“No, I haven’t!” She cringed, focusing over the cornstalks. “I mean, I haven’t been in a guy’s lap.”
A grin teased at my lips. “What about a girl’s lap?”
Her mouth dropped open. “What? No!”
I smiled broadly, picturing her in a girl’s lap and that wasn’t a bad image. Made even better when I pictured her in my lap, though. “I was joking, Avery.”
Her chin jutted out stubbornly. “I know, it’s just that . . .”
“What?” I poked her arm with the pen again. “You what?”
“I’ve never been in a relationship.”
Never? Never as in ever? No way.
Clutching her notebook, she glanced at me. “What? It’s not a big deal.”
I opened my mouth, said nothing. I blinked and then shook my head as I tipped my head back, staring at the sky. “You’ve never been in a relationship?”
“No.”
“Nothing?”
“That’s what no means.”
I had no idea what to say. “How old are you?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m nineteen.”
“And you haven’t been in a single relationship?”
“No. My parents . . . they were strict.” She swallowed. “I mean, really strict.”
“I can tell.” I tapped the pen on the notebook, beyond curious, like obsessively curious as to how someone as pretty as Avery made it this far without ever being in a relationship “So have you gone on a date or anything?”
A deep sigh emanated from her. “I thought we were supposed to be mapping stars?”
“We are.”
“No, we’re not. All I have is a scribbly line and you have nothing.”
“That scribbly line is between the Delta and Gamma.” I leaned over, connecting the dots. “Here is the Theta and this is the Alpha—brightest star. See, we are halfway done.”
She frowned, slowly shaking her head as she turned her gaze to the sky. While she was distracted, because I was done with the astronomy shit, I leaned in further, my shoulder pressing into hers as I finished the map, completing our homework assignment.
I turned my head. “Now we’re done mapping stars . . .” Our faces were inches apart, and I heard the soft inhale of breath. She didn’t move away, and my smile went up a notch. “See? That wasn’t hard.”
Avery’s gaze dropped, and I knew she wasn’t paying a damn bit of attention to what was coming out of my mouth even though she was staring at it. Not that I was complaining. She could stare at my mouth all she wanted.
Those thick lashes swept up and our gazes locked once more. A sudden, tangible pull spread out between us. Neither of us moved, and I wanted to. I wanted to pull her into my arms. Where the whole slowing down things went to I had no idea. She moved, visibly uncomfortable, and the good, decent part of me said to look away, to crack a joke and make her feel better, but I couldn’t resist the lure of her eyes. In the darkness, they were like black pools.
I forced myself to say something. “You think you learned anything about the stars?”
There was no response, which was probably a good thing, because that was lame. So I went to what I really wanted to know. “Have you ever been on a date?”