There are muffled voices, my bed dips and I’m about to scream at Quinn and Luca when I pull the pillow from my face and open my eyes, staring up at Luca.
He gestures to the headphones I’m wearing, and I reluctantly remove them.I inhale sharply, praying my face isn’t red from the few tears that threatened to fall.
“What?”My question is sharp and filled with torment.
“I came over hoping we could talk.”
I laugh darkly, feeling a twisted knot inside my stomach.“Talk?”I repeat.“It’s hard to imagine us doing that with you shoving your tongue down Quinn’s throat.”
He sighs and glares at Quinn before returning his stare to me.“That’s not what happened.”
“You came up to her room with her.Let me guess, you gave her a ride after the game too?”
Silence falls between us.
“You’re jealous,” he says, a realization seeming to dawn on him, and all it does is make me feel even more uncomfortable.
“I’m not.I don’t know what you’re talking about.”I sit up in bed, toss my legs over the side of the mattress.“There’s no reason for me to be jealous,” I say, stating the obvious.
I pretend to be miffed by his accusation, although he might be on to something.However, I refuse to confess as much to him.
“You’re crazy, and why did you come over to talk?”I ask as I try turning the line of questioning onto him.
He should be the one being interrogated for having a lip-lock session with my roommate.
“How long have the two of you—” I gesture between them, hoping this isn’t an actualthing,because I could not deal with knowing they were hooking up in our dorm room.
“I’ve been pining over him for weeks,” Quinn says, her voice dripping like honey, sweet, sugary, and full of desire.
“There’s nothing between her and me,” Luca states, pointing at Quinn.He doesn’t say her name.I’m not sure he even knows it, but that wouldn’t be a terrible surprise.Quinn does like to bed any guy with a pulse, and I doubt she knows the names of all the men she’s hooked up with, either.
“Except for tonight,” Quinn coos, and my stomach somersaults.I shuffle on my feet, waiting for someone to elaborate and hoping that it comes from Luca.
“I gave you a ride home, not my first regret of the evening,” Luca says.His phone starts buzzing in his pocket, and he curses under his breath.“I left Ashton waiting in the car.”
Quinn smiles, but the sweet, coy act she had going falls away.“Invite him up.We could make it arealparty.”
Luca scoffs.“That’s not happening.Harper, can we talk?”
“You should go downstairs; you can’t make Ashton wait forever,” I say.I don’t want him to leave, but I also don’t want to have a conversation with Quinn in the room, either.
He reaches toward me, brushing a strand of hair out of my face and behind my ear.His touch is warm and sends tingles coursing through me.I lean into his touch, staring up at him.I want to kiss him and scream at him, both simultaneously.
Is it normal to get this worked up over a guy?
“You’re probably right,” he whispers, but he doesn’t move.“This weekend, you, me, a quiet night someplace romantic.An actual date,” he says, making his intentions crystal clear.
His fingers are like a warm current, offering my body a taste of what’s to come.The back of his fingers graze my cheek, and I exhale softly, grateful that I’m seated, or I would most certainly have wobbly knees.
How does he exert this type of power over me?
It’s just a crush.The words bounce around in my head, but he’s too easy to fall for, and I’m trying not to get swept off my feet.
“I like you, Harper, in case you haven’t noticed.”He’s laying his cards out there, in case him telling me he wants an actual date isn’t enough.“I want the opportunity to get to know you better.”
I lean into his touch as his fingers caress down my jaw.
I want to kiss him so badly, but I’m holding back.He just kissed Quinn.
