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I let my hands fall against my sides with a slap. “And my mouth isn’t one of them, huh, Stripes?” I scoffed, wishing I hadn’t come here. I was reaching maximum capacity of frustration. “I should go.”
“Just a few days ago, you were saying you’d wait for me if I asked. What happened to that?”
My brow furrowed into a frown. “I didn’t hear you ask.”
She took a step closer. “Maybe I’m asking.”
Reaching out, I gathered the hem of her The Shins tee around my fist and pulled her so we were toe to toe. “Say it, Tali.”
She laid a tentative hand on my chest. “Wait for me, Jude.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
She drew in a sharp breath. “Okay?”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll wait if you’re at the end of it.”
“Just let me get through finals, and then…”
I waited for her to say what she wanted from me.
Squaring her shoulders, her chocolate eyes met mine and held steady. “And then, I want to explore why I always feel like this around you.”
I licked my suddenly dry lips. “Like what?”
Her fingers curled into my shirt, and she rose on her toes to brush her lips against my rigid jaw. “Like I might have known you before. Like I’ve known you forever.”
Goddamnif I didn’t feel the exact same way. That day in the elevator, something I still didn’t understand had entered my chest and spread its warmth in my veins. Anoh-shit-I-know-youfeeling. Also, anoh-shit-I’m-in-troublefeeling.
“You gonna let me touch you, Tals?”
She nodded. “Everywhere.”
“Shit,” I gritted. I hadn’t known until that very second it was possible to become rock hard from one single word. But here I was, erection ready to pop out of the top of my jeans, hoping like hell she’d miss the bulge in my pants. I’d just gotten the girl to agree totrywith me, I didn’t want to creep her out with my hair-trigger dick.
Her fingers loosened on my shirt. Her exhale was warm on my neck. “But not today. I was in the middle of studying for my English lit class. My sadist of a professor is giving a test worth twenty percent of our grade tomorrow, even though finals are in two weeks.”
There was no part of me that wanted to leave this room, whether I was touching Tali or not.
“Think I could hang out? I could quiz you or whatever.”
She chewed her bottom lip, and took her time replying. “All right. But I’ll warn you, Student Tali can be intense. You might run screaming.”
I sat on her bed while she took her desk chair, propping her bare feet on the footboard. She handed me flashcards she’d made, and I quizzed her for over an hour. It was no surprise she knew the material backward and forward.
Shewasintense—intensely focused, intensely smart, and intensely adorable. Each question she got right, she’d pump her fist in the air or cheer for herself.
Tali was smart in a way I’d never be. Smart like Ben. They were the kind of people who could read a book and really absorb the information. My sieve of a brain would retain half, if I was lucky. I wasn’t stupid, I just wasn’t made for book learning.
I’d probably remember every single answer she gave today, though. She madeTristan and Isoldesound like a soap opera instead of twelfth century literature.
When I got to the end of the cards, I tossed them aside, and laid back on her bed, patting the spot next to me. She promptly picked them up and stacked them neatly on her desk.
“Come here, Stripes.”
She checked the clock on her computer. “Five minutes.”
“I don’t negotiate with terrorists. Get over here.”
