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“Oh.” She laughed. “I still had one general ed course to take, and so I picked that one.”
“Lucky me.” I was trying to be charming, which was really my best Jack impression.
“Are you flirting with me?”
“I’m damn well trying. I don’t know if I’m very good at it, to be honest. I have a horrible teacher,” I said, referring to Jack.
“The worst.” She agreed quickly, but her cheeks turned pink. “But I like it,” she said. “The flirting, I mean. Not your brother.”
The buzzer went off in the kitchen, and I silently cursed it as Melissa hopped out of her chair and ran in the kitchen. I couldn’t figure this girl out, and I was too nervous to come out and ask.
“The brownies are done. Yeah!”
“Anyone ever tell you that you’re crazy?” I called out from the dining room as she buzzed around in the kitchen, moving from one side to the other like someone with wings.
“No.” She stopped flying. “Why, did you hear something?” Then she doubled over, laughing at her own joke before she pulled the brownies from the oven and set them on top.
I waited patiently for her to come back to the table, but when I glanced back at the kitchen area, she was nowhere to be seen.
“Melissa?” I shouted.
“I’m in the bathroom. I’ll be right out,” she called out, her muffled voice coming from somewhere else in the apartment.
At the sight of the pan of brownies on top of the oven, I seriously contemplated cutting myself a large piece, but thought better of it when I imagined how pissed off she’d be. Melissa was cute, but feisty, and I imagined that she probably had the temper of Tinker Bell. Everyone always loved that fairy, but I seemed to be the only one who remembered that she was mean.
Why the hell am I thinking about a cartoon fairy right now? And why the hell do I know so much about Tinker Bell?
I smacked the side of my head as Melissa reappeared, bearing gifts.
“Beating yourself up while I’ve been gone? It can’t be that bad.”
“Ha-ha.”
She placed a small plate in front of me with three perfectly cut brownie squares on top. “Be careful, they’re still hot.”
I didn’t listen as I shoved one into my mouth. “Shit,” I yelled around the molten lava now burning up the roof of my mouth, but too hot to chew or swallow.
“I told you they were hot,” she shouted before pointing at an unopened can of soda she’d set on the table in front of me.
Frantic, I leaned my head back and opened my mouth wide while I breathed quickly in and out, hoping to cool the bite off. When I finally took a chance on chewing, I was relieved to find it no longer felt like I was trying to eat something straight out of a volcano.
Melissa was grinning from ear to ear. “Now I know what I must have looked like when I had brain freeze earlier. That was pretty entertaining.”
We hunkered down for a while, going over notes for the test and quizzing each other. I tried to let her know that I was interested in her, but her reactions to me were always hit or miss. Sometimes she would reach over and touch me when she didn’t have to, and other times she kept her distance when I was certain she’d come close. I tried not to read too much into it, but I couldn’t help myself.
An hour and a half later, I said, “I’d better get g
oing. Thanks for helping me.” I pushed back from the table and stood up, stretching my arms out over my head.
“You didn’t need my help. You just wanted to come over,” she said playfully.
I leaned down and picked her up while I hugged her tight. When our heads pulled back slowly, our faces were so close that I could have kissed her if I’d had the nerve. She tensed slightly in my arms, and I allowed the moment to pass. The last thing I wanted was for her to be uncomfortable around me.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” I said lightly, not wanting to push her.
“Okay. Thanks again for the Slurpee and for hanging out tonight. I had fun.”
“Me too.”
