Just a Little Crush(10)
“What?” I glanced at him.
“It occurred to me something could have happened to you while I was being stupid and chasing that girl. I promised not to bail on you and I did. It was wrong. I’m sorry. Next time we go to a party I’m not letting you out of my sight. Okay?”
“Um, okay. But I won’t be going to any more parties. I don’t belong there, remember?” He gave me a questioning look. “Like Ryder said, girls like me…”
“You think he meant you don’t belong?” He chuckled. “Oh, Brinley, you have it all wr—”
“Hey, Brinley.”
I turned to Noah. “Hi.”
“Can we talk?” He glanced at Mason.
“Um, yeah, sure,” I answered.
“If you need anything, call me.” Mason gave Noah a once-over and walked away. Weird. When did Noah become public enemy number one?
“You sure do have a lot of guys worried about you.” Noah adjusted his messenger bag strap across his chest.
“Mason has always been there for me. I think sometimes he has trouble figuring out when to take it easy.”
“You know I’m one of those guys, right?”
Ah, crap. He was? I didn’t want him thinking about me…at all. “You don’t need to worry about me. No one does.”
“I want to.” He looked down, then peeked back up. His dark-rimmed frames slipped down his nose. He adjusted them back into place. “Do you have class right now?”
“No. I was headed to the library to study.”
“Can I join you? Just for a bit. I have class in an hour.”
“Um, yeah. Sure.”
We walked together toward the library.
“I’m sorry about the other night. I wasn’t trying to make you uncomfortable or lock you out. Whatever it was everyone else seemed to think. I wanted to talk. Honest. That’s all I’ve wanted to do and it seems I never can get the chance with you.”
“Oh. It’s okay. I’m not upset or anything. Things just got weird.”
“Yeah. They did…once the brigade came to your rescue,” he mumbled.
“I didn’t expect that.”
“Neither did I.” He looked up. His brown eyes were warm and soft. He smiled. “Can we start over? I feel like you have the wrong impression of me. I want you to get to know me. The real me, and then maybe one day, I dunno, I could take you to dinner?”
Dammit. He was trying. I had to give him that much credit. He seemed like a nice guy too, but the interest wasn’t there. He didn’t do anything for me. No heart palpitations, no pull in my stomach, no tingling in my palms. Nothing. Not like a certain someone who could make me go all sorts of crazy.
“Sure. We can start over. But I’m going to be honest, I’m not looking to date anyone. I…I want to stay focused on school this semester.” It wasn’t a complete lie.
“Okay. Friends then. But friends can go to dinner, you know.”
“Yeah.” I smiled. “I know.”
We walked into the library and sat at a small table in the corner. I pulled out my calculus book and groaned as I looked over the assignment.
“Not your favorite?” He smiled.
“That’s putting it nicely.”
“Maybe I can help.”
“Really?”
“Don’t look so surprised. I promise I’m smarter than I look.”
He actually looked very smart but I kind of thought calculus was a foreign language to everyone. Not just me. “I thought you were smart. I just didn’t think I was dumb,” I admitted.
“You’re not dumb.” He shook his head. “Let me guess, you have Professor Canner?”
“Yeah.”
“There you go. Worst calculus teacher ever. Guy’s brilliant, but has no clue how to teach. Let me see what you’re working on.”
I handed him my worksheet. It wasn’t long before he was breaking things down into simple, easy-to-follow directions. Suddenly, all the craziness began to make sense.
“Okay, so did I do it right?” I handed Noah my sheet of notebook paper.
He reviewed my calculations and smiled. “Perfect. You may even be better than me now.”
“Doubt that.” I smiled. “Thanks. For everything.”
“Don’t thank me. I’m happy to help.”
“I need to repay you. How about dinner, tomorrow night?”
“Seriously?” His incredulous expression made me laugh.
“Yeah, seriously. But it’s my treat, for all your help…and because it’s not a date.”
“Hmm. Okay. It’s not a date, but you can’t pay for me.”
“We’ll see.”