“Sorry,” I said, glancing around her room as she went to close the door. It was…a very boring room, honestly. Hardly any decorations, and only small watercolors hanging on the walls. No knickknacks, no collections of any kind. It was all very blah, really. She had a bed, which sat longways against a wall, a closet, a tall dresser, and a desk. That’s it.
“It’s okay,” Bree said, rubbing her arms as she stood before me. “You’re not the first to say that.” Her green eyes narrowed a bit, and she asked, “You didn’t bring your stuff?”
“My what?”
“Your stuff,” she repeated, “for the project we have to work on.”
Well, double shit. Totally forgot that was literally the entire reason I was here. This wasn’t a date. Come on, Mason. Stop being stupid.
“I, uh, forgot it, apparently,” I said, grinning—and feeling like an absolute idiot.
She gave me a strange look. “That’s okay, I have my stuff.” Bree went to her desk. Her bag sat on the floor beside it, and she fell to her knees as she unzipped it. It looked like it hadn’t been touched since she got out of class yesterday.
We ended up sitting across from each other on the floor. Her house had mainly hardwoods, but she had a large area rug covering most of it in her room. As she got out her notebook, I couldn’t help but watch her. Right now, I think we were at the stage where we were spitting out ideas about how to get a big subject pool for our questionnaire, but that wasn’t what was on my mind right now.
What was on my mind was Bree and her date last night. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. As I stared at her, my gaze dropped to her lips. Did they kiss? I didn’t like the thought of those lips touching someone else.
Why? That much was obvious. I wanted those lips to be mine.
I must’ve been staring too hard at her, for she said, “What?”
Blinking, I echoed, “What?” Man, if anyone was handing out awards for the stupidest response, I think I’d win today.
“You’re staring at me,” Bree whispered, her teeth nibbling her bottom lip. That little habit of her drove me nuts, because I wanted to bite that bottom lip, run my tongue over it, taste her and swallow her moans.
Okay, hold up. That was way too inappropriate right now. Get it together.
“No, I’m not,” I said, totally still staring at her—but at least now I wasn’t staring at her mouth. Now I gazed steadily into her eyes, their green hue reminiscent of how envious I was another guy had gone on a date with her. Twice, now.
Bree fiddled with the pen she’d gotten out a few moments ago. “You are,” she said.
“Maybe I am,” I admitted. “A little.” She lifted her eyebrows, which caused me to further say, “Okay, a lot.”
“Why?”
I shook my head. “No reason.”
“You’re still on it, aren’t you?” Bree knew me all too well. Apparently my desperation had seeped through those text messages last night after all. “My date with Calum.”
Calum. So that was his name? Hmm. Sounded like a stupid name, if I ever heard one.
“I am not—” I started to argue, but the look she gave me right then stopped me. Right. There was no use in trying to pretend something we both knew wasn’t true. Might as well own up to my lameness now, I suppose. “Fine, I totally am. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Why? You weren’t even there.”
“Hence my issue.”
Bree turned confused, her eyebrows coming together and her nose scrunching a bit. “You wanted to be there?”
Uh, a third wheel on her date with another guy? I didn’t think so. I said, “No, I mean, I want to be the one to take you out, not this Calum guy. Not that I know him, but he sounds like a jerk—”
“He was actually very nice last night,” she said, her words coming out quietly.
I could’ve sworn my eye twitched right then.
“You’re jealous,” she went on. “It would be easier for you if he was a jerk, wouldn’t it?” Bree set down her pen, fiddling with the sleeves on her sweater. “You shouldn’t be jealous, Mason. It isn’t like I’m his girlfriend.”
Ah, so the date didn’t go that well, huh? Good.
I knew I was a terrible person for thinking that, but I couldn’t help it. I just couldn’t help it.
“I’m not yours, either,” she added. “So I don’t understand why you feel so jealous.”
Emotions warred inside of me, waves of strong feelings I couldn’t deny. Was this girl really that oblivious, or was I that good at hiding how I really felt? Either way, I figured I should tell her, just to clear the air, to get it off my chest.
I opened my mouth, slowly saying, “Because, Bree, I like you.”
Her eyes widened somewhat, and it would seem I rendered her speechless with my declaration.
Resisting my urge to scoot closer to her, I said, “I like you. I’m jealous because I want to take you out and show you a good time. I want to see that smile of yours and hear that laugh.” I shrugged, as if I wasn’t confessing my deepest feelings to her right now. “If that makes you uncomfortable, I can see about talking to the professor to see if we can change partners—”
Trying not to scare her away was hard. A lot harder than I thought. She looked like she wanted to bolt, to run away and not look back.
But then her fright eased, and she dropped her gaze to her lap. When she said what she said next, my heart sped up in my chest: “I don’t want to work with anyone else. I only want to work with you.”
I felt myself smiling, unable to stop myself.
“Even though sometimes you’re a little much,” Bree whispered, glancing at me behind dark lashes, “I like listening to you talk. Last night your texts actually made me smile.”
My out of control jealousy made her smile? Well, it was totally worth it, then, wasn’t it?
“Wish I was there to see it,” I spoke, running my palms against my legs. Felt clammy, sweaty. Plus, I wanted to reach for her, bring her onto my lap, and feel those lips on mine. Bet they were soft.
“I was in bed.”
That made me think of other things, things which I shouldn’t think about right now, not while I was trying to act smooth.
Bree must’ve known where my mind went, for she quickly added, “I didn’t mean—I don’t—” She let out a soft sigh, running a hand through her pink hair and getting her fingers tangled in its lengths. “You make me confused, Mason.”
“A good kind of confused?” I questioned, leaning toward her in spite of myself. She just looked so small, too busy wrestling with whatever was in her head. I really just wanted to hold her. Would that be going too far, too fast?
“Is there a good kind of confused?”
I nodded. “There is.”
Her cheeks were pink and absolutely adorable. She appeared embarrassed to be having this conversation with me, but at this point, there was no going back. “We should…really get to work,” Bree whispered, never once breaking eye contact with me. She must’ve seen me leaning closer, but she did not make any moves to back herself away.
I probably shouldn’t do what I was about to do. It would probably only make things complicated, but I didn’t care. My body, my mind, every part of me craved this girl, and I had to show her that I wasn’t just some jealous boy who didn’t know how to handle himself around a girl he liked. I wanted to show her that I could be the smooth, confident guy that could take her out and show her the world.