Noah snorted before tensing and sucking in a breath. I winced in sympathy. He took a few shallow breaths before readjusting the wad of towels.
“You didn’t beat me up.” Noah gently prodded at the side of his nose. He sent me a teasing look. “And don’t start spreading that around campus. I have a reputation to uphold.”
I rolled my eyes at his chaffing tone and scooted a little closer until my knee rested against his leg. “And what reputation is that?”
Noah offered me an unimpressed glance, before his eyes gleamed mischievously. “One that’s a step up from Hello Kitty enthusiast, don’t you think?”
My ears burned at the reminder, and I feared even my future grandchildren would feel the embarrassment of that blunder.
“Not cool, Noah. Not cool.” I scowled. “I told you it was laundry day.”
“No, don’t be embarrassed. I’m glad you wore that underwear,” Noah said as he managed a small smile, voice turning nasal as he swapped which hand was holding the paper towels. His free hand found my knee, cupping it gently as I nibbled on my lower lip. “Otherwise, I may have never gotten to know you better.”
More like I never would’ve headbutted him in the face.
I rolled my eyes again and huffed out a breath in disbelief. “You mean the only reason you agreed to that coffee was because you saw my butt? You’re not winning yourself any points here, buddy.”
Noah’s eyebrow rose in challenge, and he took a slow breath before explaining. “First of all, I didn’t really see much, so no, that isn’t why. Not that you shouldn’t be proud of your body, because you have every reason to be.”
I must’ve made a sound of surprise, but Noah didn’t stop there.
“I was having a rough morning. Work issues,” Noah continued, and his thumb moved against my knee. I didn’t dare move. “Then you wiped out on that pavement, showing a good number of the student body your underwear, and I thought there was no way I was having a worse day than you were. So, I agreed to a coffee, because I didn’t want to be the reason for your day to get even worse.”
I swallowed, realizing how close I’d come to not getting to know this guy outside of sharing two classes together. I never would’ve thought my cartoon-covered backside would be the catalyst to whatever the world had in store for us. “I take back what I said. You’re a pretty cool guy.”
He squeezed my knee, the smile remaining firm as he regarded me. “I can’t say I’ve ever been referred to as cool before.”
“Well, you are.” I cleared my throat and gently pulled my knee out of his grip. “Although I think the loss of blood is making you a little light-headed, because your tongue is looser than usual.”
“It’s probably because I’m trying not to focus on the pain,” Noah said lightly. The skin around his eyes tightened, and I winced.
“Oh, right. Of course. Let me get you some pain meds or something,” I said as I slid off the bed and shuffled through my desk drawers until I hunted down my first aid kit.
Well, it was more of a small bin with a ginormous bottle of pain pills and a few Band-Aids, but it got the job done.
I made sure to angle the bin away from Noah’s curious eyes as I popped open the bottle of pills. I would never live it down if he saw my Hello Kitty–themed Band-Aids.
Shaking out two pills onto my palm, I made the executive decision to add a third one. Surely a headbutted nose was a good reason to take an extra pill, and I didn’t want Noah to feel even the smallest ounce of pain.
“Here, you should take a few of these,” I said as I popped the lid back into place and stuffed the bin under my desk before handing the pills to Noah. He accepted them without a fuss, and I headed for the door. “I’ll go grab a cup of water.”
“No need,” Noah said, and I turned with a frown—just in time to see him toss all three pills into his mouth and swallow them dry. As if this were a normal activity for him. As if he hadn’t just dry-swallowed three giant horse pills that seemed capable of blocking an entire river on their worst day.
I blinked in horrified amazement, realizing that I had no clue who Noah Kincaid truly was. Everything up until now felt like an illusion.
“Are you a unicorn or something?” I asked bluntly, curious what other vital secrets he’d been hiding from me.
“Pardon?” Noah frowned. I cautiously inched closer to the bed.
“You just swallowed those pills dry,” I said, as if he wasn’t aware of what he’d just done. “Without water or anything. You didn’t even choke or gag or pray to a higher power for divine intervention.”
I was growing increasingly used to Noah’s blank stare when I said something that threw him off. It was very similar to his look of exasperation. Luckily, I found both incredibly endearing or I would’ve been insulted.
“Could you tear off another paper towel, please, Emma?” Noah asked, noticeably overlooking my mystification at his impressive swallowing abilities. I couldn’t even swallowairwithout choking sometimes.
“Of course.” I tugged off another square from the roll and handed it over. Noah leaned across the bed and tossed the soiled paper towels into the waste bin under my desk.
“Here.” I stepped forward, moving about some of my pillows and guiding him to lean against them. “Get more comfortable, please.”
