Sophie elbowed him. “You idiot. I didn’t have any tissues in my room."
Jesse kissed her as she glared at him, transforming her exasperation into a smile. “I like when you say ‘you idiot’ like that. It means you’re not mad at me. You’re not, right?”
“No. I’m kinda mad at the situation itself, but not at you.”
Sighing in relief, Jesse sat on the foot of the double bed dressed in burgundy and black sheets, rummaging around in the litter of sweatshirts and crumpled notebook paper at the edge to find a remote. “Pick something we can ignore.” He yawned. “I have a lot of channels.”
Sophie clicked through, her stomach tense and knotting as she sat on the other side of the bed.Never been in bed with a guy. Not that we’re having sex. But still. We could. Because boyfriends and girlfriends do that. Heck, people on the first date do that.She clicked and clicked, past 200 and still climbing.“Hey. The college doesn’t have individual cable plans. Everyone has basic cable included in their dorm fees.”
Jesse reclined, eyes closing, the lids looking bruised. “How did you think an undead guy got into college? Or keeps a job? Or gets his driver’s license? According to the world, I never died, but I’m no teenager.” He hesitated, then forced his eyes open and sat back up. “You know what I figured I’d do?”
“What?”
“Get a new degree every few years. There are a ton of colleges in New York, Jersey, and Pennsylvania. I thought I’d just keep going to different ones until I’ve gotten a little bit of everything. I’ll get a degree and a job ‘straight out of college.’ I’ll work where I can until they wonder why I don’t age much, wonder why I have to miss out on every company picnic...” He shrugged. “Anyway, if I learn a lot of different skills, I can help people who are like me. So... I got that business degree at NYU Pine Ridge, remember?”
“Uh, yeah.” She was in the sports channels now but ignoring them.
“My next degree was in computer science. I’m a hacker, Soph. Not a bad one, more like a useful one. The cable company thinks this room has the premium all-inclusive package. My birth certificate and medical records keep getting ‘adjusted’ every few years. And of course, you can’t keep up the funds as a business consultant if you’re not cutting-edge, so of course, every few years, another few courses, another degree.”
“You could be some teen savant millionaire if you keep this up!” Sophie gasped as the implications clicked.
Jesse shook his head sadly. “No. I can’t. I can never stand out. I can never be famous like you can be. If I’m noticed too much, people will talk. If you become famous—”
“Stop. Even if I’m the best cellist in the world, I just want to teach. I don’t want center stage. Like you, I have reasons toavoid the spotlight. For one thing— I blind the audience.” She tossed him a smirk, half-hidden in the dark waterfall of her hair. I joked about how I looked... and it was funny. To me, it was funny and it didn’t hurt.A bubble of surprised laughter escaped her, blending with his deeper, mellow tones. “But you could still be some rich recluse?” Finally settling on a channel that showed nature scenes paired with instrumental music, she dropped the remote on the bed and let her stiff spine sag.
He fell back, head on the pillow, arms crossed underneath. “Maybe a semi-rich recluse.”
“You know something?” Her head found the other pillow. Sophie cautiously rolled to her side, arousal at his nearness muted by emotional and physical exhaustion.
“I think I’ve established that I know a lot of stuff.”
“You’re a decent person. You’re a good guy.”
He rolled to his side, too, eyes bright. “That’s all I want to be. This monster is in me. It doesn’tdefineme.”
What defines me?Sophie let her hand caress his stubbled cheek, marveling at how perfectly the planes and angles of his face connected, a masterpiece in marble.
Like me?
“You’re beautiful,” he whispered, catching her hand and kissing it softly.
Yeah. I think I might be.
SOPHIE WOKE UP ANDfelt something solid against her. She smiled. Jesse.
Oh, God. Jesse.She squirmed back against him.
“We’ve been napping all day,” his lips pressed her shoulder, wrapped in a clinging ribbed sweater.
“I was tired. My world got flipped, ripped, and sewn back together.”
“It sounds like a pitbull got a hold of it.”
“Well, you do have sharp teeth, but you’re not a puppy,” she laughed and snuggled deeper into the soft pillow, his bedding such a luxury compared to hers.
“And I'll never bite unless you— I’ll never bite?”
Her eyes stayed open now, staring ahead at the Eric Clapton poster on the wall across from her. “Unless I want you to?” she asked, trying not to sound shocked.
