“I’m sorry. In all honesty, I thought he was different with you too. I mean, he spent the night here last night, and you guys held hands today at school.”
My head snapped around in her direction. “How do you even know about the hand-holding thing?”
“Duh. I hear everything, Jess. You know this. And not that him holding hands is odd, but I just thought it meant you guys were dating now and not dating other people.”
I groaned. “I thought that too, that we were starting something, and now we’re over before we even really began.”
Her phone beeped again, and she glared at it. “Enough, people, jeez! I already know.” She turned to me. “You’d think I ran an online gossip site or something.”
“Maybe you should. Just don’t start with this story. Please.”
A sharp knock at the door pulled us from our conversation.
“You expecting anyone?” Rachel asked.
As she moved to get up, I stopped her.
“No. You?”
“No.”
“I got it.”
When I opened the door, Nick took a step toward me before I could even react. Without a word, he cupped the back of my head with his hand as he planted a kiss on my lips like he owned them . . . like they belonged to him.
Quickly, I pulled away, wiping my lips with the back of my hand. “Don’t touch me!” I said, wondering how he was here when I could have sworn he was just at a restaurant.
Nick’s brow furrowed. “Jess? What’s wrong?”
The clueless act only pissed me off more. Clearly, he assumed I had no idea where he’d just been and with whom.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
“What do you mean? I wanted to see you.” He took a step toward me, and I pulled back. “Jess?”
“Get out of here, asshole,” Rachel called out from the living room. “I swear to God, I’ll put a curse on you, Nick Fisher.”
Nick jerked his head toward her. “Asshole? What did I do?” His gaze pinged between us, his expression all innocence when everyone knew he was guilty.
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I thought you were on a date with Carla Crawford?”
He blanched, his body language immediately changing. “How’d you even know about that?”
When he didn’t deny it, my heart sank. Not that he could deny it, anyway—I’d seen the pictures—but part of me hoped . . . Hell, I didn’t know what I had hoped.
“I was informed,” I said, not wanting to rat out my roommate.
“I told her,” Rachel said before pushing off the couch and heading into the kitchen. “My phone’s been blowing up all night with stupid pictures of the two of you at Shakes.”
He shook his head as he tried to process the information. “Your phone? Why? Why is my having dinner with Carla so text-worthy?”
Rachel groaned before rolling her eyes dramatically. “Jesus, Nick. You can’t walk around campus holding hands with Jess, and then go to dinner that same night with a girl who isn’t her, and think that people aren’t going to talk about it.”
“Shit.” He pulled out a chair at the kitchen table and sat down, dropping his head into his hands.
“I don’t think you’re welcome to stay,” Rachel said before I could.
And she was right. Nick had admitted he’d just been on a date with another girl, and he thought he could still hang out with me like nothing was wrong with that? Everything was wrong with that.
“Why is everything always so complicated?” he muttered as he gripped his head between his hands.
“Because girls are gossipy. And nosy. And more than that, they’re competitive,” Rachel told him.
Nick lifted his head, his eyes pleading with me. “I did take her out, but it’s not what you think, Jess. I promise.”
My heart sped up as his gaze met mine, but I refused to give in or believe him so easily.
“Hell, I didn’t even take off my hat.” He pointed at the baseball cap he always wore, still firmly on his head, as if that meant something.
“So? Then what was it, exactly?” I asked.
I walked into the kitchen where Rachel stood, needing her support. Plus, the more space between Nick and me, the better. I didn’t trust myself with him; my desire to believe him was too strong.
“We already had that date set up before you and I were—” He stopped before pushing away from the table and moving toward the countertop that separated us. “Well, whatever we are. I couldn’t just cancel on her. Our dads set us up. But I did tell her that I was seeing someone, and that this would be our first and last date.” He reached for my hand, and this time I didn’t pull away when his fingertips touched mine. “Actually, I told her it wasn’t a date at all. But I still paid for dinner, so maybe she thinks it was.”
I stopped myself from smiling before glancing at Rachel. She smiled too, reassuring me that I wasn’t being stupid or naive for believing him.
“Does she hate you now?” If he had done that to me, I’d probably hate him.
“I don’t really care,” he said, his eyes holding mine as his thumb rubbed small circles on the top of my hand.
I didn’t care either.
“Excuse us for two seconds.” Rachel shattered the moment as she grabbed me by the hand and yanked me into my bedroom, closing the door behind us.
“What are you doing?” I asked her, feeling frantic.