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“Why are you with him?”
I shrugged. “I’m not. We’re just see—”
“You’re just seeing each other. I know,” he interrupted. “Why? Is it because he’s rich?”
Was it? I thought about how charming Dallas was the first time I’d met him, and how much fun we’d had on our first few dates. I dropped my hands onto the armrests with a half shrug. “I like him.”
“He calls you stupid nicknames, and he’s not exactly the brightest. Come on.” He looked at me, suddenly serious. “You can do better.”
I scoffed, and without another word, Drake stood up and walked away. It suddenly felt colder in the chairs, and the small breeze caused goose bumps to rise on my skin. I groaned, rubbing my hands along my arms for warmth.
You can do better.
Chapter fourteen
Amanda
“Is someone sitting here?”
Before I could answer, Kyle pulled the chair back from the table and dropped into it. He smiled at me, setting his lunch on the table and brushing his shaggy brown hair back. When he pulled himself closer to the table, dragging the chair across the cheap tile floor, the scraping sound echoed. It was like nails on a chalkboard, and I cringed when it caused a shiver to run down my spine.
“Nobody,” I said anyway, taking another bite of my turkey sandwich. I had hoped it would stay that way. I was enjoying the silence, and eating lunch with someone that wasn’t in the class and that I didn’t know very well didn’t sound appealing.
He laughed, nodding and glancing down. “That looks good.”
I looked at the half-eaten sandwich and untouched apple on the table. There wasn’t anything special about it. Was he being sarcastic? Usually I could read sarcasm better than that. I liked to consider it a second language, but with Kyle I just couldn’t tell.
“Thank you.” I hesitated to pick up the sandwich for another bite, reaching for my water bottle instead.
Kyle made himself comfortable, unpacking his lunch next to me before he sat back and crossed one leg over the other. “You know, I just gotta say, Amanda… you impress me.”
I stared at him until his smile dropped, reminding me I’d never been one to be good at hiding my facial expressions. I relaxed my raised eyebrow and unwrinkled my nose, hoping a soft smile would make up for the look that clearly said, “What the fuck?”
“Why?” I finally asked. I took another bite of the sandwich even though I was no longer hungry. I needed something to do with my hands that wasn’t just wringing them together.
Kyle dropped his leg to the ground, making a louder-than-expected thunk and causing me to jump back. “A lot of reasons,” he said, leaning forward. “You are more driven than most of these other almost interns, and you think outside the box. I like that about you.”
When he scooted his chair closer to mine, I considered backing away. I braced my legs against the ground, prepared to move. “Thank you. I should actually probably—”
“No, wait, hold on,” he interrupted. Before I could get up from the table and leave, Kyle put his hand on my thigh. His grip wrapped around my leg, and when he squeezed, I jerked it away. He just looked at me. “Sorry to be forward.”
Forward?
We both looked at his hand hovering over my leg for a brief second before he chuckled and cleared his throat. “Can I try this again?” When I didn’t answer, he continued. “I’d like to take you to dinner sometime. Maybe tomorrow evening?”
I shook my head. “I’m seeing somebody.” I was relieved thinking about Dallas. I bit back the urge to apologize for the rejection and started to gather my unfinished lunch.
“So?” Kyle put his hand across the back of my chair, looking briefly behind him before he leaned in. I tensed up when he was close enough that I could smell the stale coffee on his breath. “You can’t blame a man for trying. When it’s a hot property, you always have to put an offer in.”
He chuckled at his joke while I gaped at him. A hot property? “Um, what?” It didn’t feel like a compliment.
“I’m just saying, you could give me a chance.” He licked his lips, smacking them together with a quick pop. “I could probably rock your world better than that boyfriend of yours. Come on.”
“No, really. I’m not interested.” I stood up when he closed his hand and reopened it. I didn’t want him to touch me again.
Kyle opened his mouth to argue, but before he could say anything, Drake turned the corner. “She said no,” he said, stopping in the doorway and crossing his arms over his chest. He looked intimidating, and nervous butterflies rampaged in my stomach.
“Come on, man.” Kyle turned towards Drake, nodding back towards me as if I weren’t in the room. “I was in the middle of something here.”
