“I’ve always been smart. I hide it under tiaras and superhero costumes.”
“Unca Lin!” Jude’s held out a purple teacup on a mint green saucer. “Eat!”
“You mean drink.” He smiled and stepped forward to accept the offering but she snatched it away with a giggle at the last second. Her ice blue eyes twinkled with mischief behind her dark curls. Linc had never known the child’s mother, but she was every bit of Russ to look at.
“Scamp!” Linc ruffled her hair, and she giggled again. “Maybe you’re right, R. Maybe Cleo thinks I’m ashamed to be seen with her or something, and she’s preempting that by fleeing. I mean based on theoneclass we had together yesterday, I think you might be onto something.”
“You know what you gotta do, right?”
Linc groaned, throwing a palm over his face.
“You gotta Lloyd Dobler that chick.” At what must have been Linc’s confused face, Russell continued. “Oh man, we gotta watchSay Anything. You really have no idea what I’m talking about? Iconic grand gesture. Dude, a boombox blasting some Peter Gabriel... You’ll prove your point in no time.”
“Cleo isn’t a grand gesture kinda gal. I think if I did that, she’d not only plot my murder, but she’d go right out and kill me. Are you trying to get me dead, man?”
Russ chuckled and handed his cup back to Jude who pretended to refill it. “Then whatareyou going to do?”
Shrugging, Linc slid onto the floor to work out some tension in his muscles with some stretches. Maybe he could work out the tension in his brain at the same time.
“You have class again this afternoon, don’t you?”
“Yeah, maybe I need to take her on a real date. She’ll see I’m not afraid of who sees us together and hopefully that’ll help.”
“Sounds like a plan. Where are you going to take her?”
“Dude, I’ve done the hard work of realizing I need to take her on a date. Don’t tell me I gotta work out where we’re going, too?”
Russ rolled his eyes. “’Fraid so, bro!”
Groaning, Linc slumped onto his back. “Fuck.”
***
Linc walked into class with butterflies warring in his stomach. Nerves weren’t something he often suffered with, but when it came to Cleo, everything was different. What if Russ was wrong and she didn’t want to be seen in public with him?
As he approached her in the classroom, her neutral face shifted to a scowl. “Lose your way, Lincoln?” Her voice might have been cool, but there was fire in her eyes.
“Not at all, Cleo. I don’t think a guy can be blamed for wanting to sit next to his girlfriend.” Ignoring a small gasp a few rows back, he slipped into the seat next to Cleo, leaned over and pecked her cheek, hovering for just a moment longer than he needed to. “Let me take you out.” He kept his voice low.
“People will see.”
“I don’t care who sees. Are you ashamed of being seen with me?”
Something he couldn’t identify flashed in her hazel eyes. “What? No. Of course not. I just—”
“Then you have no reason to say no to a date. A real, in person date.”
She opened her mouth to protest, but he covered her lips with his index finger, and gestured to the teacher clearing her throat to begin the lesson. “You can argue with me later, Lizzy, but for right now, learn all the things.”
A smile teased her lips as she turned her attention to the teacher.
He spent the entire class fighting the urge to reach out and touch her. He wanted to tuck the stray lock of hair behind her ear and run his finger along her neck and collarbone.
He had no idea what the teacher said, he was too busy being bewitched by the beautiful woman sitting next to him. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she chewed on the end of her pen, and he’d never known anyone to have such perfectly organized, color coordinated notes, and index cards.
Once.
She looked at him once throughout the entire class, and her pale cheeks flamed when she caught him staring.
