Megs’ eyes narrowed. “What conflict?”
Oscar leaned back in his seat as waiters and waitresses entered the room with plated salads. “Gideon texted and let me know there was something going on at work that wouldn’t allow him to get here by six. It was an easy adjustment, and I think it worked better for everyone to do it later.”
Megs turned her head. It was possible that Gideon had recording hours open and that was why he’d recommended a later time, but he knew she wasn’t planning to come tonight. He knew her class ended at eight. “Where do you work?” Megs didn’t actively decide to pretend she didn’t know Gideon, but once the words left her lips, she couldn’t take them back.
Gideon didn’t even flinch. “Champlain Community College. I’m a professor there.”
“Impressive. What do you teach?” Her chest warmed. Right then, only she and Gideon were in on this little secret, and it felt deliciously rebellious.
Alli jumped in, clasping her hands on the table. “He teaches audio engineering and recording.”
Megs cocked her head to the side. This gave her the perfect opening to dig. “Do you two know each other?”
A blush rose to Alli’s cheeks. “Just getting reacquainted, actually.”
What did that mean?Alli was probably one of the people on Gideon’s list, buthow welldid they know each other?
A waiter reached over her shoulder and set her salad in front of her. It looked good. Spring greens, mandarin oranges, and roasted beets.Free dinner, she repeated in her head. This didn’t have to be any deeper than that.
Gideon fidgetedwith the corner of his napkin and moved his foot back under him. Alli kept accidentally hitting his shoes with hers. He’d seen her name on the list of finalists, but nothing had clicked until he’d shown up and seen his friends together in-person. Once he’d figured it out, he’d tried to get Matt alone, but either his famous friend was oblivious or he knew that Gideon knew.
Matt had darted away at every opportunity, diving into conversations with passing waiters if it meant avoiding a conversation with Gideon. Now, here they were seated across from each other, and he couldn’t say anything without making it awkward for Alli. Based on what he knew about Megs, she’d probably enjoy the drama of it all. He could already see her green eyes lighting up at the first mention of an ulterior motive for this competition.
Gideon didn’t doubt that Matt was using this competition to build buzz for his series and find a narrator, but this had Stewart, or now Calloway, written all over it.
“Megs, right?” Matt picked up his fork and speared a beet. Megs nodded. “I was blown away by your audition.”
Megs’ hand paused as she spread her napkin over her lap. “Thank you.” She lookedmomentarily confused, and Gideon had to force a smile from creeping onto his lips. That flicker wasn’t contrived, he’d seen the same look when he’d complimented her in the parking lot. Megs didn’t know how good she was, and it was both stupefying and adorable.
“It was very conversational,” Matt continued. “I say that as if I’m an expert on what makes a good narration, but I’m just repeating what I read in a Buzzfeed article.”
Megs laughed, and Gideon tensed. He didn’t like that she thought Matt was funny, even though he was.Doesn’t every girl have a secret fantasy that their favorite teacher will fall for them?That line ran through his head every single time he saw her, which wasn’t helping with his commitment to upholding the boundaries. Wednesday night, he’d tossed and turned in bed after sending Matt the message about his school conflict.
He’d already booked his evening off, but when Megs said she was dropping out, he hadn’t thought twice about opening his recording hours back up. That way, he hadn’t lied in his text message. If anyone thought to check the details, they’d find everything lined up. Nothing suspicious. Only he knew that the reason they were meeting at eight-thirty instead of six was purely so he could see Megs outside of class.
“So I shouldn’t pay any attention to your compliments,” Megs replied and took a drink of her Coke.
“Right. They mean nothing.” Matt flashed a wide grin.
Gideon cleared his throat. “What about you, Megs?” He wasn’t trying to kill their almost flirtatious conversation, but he wasn’tnottrying.
“What about me?” she asked.
“What’s your story?” Gideon put a forkful of greens in his mouth.
“Well, I’ve been acting for most of my life and I hoped to make a career out of it, but that didn’t quite work out as planned.”
“I love that you tried,” Alli said. “I didn’t have the guts to do anything that wasn’t practical.” Having Alli and Megs talk was almost worse than Megs and Matt. He didn’t want pieces of his past exposed at the moment, which meant sitting here with these three was his own personal house of horrors.
“What do you do?” Megs asked.
“I’m an executive assistant. I work for a corporate real estate firm in Burlington.”
Gideon took another bite. Alli had always wanted to be a singer. Matt had been one of Gideon’s freshman roommates along with Randall, who was sitting at the end of the table across from his old girlfriend Cassie.
“Do you enjoy it?” Megs asked.
Alli shrugged. “It pays well.”
