He laughed at me, a low chuckle that did funny things to my insides. “No, that’s legit. We really didn’t have practice tonight, which was why I had to make up the English project. You forced my hand.”
“I didn’t know you were interested in me,” I told him honestly. “You could have just told me.”
He glanced up at the ceiling briefly. “Yeah, right. You’ve been shutting me out all semester.”
“Sorry,” I whispered and realized I meant it. “I’ve been kind of lost in my own head this year.”
His gaze found mine again. “I know.”
The waffles appeared along with the coffee and conversation halted while Grace passed everything out. The syrup was shared around the table and everyone dug in, anxious to get away from the conversation.
When Gina and Mikey had fallen into an argument about something music related, Troy nudged my foot under the table again. I looked up at him, anxious to hear what he had to say. “Would you have said yes before now? If I had asked you out?”
“No,” I told him honestly. “I totally underestimated you before today.”
He smiled at my candidness. “Yeah? And what about now? What if I ask you out tonight?”
“I don’t know… You’re threatening nerds and lying about homework. You’re kind of a bad influence.”
We both knew that was a joke, since he looked like the golden boy and I looked like something straight out of the mouth of hell.
To keep from continuing the conversation, I dug into my waffles, sticking a huge bite in my mouth. Oh, my god. Troy was right. These waffles were bombdiggity.
I tried not to moan, but my eyes definitely rolled into the back of my head.
When I came down from my waffle high, I found Troy watching me expectantly. “Well, Carmichael? What do you think?”
He was obviously right. These waffles were the best thing I had ever tasted. But we also had a bet. And he might be the football stud, but I hated losing. “They’re horrible,” I told him around another bite. “So gross.”
“I guess that means I’ll be paying for them then,” he conceded.
“Duh.”
And then I finished the entire plate of waffles.
But Troy still paid for me.
