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He studies my smile and a muscle jumps in his cheek. “I’ll meet you at Valentino’s.”
“At Valentino’s.”
“If you’re more than five minutes late, I’m walking out of there.”
“But…” I pause, now thoroughly confused. “Are you sure Valentino’s? I mean, won’t it be like, noisy?”
Valentino’s a popular Italian restaurant and since it’s near campus, it’s always full of noisy, boisterous students. It’s such an odd choice to meet up for studying.
“It’s a restaurant,” he replies, his voice intense, as intense as his eyes. “So I’m guessing yes.”
“But then…” I shake my head. “How will you… How will we study?”
At this, he holds his silence longer. Probably because he’s sort of moving his jaw back and forth. As if contemplating something. Then, “We won’t be studying.”
I blink. “What?”
He sighs then, slowly but loudly, his chest expanding. I think he’s reached the conclusion of whatever he was contemplating before. Because he takes a step toward me, his body leaning over me slightly.
I watch his lips as he speaks. “We’ll have dinner.”
“D-dinner.”
“Yes,” he says in a raspy voice.
I lick my lips as I keep watching his. “I don’t understand.”
“You’ll give me whatever I want, yeah?” He pauses, then says, “This is what I want. In exchange for tutoring you.”
At this, I have to look up. I have to really pay attention to him, to what he’s saying. Because he can’t possibly be saying what he’s saying.
Right?
“You want to have dinner with me?” I ask, even more confused than before.
“Yeah.”
“But I thought… I thought you didn’t eat with students,” I say, picking the lamest thing to express when I could’ve said so many other things.
A slight frown appears between his brows at my words as if he’s just remembering that, his sacred rule of professionalism. Then his eyes drop to my lips and he murmurs, “Yeah, I thought so too.”
My lips feel tingly as I say, “I’m —”
He looks up and cuts me off. “And my name is not ‘hey’ or ‘excuse me.’”
My heart jumps in my chest. “What?”
“As you seemed to believe. Earlier.”
I frown, thinking about earlier, when I tried to get his attention. “Of course, I know. I know what your name is.”
“So what is it, then?”
“What?”
“My name.”
“Y-you want me to say your name?”
“Yeah.”
“This is ridiculous,” I say breathlessly, because I can’t seem to find any explanation as to why that sounds so sexy.
Him wanting me to say his name.
“Say it,” he commands in a low, very low voice.
“Atlas,” I blurt out.
His eyes gleam with satisfaction and his lips pull up in a very small and very lopsided smile. “Good. Remember that for tomorrow.”
Chapter Two
“Penny.”
A voice calls my name and I know I should respond, but my lips won’t open.
“Penny.”
My name again, but in a different, more freaked-out voice. I definitely, definitely should say something; I know I’m worrying people. Especially because today was such a big day for me and the people trying to get my attention know that.
But I can’t.
I can’t look away from the pale-yellow wall that I’m staring at.
But then a second later, my vision is filled with a pair of blue eyes. “Penny, hey. You okay? Talk to us.”
It’s my friend and roommate, Renn. In her usual fashion, she got impatient and got between me and the wall.
Which I’m really thankful for.
Because now my trance is broken, and I can respond. “Yeah. I’m okay.” Then, “I think.”
Renn’s concern increases. “What happened? Did he do something?”
“Should we call Ruth?” asks my other friend, Willow. “I think we should call Ruth.”
“Okay, I’m calling Ruth. And I’m telling her that this was a bad idea. As I’ve already expressed many times.”
That’s Violet, my third friend.
For someone who hasn’t had a lot of friends — never had the time for it because I was always busy studying, catching up to my family’s achievements and expectations and falling short — I sure have a lot of them now.
Well, I have three: Renn, Willow and Violet, and they’re not just the only friends I’ve ever had, they’re also the best friends I’ve ever had. Granted, I have no other comparison, but despite my very limited knowledge of friendships, I still think not many people enjoy the closeness that we have.
I look at Violet, who’s sitting on the coffee table with her cell phone clutched in her hands, ready to call my therapist, Ruth, and say, “It’s fine. I’m fine. Nothing happened. I mean… I don’t want to talk to Ruth about it. Not right now.”
Her brown eyes widen slightly. “So something did happen.”
Willow, who’s sitting right beside me on the couch, squeezes my shoulder. “What happened? Did he do something? I can’t imagine him doing something.”
Renn, who was on her knees in front of me, sits back on her heels and purses her lips. “Well, you never know with these stupid college guys. They can be immature assholes.”
