She playfully messes up my hair. “So, I heard you were single, and I’m looking for a prom date. Are you going with anyone?”
For some reason, my gaze immediately moves toward Poppy. She glances back down at her book the second we make eye contact.
“Not yet.”
It’s true. I haven’t asked anyone yet because the only girl I want to go with is physically repulsed by my existence.
“Well, how about we go together? There’s a few of us getting a limo, and we bought a couple of hotel rooms for after.”
“Is that so?”
She nods, seductively moving her legs so I can fully see the little pink roses on her white cotton panties.
“Mmm hmm, I think it’d be fun, don’t you?”
“Can I get back to you?” I ask her, hoping that I can somehow talk Poppy into being my date instead.
Morgan frowns. “Oh, sure. Just don’t keep me waiting too long, okay? There are a couple of guys who have asked me, but you’re the only guy I want to go with.”
I salute her with a smile. “I won’t. I promise.”
She’s gone before I can respond, leaving me alone with Poppy again.
“We should sanitize the table now,” Poppy mutters. “It’s got her ass juices on it.”
The laugh that bursts out of me is so loud that the librarian shushes me from across the room.
I duck my head, biting back another laugh as I lean closer to Poppy’s side of the table.
“You’re going to get detention,” Poppy hisses.
“Worth it,” I murmur. “That was a solid line.”
She doesn’t look up, just flips a page with way more force than necessary. “You’re lucky I do community service.”
“Just for me?”
She finally glances up, unimpressed. “Don’t flatter yourself.”
I grin. “Too late.”
There’s a beat of silence, broken only by the scratch of her pen. I watch her for a second, analyzing every movement like it will somehow break through all her hostility. Noting the way she’s chewing on the end of her pencil while she’s thinking, and the little crease between her brows like the world personally offends her when she messes up a problem and has to do it over again. I notice it all. Every crack and idiosyncrasy that makes her so damn beautiful.
“So,” I say casually, like my heart isn’t doing something stupid in my chest. “Prom’s coming up in a few months, as you might have heard.”
Her pen pauses.
“Unfortunately,” she mutters.
“I was thinking,” I continue, keeping my tone light, “going with you could make it a pretty entertaining night.”
That gets her attention.
She looks up slowly, eyes round with confusion. “Are you asking me to be your date?”
I shrug, playing it off like I’m not sweating at the collar. “I mean… yeah. I think so.”
She laughs… the girl actually laughs at me. “Absolutely not.”
