“Hey, we’re all set,” Noah says from across the room, “so we’re going to check out a few other scenes. We’ll be back in ten.” The soft thud of the door closing would be impossible to miss.
Dimly lit room? Check. Lying down? Check. Hot girl touching me? Check. Completely alone? Check.
Paige’s fingers lightly trace a line down my sternum. My mouth goes dry. My heart starts to speed up. This is so not good.
“You know how a cadet won’t lie?” I say, watching her.
“Yeah.”
“Well, I’m finding you especially hot right now.” If I lay it out there, she’ll surely say something to knock my hormones back down to where they belong.
“What?” she asks, her eyes going wide.
“This nerdy thing you’ve got going on,” I say, waving my hand in front of her, “is a good look. But I get it. There’s Jernigan. Your dad. Your carefully crafted twenty-year plan or whatever it is. So no kissing tonight. No matter how badly you want it,” I whisper.
“You think I want to kiss you?”
“I was trying to be funny.”
“Oh.”
“Do you want to kiss me?” I ask, goading her into the mood-ending comment I know she has in her.
She bites her lip and stares at the makeup on my chest for a few moments. Then, slowly, her eyes rise to meet mine and she nods. One small, barely perceptible nod.
“Seriously?”
Another minuscule nod.
Un-freaking-believable. She was supposed to bring me back to reality, not hike up the hormones even higher.
“My eyes?” I ask, my heart now racing like I’m on my fourth lap around the track.
She smiles, and some of the tension seems to leave her shoulders. “Yeah. Your lips are nice, too. And now that you’re not nearly as disrespectful, I’m rather fond of your personality. Oh, and your musical talent.”
I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Are we seriously admitting we like each other right now? In the middle of our physics classroom while in full costume?
“Did you choose me over Jernigan or mad scientist over headless horseman?” I ask.
“What do you think?”
“Me.”
She nods again, this one normal-sized. “I like spending time with you,” she says with a shrug, seemingly becoming more and more comfortable with this topic. It’s like we’re talking about our favorite colors, not our budding romantic interest in each other, despite way too many obstacles. “You’re different than others here.”
“I like spending time with you, too,” I admit. She’s standing next to the table and those kissable lips of hers are only a few feet away. If I push myself up they’ll be reachable.
“So,” I say, leaning to my left as I ease myself into a sitting position. “Jernigan’s not going to find out if I kiss you tonight, is he?”
Her face goes slack. Apparently talking about liking each other was okay, but actually doing something two people who like each other would do is not? Or she’s thinking of one of the other many, many obstacles I’d be okay with ignoring for the next few minutes.
Reaching for her face, I run my thumb down her jaw. Her skin is soft and smooth and only makes me want to kiss her even more.
She swallows and gently takes my hand in hers. With a squeeze, she says, “No, we can’t.”
I mean to take a breath, but it comes out like a sigh. “Right. Your future. Jernigan. Your dad. The whole balance of the universe.”
“No. I mean, yes with my future. But also it’s against the rules. No PDA on campus.”
Oh yeah. I did hear about that. It seemed like a moot point back then because I had a girlfriend and, really, who would I want to kiss at Wallingford? Certainly not my pain-in-the-ass mentor.
“So no kiss tonight?” I say.
“No.”
“What if I get off-campus privileges?”
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry. I was serious. I have too much else to focus on right now. I mean, my CFA is in four days. If I don’t do well, and there’s a good chance I might not, I can say goodbye to all my dreams. I’m not risking it for a guy. I’m sorry.”
“Then why did you even tell me you liked me?” I groan. She should’ve shot me down at the start of this conversation like I thought she would. Instead, she got my hopes up only to shoot me down for a stupid reason, not because she isn’t interested.
“A cadet doesn’t lie,” she deadpans.
“I could seriously use this to my advantage,” I mutter. I wonder what kind of embarrassing things I could get her to admit to?
Before I can ask a question, there’s a quiet knock on the door and then Noah and Eddie enter the room, laughing about something. By the wink Noah gives me, I’m sure he assumes Paige and I made more of our ten minutes than we did. Still, it was a nice thing for him to do. And I gotta say, he is quickly rivaling Gordy in friendship status after only five weeks. Although, when you live with someone practically 24/7, things seem to move faster than out in the real world.
“Our room is by far the best,” Eddie proclaims. He passes by my table and adds, “Except for your makeup, dude. It’s like only halfway done. Noah, he needs help stat.”
Noah gets me fixed up and then brings out old-fashioned sausage chains he got from the butcher. We arrange them around my belly and Eddie’s like guts. Then it’s showtime.
It takes us a few groups to finally get into a routine of Paige pretending to tear into me with a giant machete and then me springing up at the end with a scream that sends the viewers jumping back and rushing away from the doorway. The more times we do it, the more liberties I take. By the end, my springing up also involves grabbing Paige’s hand and hauling her toward the door with me to really scare the onlookers.
It probably violates Wallingford’s PDA rule, but hey, it’s Halloween. Isn’t that what Halloween is about? Wear and do inappropriate things under the guise of the holiday?
Tomorrow we can get back to the tedious cadet routine and pretend we never admitted we like each other.
CHAPTER 19
PAIGE
The bugle sounds, and I finally hop out of bed. I’ve been awake for three hours, too nervous to sleep. It’s Thursday morning, and after reveille, classes, and PT, it will be time for my CFA. I’ve only gotten under the goal for the shuttle run twice: once when I was angry at Logan and once again yesterday. I hate going into something without 100 percent confidence, but I have no choice. My dad won’t let me put this off any longer.
While I’m grabbing my bathroom caddy from the closet, Leah says, “Hey, you got a note.”
“What?” I ask, sticking my head back out.
“This was on the floor near the door.” She’s holding a folded piece of white paper with my name scrawled on it in blue ink.
I take it from her and unfold it.
Paige,
Good luck today. I know you’ll do great. And, if not, there’s always community college. Or I’m sure you’d make a great flight attendant. It’s a little more work than piloting a plane, but at least you’d have more space to move around. Plus, you’d get to wear those short skirts. See, lots of benefits, so don’t stress about it too much. I’ll be cheering you on from the stands. Blow me a kiss or something.