, and I fought the urge to attack it with my mouth in public.
“You like it,” I teased, and forced myself to look away from his mouth.
“I might.” He dropped his arm from my shoulder and reached for my hand, pulling me into the student union.
Sitting across from Nick a few minutes later, I watched as he inhaled a plateful of eggs, bacon, and hash browns.
“Sure you’re not hungry?” he asked as he swallowed.
“I’m sure,” I said, eyeing the separate plate of toast he hadn’t touched yet.
After taking another bite, he shifted in his seat and looked at me. “What?”
“Just wondering where it all goes,” I said without thinking.
He winked. “I’ll show you sometime.”
“Gross.”
“Kidding.”
I pushed out of my seat and stood. “I actually should go to the library. I need to research a paper I’m working on, and you’re distracting.”
“Really? I haven’t even tried to distract you yet.” He gave me a cocky smirk as he took a bite of his toast.
I waved my hand toward him. “Your whole being is distracting.”
“My whole being?” He laughed. “So is yours. Come on, I’ll walk you.”
He stood up and took his leftovers to the trash, dumping them in the appropriate receptacles. The library was right next door to the student union, so it seemed like we arrived there in two seconds.
We stopped at the entrance, and Nick seemed different. Something odd suddenly filled the space between us, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it.
“Is everything okay?” I asked, wondering what had just happened.
He shifted his weight. “Yeah. No, it’s nothing. I’ll see you later, okay?” He leaned over and planted a quick kiss on my lips.
“Are you sure?” I felt uneasy, like there was something he wasn’t telling me, but I had no clue what.
Flashing his trademark smile, he said, “Sorry, I just remembered something I had to do. It’s no big deal.”
Confused, I murmured, “Okay.”
“I’ll talk to you later,” he said as he walked away.
I watched him go before I turned and walked through the library doors.
I stayed at the library until my next class, and once that ended, I headed back to the library. My professor had insisted that we use actual books for reference on this paper, not just the Internet. Admittedly, I sort of loved that we had to do that. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d gone into the library to do actual research. It was pretty cool.