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He raised an eyebrow. “I said I expect a show when I get back.”
“That’s so not fair.”
I crossed my arms and stared him down. Ian met the challenge, his arms stretched across the back of the couch cushions, his eyes narrowed.
“Fine,” I muttered, breaking under his intense gaze. I moved to sit down again, but he shook his head.
“No, stand up and play for me. Like a real rocker chick.”
I shot him a glare, which he returned with a grin. He held the guitar out and I snatched it from him but went to stand in front of the TV, his amused smile making me blush. All I needed was for him to tell me I look cute. If he said that, I was going to hit him with the guitar instead.
Carefully I put the strap over my shoulder and adjusted it to fit my height. Then I practiced squeezing the chords a few times. When I glanced up at Ian he was watching me, that smile still on his lips.
“Any time, sweetheart.”
Taking a deep breath, I began to play. Luckily my hair shielded him from witnessing my embarrassment as I plucked at the strings. I hadn’t practiced standing up so it took me a moment to get my bearings, but soon I was into the music and could hear Kurt Cobain singing in my head. I even had to bite my lip to stop myself from singing along. No one needed to hear that.
Ian clapped loudly when I finished. “You’re a natural. You looked hot too.”
Blushing, I hastily sat down again, shoving the guitar at him. “Now your turn. Out with it.”
He shrugged, his tone growing more serious. “It went okay. Well, I shouldn’t make it sound that easy. At first he was pissed. Said I should have known better not to get involved with you.” Ian paused to swallow. “He’d heard about what happened with Vanessa and thought this was the same thing.”
I’d forgotten all about Vanessa. I bit my lip and looked down guiltily.
“So it took me a while to calm him down and convince him this is different. Basically he wanted to know how serious we are and if there’s a chance I’ll break it off during the school year.”
I stopped breathing and continued to look at my fingers. I was dying to know what he’d responded.
“Hey.” Ian put a finger under my chin and tilted my head up to look at him. “Are you actually afraid I might have said yes?”
“No,” I lied.
He gave me a disapproving look but continued. “Once he knew how into you I am, or maybe that I wasn’t going to back down, he had no problem with it. Said it’s shitty luck you live in one of my buildings but that he doesn’t want me to resign. Too bad—I’d envisioned renting an apartment and moving you in to have sex with me 24/7.”
I snorted. “You would envision that.”
“Careful. Yo
u don’t want to anger me right now. You’re still recovering from the last time you did that.”
I shifted on the couch. “Maybe we should get out of here.” The energy in the room was starting to feel dangerously charged, and he was right. I couldn’t take another round with him today.
“Relax.” He grinned and pulled me into his side. “Let's just watch a movie before we have to leave for our afternoon classes. No studying, no talking, just us.”
I exhaled and nodded. That sounded like heaven.
***
But we didn’t end up returning to class. Ian, in all his selflessness, insisted I was still recovering and needed time to just veg. And I was too burnt out from my weekend of studying to argue. So instead we watched a movie then went to the cafeteria for a very late lunch. It was our first outing since we became a couple and we didn’t exactly try to hide our relationship, but we didn’t make a big show of it either, much to Ian’s frustration. He tried to grab my hand a few times only to have me snatch it away. He glowered the entire wait in the food line and still didn’t thaw when we sat by the window to eat our burgers.
“I just want to tell my friends first,” I explained. “They’ll be upset if they hear it from someone else.”
“Then we’re telling them tonight.” He gave me a stern look.
“Definitely.”
“And I’ll come with you,” he pressed.
