I all but choke on my own spit. “What’s the best part?” I croak. I am a rabid dog, salivating for this information. “What’s the best part, Aiden?”
He looks up at me, his hand pausing halfway through turning the page. A spark of something devilish enters his eyes as the corner of his lips twitches. “There are tattoos,” he whispers.
“Tattoos?” I squeak.
No answer; he just steps into his room and then nudges me out, back through the doorway. Then he closes the door in my face.
“Aiden,” I say, pressing my cheek to the door and knocking hard. “Tattoos? Plural? Tattoosplural?”
Faintly, from the other side of the door, I hear him laugh. I roll my eyes, but when I go to the kitchen to eat the scones I saved from Grind and Brew, I’m smiling too.
My smile fades as I sit down at the table, though. What am I going to do? He’s right; going to meet someone I don’t know late at night is stupid.
But maybe if I took some kind of weapon? Pepper spray, maybe?
Parents.
The word pops into my head, still just as strange as it was when I read it last night.
I gave up wondering about my father a long time ago. As far as I was concerned, he wasn’t much of a father if he was never around. But I was also well aware that he might noteven know I existed.
I never anticipated that I might get to learn something about him. I never let myself go there. But now that it’s come up…I don’t know if I can set that idea aside.
I march myself back over to Aiden’s door and knock again. “Hey,” I call. “What about if I take pepper spray?”
There’s silence for a second, and then the door opens to reveal an unimpressed-looking Aiden.
“What?” I say in response to the face he’s making. “Is that not a good idea? No pepper spray?”
He sighs. Why is this man always sighing when he talks to me? “I mean, pepper spray is better than nothing, but it’s still not safe,” he says. “It’s dark back there. It will be late. And you’re pretty small.”
“And those are valid concerns,” I say. “But I also think…” I bite my lip, debating what to say; I finally settle for the truth. “I think I’ll experience a lot of regret if I don’t go see what all this is about tonight. Besides,” I go on. “Didn’t that note seem less ominous than friendly, almost? Did you notice the heart under the exclamation point?”
“I noticed,” Aiden says grudgingly. He leans against the door frame, folding his arms.
Why is that so attractive? It’s justleaning.There’s nothing sexy about leaning, is there??*
I take a step back, trying to get a better look at the full picture he presents. He’s changed out of his pajamas, sadly; gone are the t-shirt and plaid pants, replaced by jeans and an oatmeal-colored cable-knit sweater. He’s not a ridiculously ripped guy—not like Too Happy Gus from the yoga studio, for example—but nor is he puny; I can still see the breadth of his shoulders and the faint shape of his bicepswhen he’s standing like this?—
And I’m staring again. Crap. What were we talking about?
Cut it out, Juniper,I scold myself.You are not this girl anymore. You are no longer seventeen, drooling over your dreamy tutor. Get it together.
Ha. I may not be seventeen anymore, and he may not be my tutor anymore, but Aiden Milano is still dreamy. I doubt he wants to know that’s how I feel, though. When I told him how I felt last time, he was less than thrilled.
“There was the heart,” I say, rallying my strictly platonic, Aiden-free thoughts. “There was the heart on the exclamation point, and the wording sounded friendly too. Like someone was trying to do me a favor rather than threaten me ominously. Didn’t you get that vibe?”
“A little, yeah,” he admits. “Still think it’s a bad idea, though.”
He’s right. I know he’s right.
“So…” I say, staring at the floor as I think it over. Then, as an idea occurs to me, my head pops up, and I stand up straighter. “Why don’t you come with me?”
“Nope.” He doesn’t even think it through; he just has that answer all ready to go. Then he takes a step back into his room and reaches for the door, clearly planning to close it in my face.
“Wait!” I say, stepping forward and putting my foot in the way.
He stares down at that foot with alook,the kind that makes me wonder if his students are scared of him. I can totally imagine him shooting fire out of his eyeballs right now.
