“Not when you’re the quarterback of the Panthers. Every time I turn around there’s someone who thinks they know better than coach, giving me advice on what I should do in the next game or what I should’ve done better in the last one.”
“People approach you about football in the library?”
“All the time. The library is full of self-righteous dicks who have something to say about every play I make.”
“But you're Freak Jennings and they’re all irrelevant, so who cares what they have to say,” Kia comments.
“I don’t care, but it still sucks.”
“Okay, so where do you propose we meet?” I ask. “Like I said, there is a study suite downstairs if you want to go there.”
“The one with all those glass walls so that everyone who walks by can see us?”
“Well… yeah.”
“I think the point of the glass is, so no one steals the computers,” Kia adds.
“Not going to work. I was thinking,” he looks around my dorm room. “We could study here. You’ve got a desk and your room is private. No one would know that I’m here unless Kia says something, and I can tell she’s not a snitch.”
Kia looks at me and then back at him. “Oh, of course not. My lips are sealed and I’ve got a ton of stuff to do on campus today anyway, so the room is yours for as long as you need it.”
“Wait–” I try stopping her.
I’m not sure that I want to be left alone in a small room with Freak. While I’m still crushing on Aaron hard, which is the whole point of this arrangement, I feel like my body isn’t cooperating with the plan. It gets all carnival-like in my stomach whenever Freak cracks a damn joke.
But Kia doesn’t get the hint. She stuffs her backpack with her laptop, grabs her water bottle and a jacket and practically flies out of the room.
“It was nice seeing you again, Freak. Go Panthers!”
“Same here, Scorpio, and I owe you one.”
She grins from ear to ear as she sashays out of the door, making sure to give Freak a nice view of her perfect butt in her expensive Lululemon leggings.
I almost want to call after her that leggings aren’t pants so Freak will stop staring at it, but I stop myself when I realize that’s something my Nana used to say.
Get a grip, Willow.
After Kia leaves, there’s an awkward silence between Freak and I. He’s staring quietly at me and I’m trying to talk my vagina off of the ledge. Suddenly, she’s warm, wet and really happy that I’m alone with a hot guy in a small room.
I jump back on my bed to create some distance between us. Praying that will help.
I’ve got a one man only vagina.
And she wants Aaron.
Not Freak.
Not now and not ever.
Willow
“Have a seat at my desk,” I instruct fiendishly, knowing there’s no way on earth he can fit those thunder thighs under my desktop. “Did you bring a notebook with you?”
“Just my laptop.” He pulls out a sleek Apple computer out of his backpack that makes my clunky laptop look practically prehistoric. “I didn’t think people used pen and paper anymore, so I didn’t bring any.”
“And I don’t think someone that needs my help to pass a writing class that was a prerequisite should crack jokes.”
“Ooh, that one hurt, Teach. You should really learn how to take a joke. Aaron likes ‘em when they laugh at his.”
