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“Anything after this?” he asked as I stood. I still had to take my time and not rocket to my feet.
“No,” I said, checking my phone. My head was still sore, and I had a checkup the following day. “I don’t think so.” I scanned the list. “We have a make-up test Saturday morning at the testing center—two tests.” Jonas, like me, had missed three full days of class, and he hadn’t returned until I did.
“We can study tomorrow evening,” he said. “If you need it.”
“What about you? Are you ready?” I smoothed down my jacket and made sure I had the umbrella before I followed him toward the hall.
Jonas shrugged. “Mostly. It’s not that hard.”
I hid a smile because he wasn’t being arrogant at all. He meant it exactly how he said it. The work wasn’t hard, nor was the material.
“Good, when I want to double check stuff, you’ll be my guy.”
A hint of a smile touched his lips while he waited for me to set the pace. I’d definitely been doing better, though it had taken forever to get the headache to go away. Running was still not a hot idea. I’d made the mistake of pushing it.
I’d puked five minutes later and ended up missing three morning classes because of the blinding headache. So, now, baby steps were the name of the game. Jonas acting as escort helped a lot.
No one collided with me. I didn’t have to balance my bag on the stairs. If I needed to take my time, I did. Whether I was going up or down the stairs, he was right in front of or behind me to keep me from falling.
“Want to grab food on the way back?” He waited until we were downstairs to ask. The rainy days had turned frigid again, and the snow blanketed the campus. It was kind of picture perfect.
“We can order food when we get to the room.” I didn’t really want to go to the dining hall. It was so loud there, and Jonas never relaxed when we were there. “Don’t ask what I want,” I continued, hiding a smile as he frowned. “I don’t know yet.”
Though the desire to have a nap was strong.
“Jonas?” A girl I didn’t recognize called to him as we stepped outside. There was still a steady flow of students leaving the academic building.
He paused in front of me to stare at her. I had to bite the inside of my lip as he didn’t respond verbally to her, at all. But she had snagged his attention.
Poor thing looked so nervous, I thought she might faint. Sympathy swelled inside as she darted a look at me then back to Jonas. “The Fire and Ice Dance—”
“No.” He didn’t wait for her to finish or say anything else, just cut her off before motioning to let me know it was okay to keep moving.
Her entire expression fell, and her cheeks flushed deep pink. “I already asked him,” I told her, taking the heat for his rejection.
“Oh,” she said, then winced. “Sorry, I didn’t mean…”
“Nothing to be sorry about, he is pretty cute.” Which was an understatement. Hot Shot had always been good looking, even when I thought he was a dick.
She laughed, but her blush deepened and she hurried off. Turning to Jonas, I found him staring at me now. Only instead of the blank look, he seemed—puzzled.
It wasn’t until we were walking again that he said, “Why did you tell her that?”
“Because she was embarrassed,” I said. “It didn’t hurt me to say I’d asked.”
“Because I’m cute?” His mystified tone endeared him even more.
“No, though you are definitely easy on the eyes.” Then, because he still looked confused, I said, “Can I hold your arm?”
It was as much to stay steady on my feet as to narrow the distance. He offered his arm immediately, and I tucked my hand against his elbow. Closer, I could talk without worrying about someone following us, hearing me so clearly.
“It’s hard to ask someone out. Even harder to do it in front of someoneelseand then have the person you were asking out tell you no.”
He seemed to turn that over in his head. “Do you want to go to the dance?”
The slight pivot on subject caught me flat-footed. “I don’t know,” I admitted. The latest riddle quest was sending me to it, and I’d kind of thought about it before…
“You got the hidden invitation.” It wasn’t a question. Did that mean…? “Yes,” was all he said by way of confirmation.
