Stupid Girl(76)

Steven cleared his throat. “During my observation of the human female I’ve noticed Noah Hicks brings that insanely obnoxious and primitive behavior out in most cases,” he said, then quirked his head and looked up at me with a grin. “I’ve concluded that the female species is simply beastly and unpredictable. I’m surprised you’re not on the Noah Hicks bandwagon.”

I gave Steven a disapproving fake frown. “Who are you now, Dr. Sheldon Cooper?” I continued loading up. “Steven, if I did have primitive beastly behavior I sure wouldn’t just let it out for everyone to see.”

“Let what out for whom to see?” Noah said behind me. “Exactly?”

My gaze flipped around to Noah, who watched as I packed up my gear. His lip twitched.

Good Lord, busted. I gave a nervous laugh. “My primitive beastly obnoxious side.” I flashed a glare toward Steven.

“That’s something I’d have to see for myself.” Noah knelt beside me and began breaking down the tripod. “How’s the log coming along?”

My braid slipped over my shoulder as I leaned across and tucked the body of my scope into the bag. “We picked up cloudy nebulus tonight. Saturn.”

“Yeah, and a few cool shots of the Milky Way with Olivia’s camera.” Steven shouldered his scope bag and pulled his car keys from his pocket. “I’ve got an online Stargazer’s meeting to attend in twenty minutes, plus about a pound of chemistry homework. So I’m gonna head out.” He flipped me a thumbs up. “Nice job, lab partner of mine. See ya in class.”

“Bye.” I gave a short laugh. I really liked Steven a lot. Like me, he was a geek to the nth degree.

Noah leaned close, and a slip of a breeze picked up his cologne and it wafted toward me. He smelled good; polished, crisp, well groomed. After tucking my tripod away he turned and sat on the ground, his forearm resting on his knee, his head turned toward the sky. I noticed how sharp and square his profile was; like a statue chiseled from stone. Not in a bulky, muscular way, but in a David sort of way. No wonder all the girls lost balance whenever he passed by. “Did you ever find out who damaged your truck?” he asked without looking at me.

“No.” I zipped my bag and sat down beside it, turning my stare toward the heavens. “It could’ve been any number of random people, I suppose.”

He let out a quick laugh. “I’d be willing to bet another girl did it,” he looked at me. “Just because of the guy you’re dating.” He shrugged. “Girls can be pretty vindictive.”

I knew that better than Noah thought. “Luckily they used shoe polish.” I searched the vast blanket above me, kept my eyes trained there. “It came right off.”

“Yeah,” he continued. “But those words were pretty harsh, Olivia.” I felt his eyes on me, and embarrassment heated my face. I looked at him, and his eyes appeared completely black. “Listen, I know it’s none of my business, but,” he searched for words. “I guess I hate to see people,”—he shrugged—“nice girls, I mean, get in over their head.”

“In over my head?” I didn’t know where he was going with this, but an uncomfortable feeling nicked me; something that usually didn’t accompany Noah.

He exhaled, looked down at the platform, then lifted his gaze. “Brax Jenkins. You two seem …” He laughed again. “Well, you know.” He rubbed his hand over his jaw, then his close-clipped hair. “Dammit. I’m over-stepping my boundaries here. Just be careful, Olivia. If you ever need anything, you have my number.” He flashed an embarrassed kind of smile. “Us nerds have to watch each other’s back, you know.”

“Gracie, you ready?”

I jumped at Brax’s unexpected presence on the platform. I leapt to my feet, grabbing my bag. Guilt washed over me as my eyes met his; anger and pain flashed over his features. The words weren’t mine, but I felt responsible for them just the same. Brax walked over and shouldered my scope bag, and I nervously searched for something to say. “Uh, yes. Actually. Just finished up here.”

While his hand found its way to my lower back, his gaze shifted to Noah’s. A hostile flare shone there, and although his words were for me, he threw that hostility at Noah. “Let’s get out of here.”

Noah rose, cleared his throat and shoved his hands in his pockets. “See you in class, Olivia.”

“See ya,” I answered. Brax guided me to the stairwell, tension radiating off of him.

“And hey,” Noah added. We stopped, but Brax’s gaze remained forward. I looked over my shoulder. “We’re expecting the Draconids to be spectacular, with very little moonshine to block the view.” He grinned. “It’ll be … great for your log.”