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“Sure, if you’re alright with that.”
* * *
My stomach feltlike it was in knots as we left the cafe. This was my stupid idea and I was seriously regretting it. Not only did I invite a guy I barely knew to my apartment, I completely forgot that my apartment was a tribute to all things nerdy. The embarrassment would never end once he realized just how out of his league I am.
“Um, before we go…”
He was standing by the passenger door, getting ready to open it. I could change my mind, suggest going somewhere else instead. But I was really curious about him and playing games might take some of the tension away. I hesitated.
“What’s your name?”
I watched the surprise cross his face before he blushed. He blushed!
“Sorry, I skipped that part, didn’t I?” He walked up to me, holding out his hand as he fought a grin. “My name is James. Nice to meet you.”
I gave him a shy smile, shaking his hand. “Elizabeth. Nice to meet you too.”
My knee was bouncing the entire drive to my place, my voice shaking as I gave him directions. Since I didn’t own a car, he could park in my space in the lot without having to fight to find street parking. My apartment was in a pretty popular neighborhood for college kids so parking was a pain.
He turned off the SUV and sat unmoving for a minute. I almost didn’t notice until I went to open my door and he leaned over me, closing it again.
“Hold on a second.”
I sucked in a breath as his body brushed against mine. Only when he was back in his own seat did I breathe again. He watched me, a frown on his face.
“Are you sure? You seem really nervous and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable.”
He was observant. I took a deep breath, fidgeting with my fingers. Gathering all the courage I could muster, I turned to face him.
“So… I’m really awkward. It takes me a minute to warm up to people and even longer until I’m completely comfortable. I’ve never invited a guy over before and I’m a little nervous but…” I didn’t know how to finish that sentence. I glanced away, grimacing.
At first he didn’t say anything. The tension was almost unbearable. Suddenly, he leaned forward, cupping the back of my head and captured my lips. My eyes flew to his, stunned. It was quick, his lips lightly pressing against mine before he pulled away.
“Wha–”
He grinned lightly. “I thought it might ease the tension a little. You looked like you were ready to run away.”
He was still leaning over the center console, his hand on the back of my head, keeping me close. I could feel his warm breath against my lips. His eyes searched mine before dropping to my mouth again. Butterflies exploded in my stomach. Was he going to kiss me again?
Nope. He released me, leaning back. I thought about leaning over and kissing him back but I didn’t have the nerve for that. Instead, I watched him exit the car and come around the front, opening my door for me. I slid out of the car and immediately slipped on the ice. James went to catch me and ended up slipping himself. We both ended up crashing onto the ground. I thought I would have hurt myself but James twisted at the last second and I landed on top of him instead.
“Shit. Are you okay?” He went to try and hoist us up and ended up falling again. I couldn’t help myself, I burst out laughing. His shocked expression melted into a grin and he ended up joining me, chuckling. We both managed to sit up but the ice was proving to be difficult and the fact that I couldn’t stop laughing certainly wasn’t helping. Eventually, James used the open door of the SUV to haul himself to his feet and reached his hand out to me. I took it, still snickering, and almost toppled us both again when he pulled too hard and I crashed against him.
“Damn, you don’t weigh anything.” His massive arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me against him as he carefully closed the door and edged his way to the sidewalk.
We ended up walking through the snow to get to my building. The sidewalk was too icy and the landlord had yet to deal with it. If he ever did. He was getting older and struggled with maintaining the building. I feel bad for him sometimes. With all the college kids, I’m sure he’s pretty busy. I stomped the snow off my boots at the front and walked up the stairs to the third floor. I was lucky my student loan was more than I needed because I couldn’t afford this place without the supplemental income. Especially because I live alone. It’s not a huge apartment, a small one bedroom, but in this neighborhood it was like finding gold. James stood behind me, his hands shoved into his pockets again.
I sucked in a breath and pushed open the door, grimacing.
“Welcome to nerd haven.”
ChapterThree
The apartment itself was simple.Living room and kitchen combined into one big space, separated by a small island. Down the hall, the bathroom was off to one side and the bedroom on the other. I liked to keep things tidy but because of the amount of stuff I had, there was a lot of clutter. Years of collecting figurines and gaming merch led to a bit of an overflow. I planned on downgrading soon, selling a lot of it so I had plenty of pocket money if I got accepted into the study abroad program.
Along the wall of the living room was a large entertainment center that my dad built me. It housed more manga and video games than one person should probably own. Since nerd stuff was the only thing I ever asked for when people asked me what I wanted for my birthday or Christmas, there was literally nothing in my apartment that was plain. Even the toaster was Star Wars themed because why not?
I normally wasn’t embarrassed about it but now that James was standing in my living room, I felt awkward. I kept waiting for him to start teasing me about it but he just hung his coat up on the hook by the door and looked at me expectantly. I jumped, rushing to hang my coat.
