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“Olivia talks about it a lot. Says it’s the hot spot most nights.”
“Yes, I remember the wonders of Waffle House. Best between the hours of ten at night and four in the morning.” She laughed and shifted in her seat, waiting for her food container. “Your waffle, my lady.”
“Such a gentleman.” She set the food on her lap and tried to balance the fork and knife, but it ended up dropping when she moved to grab a napkin. She tried again, but the same thing happened when she moved the slightest bit. “Ugh. This is ridiculous.”
“Don’t let the plasticware defeat you,” I joked as I struggled with my own utensils.
She glared at me out of the side of her eye before sighing dramatically. “Listen, if you want, we can just eat at my place. It’s close by.”
I hope the dim lights in the car hid my shock, but I didn’t think twice about accepting her offer. Being alone with her tonight was more than I thought I’d get. “Yes.”
She pinched her lips and looked down trying to hide her reaction but laughed at my fast answer. “Just don’t expect anything fancy. I’m just a poor college girl.”
I’d kept my expectations low, and while the location wasn’t the greatest, her apartment was clean and had enough decorations to keep it from looking bare. Which wasn’t hard to do considering the space was so limited. To call it an apartment was a stretch.
Either way, it was nice. Organized. And I got to watch her no matter where she moved in the small space. She took my coat and hung it on the coat rack and suggested we eat on her couch at her coffee table.
“A coffee table is cheaper than an actual dining room table,” she explained. “And I never expected to have a dinner party to worry about.”
“I’d hardly call me and Waffle House a dinner party.” I laughed.
“It’s dinner and you’re company. I think it’s as close to a dinner party as I’ll ever get.”
“Fair enough.”
She bounced the cushion when she sat down beside me. It was more of a love seat, but it matched the chair sitting catty-corner, and I took it as a good thing that she shared the couch with me rather than sitting by herself.
“How are classes?”
We needed to talk, but we’d somehow pushed aside the tension, and I wanted to enjoy it for now.
“Okay,” she answered around a big bite of waffle. I had to fight from leaning forward to lick the syrup sitting on the corner of her lips. Then I’d trail my lips down her neck across her exposed shoulder.
The girl had to own stock in oversized sweaters. Not that I blamed her, she looked gorgeous in them.
“Although, one class, there was this test,” she said, pulling my attention back. “It was unfairly brutal. The teacher’s a complete asshole to make a test that hard.”
“I remember exams like that. They always took me down a peg.”
“Right? I mean, who the heck expects us to know every constellation?”
I almost choked on my bite of waffle when I realized she was talking about me. Looking up in shock, I was met with shining eyes and lips pressed together to stop from smiling.
“Hardy-har-har. You’re hilarious,” I deadpanned after I managed to swallow. “Which one tripped you up the most? The Big Dipper or the little one?”
“Definitely the little one,” she said, all serious. “How little? A lot little? Or is it really big and called little. Like Little John.”
“That’s a good question. You should become a physics major and discover it. I’m sure it hasn’t been discovered before.”
She tossed her head back and laughed, sucking the air right from my lungs. Fuck, she was beautiful.
“I miss eating lunch with you. My work-study just hasn’t been the same the past two weeks.”
“Me too. Your sense of humor definitely gets me through the afternoon.”
A silence fell between us letting me know our time for avoiding the real topic was up.
“Why are you here, Dr. Pierce?” I winced at her return to using my professor name. “You’ve shown repeatedly that you don’t want me. So, what is this?”
A laugh rumbled up my throat. “God, Oaklyn. I do want you.”
Her eyebrows raised expectantly, waiting for an explanation.
My heart hammered in my chest as I thought of my options. Cut it off here and leave. Let it go. Try and stutter through a half truth and hope it satisfied her need to understand.
My eyes traced the skin of her shoulder, remembering how it felt beneath my fingertips. My mind flashed with memories of how she tasted. The sight of Reed and Karen before me, his hand on her stomach hit me. The way I imagined Oaklyn when I tried to see my future.
She filled me with a hope that maybe there was more past my fear. She made me believe, and I needed to try. I could do this. I could do this with her.
