Her eyes flicked to the bag, realization crossing her face. “Sorry.” She turned off her phone and pulled her bag from the seat. “I forgot–”
Her words cut off as she looked up at me, her face expressionless. I gave her an awkward half-smile, because I didn’t know what else to do.
She dropped her bag back down. “Seat’s taken.”
The awkward smile on my face turned into a real one. “You just said it was available.”
“Fine.” She grabbed the bag and stood, prepared to turn and walk away.
Crap. “Wait–” My smile quickly faded. “Please don’t leave. I’ll behave. I promise.”
She gave me a peculiar look.
What was that? Dismay, perhaps?
Her eyes narrowed as she sat back down. Clearly, she didn’t trust me as far as she could throw me. It was stupid of me to expect anything less.
I sat down slowly, choosing my words carefully. “I–”
Her scent flooded me, triggering an image from my dream of her naked body writhing atop mine. My skin burned as I stiffened–both in my spine and in my pants. Thankfully my books were in my lap, covering my massive(ly inappropriate) erection.
Her quiet voice cut into my thoughts. “Why are you staring at me like that?”
I cleared my throat. Twice. “Like what?” It still came out hoarse.
She shook her head. “Never mind. What were you saying?”
“I–” Shit, what was I saying? Oh, right. An apology. “I’m sorry about my behavior on Monday. That was hardly the right way to make a good first impression.”
Her lips puckered. Yep, still angry. She probably wondered if I had forgotten to take my meds, given my about-face this morning.
“Yeah, no shit.” Her cheeks pinkened as soon as the words left her mouth, but she didn’t look away as if embarrassed.
I winced, though I respected the hell out of her for standing her ground. Not many people talked to me the way she did. Or got away with it.
“I deserved that,” I said after a moment. “I didn’t have breakfast Monday morning, so I was a bit…woozy.” I looked down to the book in front of me. Lying to her felt wrong. It made me feel like a dick, but I couldn’t tell her the truth. At least not yet.
“Uh-huh.” She didn’t buy this for a second. “Did you have breakfast today?”
“I guess I deserved that one, too,” I said. “And I did have breakfast this morning, so I can assure you I’m in the right state of mind.” I couldn’t help but smile at her.
Her pupils dilated as her breathing faltered. “That’s…good.”
“Allow me to introduce myself.” Her scent intensified, the sugar and flower combination flaring as I involuntarily leaned in to get a better smell. “I’m Thomas.”
She stared blankly at me. Blinking a couple times, she frowned and dropped her eyes. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Why did she frown? Did I upset her again?
I opened my mouth to ask her, but the abrupt darkness interrupted me as the projection screen lowered.
After class, Emily left in a rush. I got caught behind a crowd of humans as I tried to follow her, and finally reached her in the hallway.
I wanted to talk with her more, but I wasn’t quite sure how. What an odd feeling this was–wanting someone to like you. Humans seemed to do it every day. They had this compulsion to want everyone to like them, but that’s just not possible. Not everybody’s going to like you. And if they don’t, good riddance–you’re much better off without them.
But at that moment, I didn’t care if everyone on the planet despised me, so long as Emily liked me.
I fell into step with her. “Mind if I walk with you?”
She stopped, her brows rising until they almost met her hairline. “Seriously?”
“What?” I frowned. Was it something I said?
“Are you kidding me?” She threw open the double doors and walked outside, rushing down the stairs like she couldn’t get away from me fast enough.
Damn it…
Thomas jogged up to me. Two days before, he acted like I was gum on his shoe–just a nuisance, and nothing to be bothered with. And now he wanted to walk with me? This guy made absolutely no freaking sense. He was probably bi-polar or had a split personality. Whatever it was, he was definitely one screwdriver short of a toolbox.
“I’m sorry.” His voice was still light and friendly–not at all indicative of his capability to be a giant ass-hat. “I’m not trying to upset you, I just–”
“Look.” I stopped and faced him. “We already established that you were an asshole on Monday, okay? You apologized, and I accepted. The end.”