“No.” I glanced down at my textbook, trying not to look sullen.
He sighed. “What’d you do now?”
“Nothing. I apologized for like the millionth time and she still wouldn’t have any of it… Then I might’ve followed her after class and said something about how she’d need me here pretty soon.”
Matt winced. “How’d she take it?”
“About how you’d expect.” I ran my fingers through my hair, tugging on it out of sheer frustration.
“It might not be that bad. I think you’re making it out to be worse than it really was.”
“No, it really is this bad. I mean, Jesus, this morning I–” My face burned as I cut my words off. “Never mind.”
“What?” Matt was riveted to what I was saying, like an old lady dying to get the latest piece of gossip at the beauty parlor. At any other time, I would’ve found it highly amusing.
“Nothing, it’s too humiliating,” I mumbled.
He smiled. “Okay, now you have to tell me.”
I hung my head in shame, feeling my face ablaze. “This morning when I was around her, I got…kind of…you know…excited.” God, I wanted to die, right then and there.
I had to give Matt credit, though. He tried–really tried–not to laugh. His mouth pressed into a hard line as he fought against it and shrugged. “It happens.”
“But it shouldn’t. I’m a grown man. I’m three-hundred years old, not some hormonal teenager,” I said, lowering my voice as I glanced around.
He shrugged. “So you pitched a tent at a less-than-stellar time, big deal. It doesn’t make you a perv, it makes you a dude.” Matt sighed. “You need to loosen up, man. When’s the last time you rubbed one out?”
“I’m not talking to you about that.”
He chuckled. “Been that long, huh?”
“It’s–” I sighed. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I do it…an appropriate amount.”
“An appropriate amount?” He was almost in hysterics again. “What, is that like once a year, or…?”
I flipped him off. “Yeah, yeah. Yuk it up, asshole.” I rested my head in my hands and groaned. “Why can’t I act like a normal person around her?” I lifted my head to see Matt shoot me a look. “You know what I mean. I’m a complete tool around her.”
He grinned. “Maybe you loooove her.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not in love with her… I just can’t stop thinking about her.”
Matt laughed. “You’ve got it bad. She’s hot, right? Shit, she’s gotta be if you’re sweatin’ her.”
I shot him a nasty look. “She’s beautiful, yes.”
He turned serious as he said, “Do you think she might be someone you’d like to mate?”
My eyes dropped down to my desk as I shrugged. “That’s irrelevant. She doesn’t want me, remember?”
And it didn’t look like she’d be changing her mind anytime soon.
Chapter Seventeen
EMILY
Once my last class of the day was dismissed, I exited the small classroom, trying to make my way down the overflowing hallway. Instead of going back to my dorm, I headed to the advising office.
I needed to fix my Thomas problem. This was too much. I didn’t trust myself around him–my body wanted to do things that my mind knew damn well I shouldn’t.
The secretary behind the information desk looked up as I opened the door. “Can I help you?”
I shifted the weight of my bag on my shoulder. “I need to change my schedule.”
A redheaded woman making copies behind the secretary frowned. Everything about this woman was excessive, from her big, teased hair, to her heavy makeup. “There’s not a whole lot of open classes left, but we’ll have a look,” she said, picking up her copies and signaling for me to follow her.
She led us down the hall and into her office. After she’d gotten my name and pulled up my schedule on her computer, she asked, “What do you need to change?”
“I want to get out of my sociology class.”
She clicked her mouse. “What do you want to change it to?”
“Anything that counts towards my humanities credit. Maybe philosophy or psychology?”
“You want to keep the same time? The eleven o’clock block on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays?”
I nodded. “If I can.”
Her long, glossy red fingernails clicked on the keyboard as she typed. “Unfortunately… there’s no availability in the psychology or philosophy classes during that time.”