Jonathan blinked as if he were coming out of deep water, and said, “Oh, I do both springboard and platform.”
Woozie gave me a big-eyed stare. “It’s awfully warm in here. Why don’t we all get our coats and go outside?”
Tray waved a hand. “Rand and I have to be somewhere. Have fun, yo.” And just like that, they disappeared into the crowd.
Woozie said, “Funny. Me too. Mindy, you take Bubba and Sean out for some fresh air, okay?” She gave Mindy everything but a big wink and then ran like a rabbit. Mindy picked up the cues with inter-girl radar and slid her arms through both Jonathan and Sean’s. Come on, you guys.” She glanced back. “You too, Hercules.”
Neither of the guys protested, which was pretty surprising, and amazingly, it turned out that Patty was some master of logistics and managed to find all four of our coats in seconds. We were outside in record time—breathing fresh air.
After a second’s uncomfortable silence, Jonathan said, “Want to get something to eat? I’ve got my car.”
Mindy shook her head. “I can’t. I need to be back at my house in half an hour.” She looked at me and kind of blinked a few times. “Will you walk me, Bubba?”
I glanced at Sean whose eyes were wide, and my heart jumped, but I swallowed and said, “Sure.”
Jonathan glanced at Sean. “Are you hungry? We could grab something, if you want.”
Sean stared at me. For a second, he seemed angry or betrayed or something. Hell, wasn’t this what he wanted? To be alone with a good-looking guy? Wasn’t that his freaking goal? Then his chin lifted, he gave Jonathan a smile, and said, “Yes, I’m very hungry. I’d love to get something to eat.” He didn’t even look back as he walked away.
When they disappeared around the hedge, Mindy said, “Your friend’s a funny guy.”
“Yeah, I guess he is. He makes me laugh a lot.”
“What did you mean he’s your client?”
“I train him. You know, like at the gym. And I’m teaching him how to play flag football.” I pointed. “Your house is that way, right?”
“Yes. My curfew’s not quite as strict as I made it out to be. Woozie told me you were trying to fix up your friend, so I thought I’d give him and Jonathan an excuse to be alone.” She looked up at me and smiled. “Us too.”
I smiled back. Mindy was a cute girl. She played on the women’s lacrosse team and had one of those cute, athletic bodies that some girls got, with small boobs and good legs. The fact that she wanted to be alone with me should have had my heart racing like a GM 409 V8 engine, but I couldn’t quite get my brain off of Sean. I felt like I deserted him. I heard myself saying, “Actually, I need to be back at my house pretty soon anyway, but I’d love to walk you home.”
There might have been a flash of disappointment on her face, but she gripped my hand tighter and made fun chatter as we walked slowly back to the Phi Mu house.
“You’re so big and strong. I bet you could lift me like I was nothing!” she cooed.
“Um. I could lift you, sure.”
Still holding my hand, she moved my arm around her shoulder and leaned into me. “It’s so cold out here!”
I left my arm there. I didn’t want to insult her, but I wasn’t so dense I didn’t recognize that she wanted to make out. Hell, I wouldn’t mind making out with Mindy. She was pretty and kind of hot, but sometimes I got tired of how the girls liked my body and wanted to fuck, but when I asked them to a dance or a party, they had somebody else they wanted to go with. A lot of the time, I didn’t even get a real date. Just a hookup. I’d heard the girls thought I wasn’t that bright. I guess they were embarrassed to be seen with me for reals.
I blurted out, “I wonder if Sean and Jonathan will be able to talk to each other?”
She laughed. “Sean seems to like to lecture.”
“Yeah, he’s really smart. I guess not everyone appreciates that.”
“Hopefully, when we’re not staring at them, they’ll find something in common.”
We were almost to Phi Mu when Mindy burst out, “I’d love to see you sometime.”
“Uh, yeah, that’d be great. Give me your number.”
She held out her hand, and I put my phone in it. She keyed in some digits and then hit send. With a grin, she handed the phone back. “I sent your number to me too.” She reached up and gave me a long and really sweet kiss. Then she giggled and said, “You know. Just in case you forget.”
I watched her walk into her house and sighed. Jeez, the fact was, all I’d have had to do was show a little more interest, and I could be on my way to bed with Mindy Rappaport, right then. Or at least a good solid make-out session. I turned and started toward ALA.
Hell, I’d been complaining about how much I needed to get laid. Why didn’t I do it?
I sighed again and shrugged my coat tighter around my neck. I didn’t show more interest in sex with Mindy because I was too freaking worried about how much sex Sean might be having that very minute with the first guy of his life.
Jonathan didn’t seem all that interested in Sean. Like, he’d probably have sex with Sean just to get off and then leave. Sean deserved better, especially for his first time.
Why the hell am I thinking about this? Okay, because Sean was my client. And when you have a client, you want to see them reach their goals in a satisfying way, and not in a disappointing way. And that was totally natural. Right? Right.
Chapter Nine
Sean
“The Weimar Republic was, in fact, a constitutional government. Hence the Weimar Constitution, which was signed on August 11, 1919 and contained 181 articles. Since you’re writing a paper on the subject, you might benefit from googling that.”
Jonathan looked up at me with surprise, menu open in his hand. “How do you know that? I thought you were studying genetics. You’re not, like, into Nazis, are you?”
I chuckled. “No. You don’t have to be a fascist to know German history. I know a lot of history from Quiz Bowl. I’m on the SMT Quiz Bowl team—or I was before I had to drop it to play flag football.”
Perhaps, I thought uncharitably, Jonathan should consider taking Quiz Bowl up as a hobby since, despite being a history major, he didn’t know his Weimar Republic from a warthog.
“Wow, that’s… special.” He went back to the menu, eyes wide. From his tone, he didn’t think that was special at all. But I held my tongue.
The waitress appeared. Jonathan smiled tightly and said, “Just a cup of coffee.” He handed her the menu.
I’d been planning to order a burger but thought better of it. Perhaps Jonathan’s order of a coffee was a signal he wanted this to end quickly? So instead, I went for a milkshake. This was already feeling awkward, but that was hardly new for me. I was determined to forge ahead.
While we waited for the drinks, I studied Jonathan. He was handsome, though a bit… slick, perhaps? He wore a leather jacket in maroon, had perfect skin and coiffed dark hair. A diamond stud glittered in one ear. He came off as rather fussy. I decided I preferred the more natural, easygoing sort. Someone comfortable in sweats. Jonathan also wasn’t meeting my gaze or speaking, and I was beginning to wonder if challenging him on his paper had been a mistake.