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Oh yeah.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
“You should be, since it’s your fault,” she said, though she sounded like she was ribbing me more than she was upset with me. “Anyway, you do know he’s a grade-A hunk of – ”
“Man-meat, yes, got it.”
“Okay. Just checkin’ that your brain still works.” She paused and cocked her head to one side. “That might be your problem, though.”
“What?”
“Your brain. That’s all you ever think with. You should try thinking once in awhile with another part of your body. And by ‘another part of your body’ I mean – ”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” I said snarkily. “That’s your specialty, not mine.”
She shook her head as she walked out the door. “You should try it sometime. Why pass up a chance at something amazing for something you don’t really want?”
I frowned and turned around. “What do you mean, something I don’t really – ”
But she was already gone.
When she got back from the showers, I didn’t ask again.
I didn’t want to hear the answer… because, deep down, I was afraid she was right.
44
Kevin texted at 1AM. Considering stops to refuel, go to the bathroom, and grab food, he’d made pretty good time.
Got in safe.
Good, I texted back. Okay drive?
Terrible… but I had good memories to help me.
I smiled and texted back a smiley face.
Shanna asleep?
Yes, I texted, even though it wasn’t true. She was up cramming for a test the next morning, music blaring through her earbuds.
Okay… go to bed.
Already there.
Thinking of me? he asked with a winking smiley face.
Of course, I texted back, with another winking smiley.
Did I wake you?
I lied again.
I was dozing, waiting for your text.
I didn’t want to tell him that I’d been lying in bed for the last three hours, hoping to hear a knock on the door.
Okay, go to sleep, he answered..
You too.
I love you.
Love you too.
That was it for the texts, though I still couldn’t sleep for another hour.
The knock on the door never came.
45
Not until Monday evening, that is.
I was studying and glancing at my cell phone every ten minutes when I heard the sharp rap rap rap on the wood.
I fairly bounded up out of my chair and flung open the door.
There he was, gorgeous and grinning at me.
My heart thudded in my chest.
He looked past me theatrically, as though searching the room. “Sooooo, I came to see Shanna again – ”
“You don’t have to pretend, he left yesterday morning.”
“Oh, no, I actually came to see Shanna,” he said earnestly. “I figured I’d take her up on that ‘rock my world’ offer.”
My mouth dropped open and I stared at him like he’d just admitted he liked eating fried puppies.
He broke down at that point, and staggered backwards as he pointed and laughed at me. “Oh my God, that was priceless – you should see your face – I wish I had a picture of that – ”
“YOU ASSHOLE!” I shouted, then started laughing along with him. It was impossible not to.
He tried to keep the joke going with a straight face, but failed badly. “Hey – Shanna’s single, I’m single – I figure, ‘why not?’”
“Well, you’re out of luck, ASSHOLE, because she’s not here,” I said, half-pissed-off, half-grinning.
“Oh, well… I guess you’ll do, then,” he said, wiping a tear from his eye.
“Really.”
“Yeah. I’m starving – you wanna get something to eat with me?”
I knew I shouldn’t. I knew I really, really shouldn’t.
“Yes.”
46
I drove us downtown in my car, and we decided on Five Guys Burgers. It was pretty crowded inside – lots of students studying for exams, or pretending to, anyway. A lot of them were talking, so it was pretty loud.
I started to order dine-in when we got to the cashier, but Derek stopped me. “It’s pretty noisy in here… can we take it to go?”
“Yeah, sure,” I said. “If you let me pay.”
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I thought we were supposed to go Dutch.”
“I’ve seen where you live. It’s a pity date, on me,” I teased him.
“Oh, well, if you’re going to emasculate me entirely, by all means, I want a double burger with the works,” he grinned.
That’s how we ended up eating takeout across the street, in a deserted faculty parking lot, sitting on the trunk of my car.
We bantered a bit and chatted about how great Five Guys was… and then finally he said, “So… did you have a good weekend?”
