“Uh...yeah,” I said, watching him situate himself. “I guess there are some lab experiment questions, so it’s this afternoon instead of next hour when I actually have class. I don’t know if the few extra hours to wait are going to give me more time to study or more time to freak out.”
Worry filled his gaze as he paused from getting prepared for class to look at me. “I have a free period at eleven if you need a last-minute cram session.”
Oh, dear God. I didn’t have a class then, either. But even as my brain told me to say I did, my mouth blurted, “I have a free period then too.”
He straightened as if surprised by that, but then he smiled. “Cool. You want to meet up at the library or some place? I could quiz you.”
No. No, I didn’t want to meet at the library, because actually, secretly, I really did want to meet up—anywhere—with him. But I knew I shouldn’t.
My mouth worked faster than my brain, though. “Okay,” I said. “That would be great.”
I have no idea why I asked Zoey to meet me in the library. Alone. I was an idiot, that’s probably why. I was tempted to text Cora and see if she wanted to meet us there too, cut down on the alone-factor, but I didn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t do that either. Or maybe I did know why.
Cora was not a library type of girl, and if I asked her to join us, and she said no—which she would—then I’d have to explain why I really needed her there, and then she’d know my hormones were unfaithful little turds who’d been responding to another woman aside from her.
I should’ve just not asked Zoey at all, but I had really liked helping her study the other week. It had been easy and relaxing and...I really liked her. It made me wonder if we could be friends after all. I knew a lot of girls who were pretty and I was never worried about my attraction to them. So why had I been so leery about my fascination with her? I could totally do this.
Yeah, I was that sure of myself...until I walked into the library and saw her sitting at a table with an opened textbook in front of her. A wall full of windows was letting the sun in, and the way the light hit her almost made her glow. As if sensing my presence, she looked up, and yeah, I knew exactly why I shouldn’t be her friend.
This was no mere attraction. What I suffered from was total, debilitating awareness. Every freaking inch of me tuned in to her. Her green eyes had my stomach churning. Her smile made my mouth go dry. The way her perfect fingers lifted to push a long piece of hair out of her face had my jeans suddenly tighter.