“I’d like to,” he insists, sipping his coffee.
I snort-laugh. “Yeah, okay.”
“How about tomorrow?”
I’m about to reply when our professor walks in, dropping his briefcase on the side table and a stack of papers on the lectern. He’s younger—maybe early-thirties. I haven’t seen his name on any of the class schedules before, and when I signed up for the class, I assumed he was a new professor to our university, but seeing him now, he could be new to teaching in general.
“Politics 700?”
“Yeah,” Isaac replies, then pulls out his notebook.
Our professor begins sifting through his materials, not making eye contact. “Great.”
Damn it. This guy’s personality is drier than stale bread. It’s going to be a long semester.
Isaac sputters a cough with a shutter as he continues to drink his coffee, and I quietly ask, “Did they mess up the order?”
“I’m not sure; I don’t drink sweet coffee.”
I double check the little codes on my cup. “Um, what you ordered says otherwise.” I point to the writing. Under syrup there’s a V and a C, and the custom box has F with a line through it, as well as XWC. It’s how I typically order mine, and this one tastes identical to how it usually does.
“I typically get a quad Americano with a splash of cream,” he explains, “but there was a pretty girl ordering it beside me at the coffee shop, so I figured I would try something new.”
I lean toward him and keep my voice low. “I’m sorry, but are you… are you flirting with me?”
“Maybe.” He smirks, and that little dimple from earlier appears. “Apparently I’m not very good at it.”
“I wouldn’t say that.” I sit back in my seat, and try to squelch the excitement stirring within me. If I’m going to get into my top-choice graduate program, and be selected for an internship with the UN this year, I need to keep my eye on the prize—which is definitely not the sexy-as-fuck man next to me.
He’s about to say something when my friend, Aubrey, sits on the other side of me, grumbling, “Hey. Thanks for saving me a seat.”
“Oh, yeah, no problem.” In truth, I completely forgot and just got lucky no one was already there. Not only am I risking my grade by flirting with Isaac, I’m also a shitty friend.
Pulling out her notebook, she huffs, “Parking was brutal.”
“That’s why I stopped driving to campus a long time ago,” I admit with a half-shrug. “Between the cost of parking, and the lack of spaces… no thanks.”
Cupping her mouth with her eyes fixed on the gorgeous man to my right, she whispers,
“Are you going to introduce me?”
“Oh, um, sure. That’s Isaac.” He perks up at hearing his name. “Isaac, this is my friend, Aubrey. Aubrey, this is Isaac.”
“Pleasure to meet you,” she purrs, flashing a megawatt smile. I’m surprised she’s not batting her eyes at him like a damn cartoon character, even though he’s not really her type. “How do you know Livy?”
“We just met,” I rush out.
She eyes my coffee cup with his name in clear view. “Just met?”
“Yeah, he let me have his coffee since I was in a hurry.” My cheeks heat, recalling how I face-planted into the door. “We have the same order.”
“All right, everyone, we’ll begin at eight sharp,” the professor announces.
“I should’ve stopped for coffee. I’m exhausted,” Aubrey whines, keeping her voice low. I’m just glad she’s not pressing further about my new friend. “I really hope he doesn’t have some bullshit attendance policy. I have no idea how I’ll make it here this early twice a week. Why did we sign up for this class again?”
“Because it was this or the research course everyone fails,” I remind her.
Isaac chimes in, “Good call. I aced all of the statistics prereq, but I barely passed that one with a B. And that’s with tutoring and making it my entire focus for the semester.”
