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"Nope.”
"Are you a psychiatrist?"
"Not that either."
"Okay then. So, you believe I need to loosen up," I used my voice for emphasis, rather than air quotes, mainly because my hands trembled at the sheer audacity of this asshole, "because..."
"Because you’ve got a stick up your ass."
I looked at him, blinked a few times, closed my mouth and strode forward.
His steps grew longer than mine, and he kept up with annoying ease.
"You know, if I had friends, I would've bet someone to see how fast I could make Chloe Duke pissy. Would have been fun.” He shrugged like that comment out of the wings wasn’t so far fetched at all.
That gave me pause, and I stopped to stare at him again. "You don't have any friends?"
He laughed, a deep sound I was drawn to, regardless of how annoying the boy in sandals beside me was.
I twitched, my nails cutting into my palms.I don’t have time for this."What's funny?"
"Because I have friends. You really really do need to get that removed. Maybe surgically."
"As long as you're not offering." I said under my breath.
He raised both hands in defence, facing me. "No way in hell then."
My lips fought me to form a smile, so I pursed them instead. I couldn't let this jerk know I thought he was funny. I couldn’t.
"That was nearly a smile. Right?" He fist pumped, and I laughed.
Shit.
"You're really annoying.” I turned in a circle, staring at the insides of the quadrangle I didn't recognise. "Where the hell are we?"
"Potty mouth at all." He shook his head woefully and gave my puppy eyes.Freaking puppy eyes.Could he get any cuter? "Your class is up those stairs, third door on the right. I'm across the hall for the next two hours. How about we meet up for breakfast? You can pick what you eat. I'll have beer and you can tell me all the things you don't know about what we’re supposed to be learning and we’ll figure out where to go from there. Alright?"
I stared at him. "You're having beer for breakfast?"
He strangled his satchel strap again. "Sure am.”
"You're having warm beer for breakfast," I clarified.
He rolled his eyes. "’Course not. The bag’s insulated. I created a little refrigerator chip. It's been extremely handy to get through classes and tests. Can't wait to get the fuck out of this place and away from my family."
Well, he just got a whole lot more interesting.
I didn't bother to try and stop the smile that finally spread across my face. "Alright. You have my attention. After class, we can have beer for br... morning tea."
He smirked. "See? No surgical removal required."
He strode away, taking the stairs three at a time on long, loping legs with admirable balance, and a lightweight step that would have made Felix a pretty shade of orange tinged chartreuse with envy.
"Wait," I called out. "I don't even know your name!"
"Nick Jessop," he called back, his name, echoing weirdly around the concrete stairwell. One of the few utilitarian fixtures of Rippton's usually ostentatious campus.
I was still grinning, bemused, but I followed his directions and wandered up the stairs in his wake, trying to work out if I usually came into the building another way.
