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“Do not go there. Seriously, this”—I waved my hands between us—“this tutoring thing is unpalatable enough. ”
He clapped a hand to his chest. “I’m not to be palated? Harsh. ”
“Palated? Not a word, Harvard boy. ” I put my hands on my hips, fighting a smile. “I swear, you are asking for it. If you can’t even speak English, what could possibly be this arcane German knowledge you possess that I don’t?”
“Easy, easy. ” He reached down to grab his messenger bag and slung it over his shoulder. “Look, my father worked for one of the big pharmaceuticals, and we were based in Germany for a while. I know you speak the language, but some of the business etiquette is…different. When to be formal, when not—stuff like that. ”
My stomach growled, and I put a fist to it. “Jeez, will nothing cooperate?”
Josh gave me a funny look, trying not to laugh. “Does that mean Acari Drew is actually human? Because I’d been under the impression you were some rare breed of supergenius wunderkind. ”
“Shut up. I haven’t been to the dining hall. ”
“Since dinner?”
I paused a moment, then confessed, “Since lunch yesterday. ”
A look of understanding dawned on his face. “Oh, that. ”
“Were you there?” I lost my appetite just thinking about it. Masha wasn’t done with me yet. And I needed to eat sometime.
“No, just heard about it. ” He chucked my chin. “But I’d have come to your aid. ”
I laughed, more cynical than amused. “Sure you would have. Real knight in shining armor, right?”
“I might be. ” He waggled his eyebrows. “How would you know when you never try me?”
“I tried last semester, but Lilac blocked the view. ”
He barked out a laugh, then said in a teasingly somber tone, “All is not what it seems. Maybe I was actually secretly pining for you. ”
I felt my cheeks flush red—I was so not used to guys talking to me this way. “Flirty banter is not what I signed up for. ”
He leaned down to whisper in my ear, “You think I’m flirty?”
I flinched away. “Is this part of the German instruction?”
“No, but lunch is. ” He put his hands on my shoulders, turning me down the hall. “You can’t learn if you’re hungry. ”
Grudgingly, I fell into step with him. “Yeah, like you actually have something to teach me. ”
“Look, don’t take this out on me. You’re hungry, and you’ve got to go back to the dining hall sometime. Come on. I’ll walk with you. ”
Willing to stand by my side in public? It was more than Yasuo had done yesterday.
I began to waffle. My traitorous stomach growled again as if it wanted a vote.
He steered me toward the exit. “We’ll talk on the way—no vampires, no Lilac. And if we walk, and we talk, and we get there, and if you don’t hate me by the end of it, I’ll tell you some things to read. You can give it a go, and if you want, we’ll meet next week to talk more. Easy, right?”
I stopped at the door. I really was starving. “Okay. I don’t know. Maybe. ”
“Maybe yes, or maybe no?”
“Maybe yeah. ” I nodded reluctantly. “I guess so. ”
“You don’t have to look so happy about it. ” He held the door open for me. “I promise I won’t bite. Yet. ” He flashed a wide grin, and I realized what I’d thought were a couple of regular teeth were actually halfway-grown-in fangs.
I looked away quickly, as if I’d accidentally walked in on him in the bathroom or something. “You’ve got…teeth. ”
