She laughs. “If this turns out to be some joke at my expense—”
“I’d never,” I say, cutting her off from that train of thought. “Cross my heart.” I run my finger over my chest, literally crossing my heart.
Her head tilts to the side, her teeth biting at her bottom lip, which does something agonizing to me, as she considers this. “Deal. One date. What time?”
I clap my hands together. “I’ll pick you up at eight. Oh—” I reach into my pocket and pull out my phone. “Your number.” I glance up to witness her pinched brows. The cute little line between them. I want to run my thumb down it, smooth away the frown. “I may need to call you at some point.”
With a resigned nod, she brings out her own phone. “What’s yours?” She punches in the numbers as I recite them off. Then my phone beeps with a text message.
I smile down at the message on the screen: A new number for your little black book.
As I look up at her, the urge to touch her barrels through me with alarming force. I distract my hands by slipping my phone in my pocket, pulling my gaze away from her. I take note of Gavin and Laney watching me. Haley and Vanessa standing near the vending machines, sneaking glances our way. Actually, we’ve captured most of the lunchroom’s attention.
And I’m not the only one who notices. Ari’s shoulders tense as she peeks up from her phone. She doesn’t like the attention, and I can’t say that I blame her. I’ve learned to deal with it, ignore it, for the most part. But this girl, who I’ve come to understand is pretty shy, probably can’t brush it off as easily.
“Hey,” I say, and she flinches, as if she forgot I was here. “It’s me, not you.”
She looks at me. “What?”
Subtly, I nod toward the room over her shoulder. “They’re all watching me. Not you, okay? So just ignore them.” Then, because I can’t stand it one second longer, I reach out under the table to lay my hand on her knee, squeeze reassuringly.
The delicate column of her throat bobs. “I don’t like attention.”
“I know.” I keep my hand on her for as long as she allows me. “It’s not like this everywhere. They’re just nosy bastards.”
This draws a throaty laugh from her. My guts unclench. I didn’t even realize how tense I was until this second. Worried she’d change her mind—that the QB status shit already scared her off.
“I can do that,” she says. “Ignore it. I mean, it’s the same thing in my family. My father gets a lot of attention, and I’ve learned to shrink into the background.” She shrugs.
Hell no. That’s not what I want, either. For this woman to be some wallflower around me. This sudden knowledge, an insight into her world, grips me with acute force. “Don’t do that,” I say.
Her eyebrows rise.
“Don’t downplay yourself for anyone.”
Her gaze holds mine, unblinking, amber eyes intense. And I want to say more—to tell her something else to make her keep looking at me like this. Like I’m someone to her. It’s so intense, and happens so quickly, a trickle of fear skates down my spine.
I cough to clear my throat, effectively breaking the moment between us. I’m a coward.
“Tonight. Eight,” I say.
“Right.” She nods. “You better go. I think Vee and Haley are sick of standing around.”
I give her a wink before I take off toward my own table. I’ve missed lunch, which my stomach will punish me for later, but it’s a small price to pay for getting the girl of my daily torment to alleviate my suffering.
I give Gavin a quick wave as I pass by. “I’m heading to class early. Have makeup work.”
“Dude!” He’s on his feet. “That’s wrong, man. I want details later. Did you talk to her about the—” He stops short and looks around. “The underwear shit?” he hisses in my direction.
I chuckle, just giving him another wave. “Later.”
I hear his loud, annoyed groan as I breeze past. A full smile breaks across my face.
I promised the guys that I’d have a “word” with Ari. Offering her their apologies and in return getting her to drop her attack. It’s not that they’re afraid of a girl—though I don’t doubt some of them are—but rather they understand that I’ll make them follow through with whatever punishment she dishes out.
But I don’t feel like assuaging Gavin’s panic at the moment. I’ve had writer’s block for the past c
ouple of weeks, Professor Collins telling me to “dig deeper” and write through the block. Find something that resonates.