I left the house at one-fifteen, which gave me more than enough time to drive to campus, find a parking spot near the library, and meander around the library’s lobby, wondering why the hell I felt so anxious about this meeting.
We were just meeting to discuss our class project. This wasn’t a real date. Like, come on, Mason. Man up.
It was a quarter till two when a soft voice spoke behind me, nearly making me leap out of my skin, “You’re here early.”
I spun, turning to view Bree, who’d just walked in through the doors, a cool gust of wind following behind her. Today she wore no beanie, her pink hair a bit kinky and wavier than I remembered it being. Her green eyes were on me, though when I met her stare, she quickly looked to the floor. She wore leggings, along with a super long sweater that covered the small curve of her ass.
Not that I, uh, looked.
Much.
“So are you?” I didn’t know why, but it came out like a question, and if I could’ve smacked myself for sounding so stupid, I would’ve. What was wrong with me? It wasn’t like Bree was the first girl I’d ever talked to in my life. I was cooler than this.
Wasn’t I?
Her lips flickered with a tiny smile, but that small thing did not stay. “Where do you want to go?”
“Uh, third floor.” AKA the computer lab section of the library. It was where you could work on the computers, or at big tables, and be as loud as you wanted, unlike most sections of this ten-story library.
Yeah, ten stories. It had a lot of books, and a lot of scholarly-article sections. Blech. Boring. But I knew Bree and I would be forced to use some of those scholarly journals for our project. Not only did we have to come up with a hypothesis for our experiment, but we also had to write a whole paper on it and use articles to back our thoughts up.
Basically, we couldn’t pull this entire thing out of our asses.
I let Bree go up the stairs first, and my gaze dropped to her backside. I really had to stop thinking about asses, otherwise I might give her the wrong idea. Don’t get me wrong—her ass was something to stare at, but it wasn’t like I wanted her to know I was ogling it like I’d never seen the curve of a girl’s ass before.
The library wasn’t as full of students on the weekend as it was during the week. I tried to spend the least amount of time here possible any time I had to use any of its facilities; the library was not my favorite place to be. I’d much rather be at home, or even at work. Literally almost anywhere else, but I supposed that wasn’t saying much.
Needless to say, we had our pick of the tables, pretty much. We chose a table near the windows. Through its clear glass, we could see campus, sprawling outside, its sidewalks mainly empty, just as the library was. During the week, the sidewalks were practically body to body, full of students hustling to class and professors jogging between buildings. And then, of course, there were the locals, the ones who lived a few streets away and took to walking their dogs on campus. There was even a guy who rode his bike on the sidewalks, jamming out through speakers whatever strange music he was listening to. He was featured in the college newspaper so much, you’d think he was a student here.
I sat in a seat across from Bree, the rest of the table beside us empty. I noticed she wore no purse, only her backpack, the same bag she took to class. Should I have brought mine? I didn’t bring anything besides myself. I’d thought today was simply about deciding what we would do our project on, not, you know, actually start working on it.
Bree bit her bottom lip, a gesture that instantly drew my eyes. She wasn’t pretty in the typical way; I wasn’t even sure how to describe it, but somehow she drew me in regardless. “Do you have any ideas?”
I leaned forward on the table, folding my hands across one another as I held her stare. “What? No small talk?” I grinned. “What did you do last night? Go to any parties? Have some fun? I had to work, so it wasn’t like I was staring at my phone all night waiting to hear from you.”
Hmm. I always ran my mouth before thinking. Perhaps that wasn’t something to joke about. She might think I was serious, that I really did stare at my phone, waiting for her to text. That was closer to the truth of what I did today, not yesterday, but she didn’t need to know that.
It was crazy, but I never realized how lame I was.
When she only stared at me, looking at me like I’d sprouted a third eye right in the middle of my forehead, I said, “Come on. Humor me. Tell the inquiring minds what Bree does on her Friday nights.” Personally, I thought I sounded charming, confident. Was that her type?
Hah, I was everyone’s type.
Well, maybe not everyone’s, but—
To my surprise, Bree actually spoke, telling me what she did last night: “My sister dragged me out of the house on a double date with her boyfriend’s brother.” She spoke it as her eyes fell to her hands in her lap, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say her cheeks were a bit pinker than they were before.
A date? I did not like hearing that. Was someone else moving in before I even had the chance? No fair.
Oh, well. This wasn’t going to make me give up. No, if anything, it would only make me try harder.
I repeated, “A date. Don’t keep me waiting in suspense. How did it go?” My not-so-sly way of asking if she was going to see him again. Was it wrong to hope the date went horribly so that I could have the chance to give her a real date? Probably, but did that stop my mind from going there anyway? No, no it did not.
Bree’s thin shoulders shrugged, and she reached up to tuck some of her pink hair behind an ear. Normally she hid behind those pink tendrils, but when they were tucked behind her ears, her face was visible to any and all—and what a face it was. She really was pretty, and I bet she had no idea how pretty she was.
“Not so good,” she muttered, frowning to herself as she recalled the date.
I caught myself smiling, but then realized how much of an ass it might make me look, so I quickly hid the smile. She wasn’t my territory, but I did feel a few pangs of jealousy when I imagined her on a date with another guy. “I’m sorry to hear that.” No, I was not, but again, I wanted to be sympathetic.
If anyone was going to take her on a date and show her a good time, it was me.
She didn’t know that, though, and at this point, I had no idea how the hell I was going to pull it off. She didn’t seem eager to talk to me, or even eager to meet with me for this project. Hmm. I supposed I could give her some time to get used to my amazing presence, and then I could bombard her with asking her on a date.
Bree shrugged again, this time meeting my eyes. “I knew it was going to be bad. I’m not…I don’t do dates.”
That got me to chuckle. She’d said it so seriously, and yet I had to ask, “What do you mean?” The longer we spent not talking about our project, the more time I’d be able to spend with her. I’d consider that a win.
“I just don’t. I don’t do dates, I don’t do boyfriends. I don’t go to parties or hang out with friends.” Bree’s voice quieted, and her green gaze once again fell to her lap. “I’m really boring, Mason.” She spoke it like she was telling me a deep-seated secret, something no one else in the world knew.
I let myself revel in the way my name sounded on her tongue for a few moments, then I said, “I don’t think you’re boring.”