“There’s that honesty again, Boy Scout.”
“It seems you bring it out in me.”
“Can I ask what you’re doing?” I jut my chin over my shoulder at the door. “Here, right now… Why are you talking to me? Aren’t you afraid someone might see and get the wrong idea?”
“If I tell you, will you stop answering my questions with more questions?”
“I’ll consider it.”
The corner of his mouth tugs upward. His voice drops to a near-whisper when he speaks again. “I feel bad about the way we ended things in my apartment.”
“When you turned down my offer for sex?”
He glances down the hall, then back at me. “Did that really need clarifying?”
As if we aren’t standing too close for comfort as it is.
“Maybe not, but it was worth seeing you get all flustered.”
His cheeks brighten with a blush. “That excites you?”
“I like that you sometimes don’t seem to know what you want to do with me,” I admit, even though I shouldn’t. This is the opposite of how I wanted to approach things. “It’s cute.”
He huffs, as if that notion displeases him, then shakes his head. “You…challenge me,” he says softly. “In a way no one has before, and I realized I may have been reacting poorly to this entire situation based on my own hang-ups.”
My eyebrows arch. “So you thought you’d correct course in the middle of the Obeliskos?”
“Strike when the iron is hot, right?”
“You really do love clichés, don’t you?” I grin, then chew on my bottom lip, the guilt from before pushing up into my esophagus. “Really, though, I should be the one apologizing?—”
“Ah, ah.” He shushes me, holding a finger close to my mouth without actually touching me. “You promised an answer to my question. What are you studying today?”
Again, I feel a strange tugging deep within my chest, but I ignore it. “Astronomy. Outside of the two acting electives I have this semester, it’s probably my favorite. I was working on an assignment before with my sister. Well, she was here. Not helping me though.”
Sutton laughs, which startles me.Have I ever heard him do that before?“Of course you’re interested in the stars. Like calls to like, right?”
“Are you calling me a star?”
“I’m saying you want to be.” He shrugs. “What better element to study than the ones so many look to for answers?”
This Sutton freaks me out. His unabashed interest feels like a major shift, even though I know he’s far from done denying me. But as if he’s also fighting an internal war against desire and logic, here he remains.
“Well, I spent a lot of my childhood camped out with my dad and uncles, trying to find and name different constellations. They’d tell me all the mythologies behind them and how so many people in history have used the stars to map out their explanations of the world or guide them through life. I like the idea of an ocean of knowledge just sort of existing up there for us to utilize.”
“I see.” He moves close again, making me dizzy. “That’s why you were at the observatory that day. Have you been back?”
A custodian wheels a trash can past the hall toward a service elevator, their whistling causing both of us to freeze. My heart pounds in my throat, the threat of being caught—even though we’re not actually doing anything—sending goose bumps along my arms.
The custodial worker doesn’t stop or even look in our direction, though, so neither of us moves.
“A few times. I like going when it’s closed. Makes it easier to study,” I tell him. “But mostly I’ve been occupied with transitioning back into school. Turns out a lot changes in seven years.”
“You didn’t take any courses when you were out in LA at all?”
“Nope. I was really hoping I wouldn’t need them. But you know, everyone out there is talented. It’s a hard scene to break into.” My face grows warm, shame coloring my cheeks.
Sutton purses his lips, then nods. “If not for my family connections, I doubt I’d have had much luck scoring professional gigs.”
