Nope.
He could flirt with all the girls he wanted to. Especially pretty ones with hair the color of lucky pennies and legs that made mine look like stumps.
I glanced down at the daunting redFon my quiz, and my stomach somersaulted in protest. Trying to force down the growing panic, I gripped my coffee like a lifeline and chugged it back.
Bad idea.
Coffee sprayed forward, sideways, and vertically as I got the traitorous cup as far away as possible from my horrified mouth.
That wasnotmy coffee.
“Holy mother of crap!”
“Miss Fox.” Professor Slade’s commanding tone cut through the quiet chatter of the room as the students around me leaned away from the shower. I blanched, scraping tongue against teeth to try to limit the scalding damage to my delicate taste buds. “I ask that you refrain from distracting my class, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”
My face burned hotter than the coffee in my hand, and I shot up from the chair as if my butt was on a fire just as scalding.
Leaving my bag and supplies where they were—sacrifices had to be made—I mumbled an excuse about accidentally grabbing the wrong cup from the coffee cart and needing to return it before flying out the door.
I dunked Noah’s cup into the first wastebasket I could find, and my feet kept walking straight ahead of their own accord.
Down the stairs, through the lobby, out the door, and onto the grass in the quad.
I collapsed next to one of the oak trees students enjoyed eating lunch underneath and curled up into a ball of regret on the dew-covered blades.
I was ready for the ground to swallow me whole if it felt so inclined.
* * *
What felt like ages later but was probably an hour tops, I lay sprawled across the grass and impatiently waited for a much-needed epiphany.
The one that would say Noah was a stuck-up jerk whoA, had made no attempt to be nice to me, andB, didn’t find any of my humor actually humorous.
Which begged the question, why was I trying so hard? What was so special about some guy in my Music Theory class? Was Noah really that attractive?
Yes.
Hands down, he was handsome. There was no denying my level of attraction toward the guy, even if it felt like I was receiving a painfully-slow-thawing cold front in return.
But was it worth the stick seemingly shoved up his slacks-wearing butt?
…Maybe.
“Why do I do this to myself?” I asked under my breath, sliding my arms back and forth across the ground, as if I were making a grass angel instead of just getting grass stains on my clothes. I closed my eyes to the cruel world and mentally relived my coffee catastrophe from upstairs over and over. “He’s just a guy. Who cares if he loaned me his pen or made me laugh that one time? If he wants to ride off into the sunset with another girl who touched his pen, more power to him. I’m fine. I wish them and their future piano genius babies the best—”
The clearing of a throat interrupted my quiet ramblings, and I froze mid-angel-making.
I glanced up to let whoever it was know that I wasn’t giving up my prime spot on the quad’s grass just so they could play Ultimate Frisbee with their frat bros or make out under the tree like adorable little lovebirds while I was destined to be a decrepit old spinster.
My lips froze when I saw Noah Kincaid watching me expectantly from the sidewalk, standing a mere few feet away from my pity party.
Holding two to-go cups of coffee.
Not frowning.
He wasn’t smiling either. But still, not frowning. A girl had to take her victories where she could.
“Mind if I join you?” Noah asked with a nod toward the ground.
