Her eyes grew wide. “Wait. Are you saying you’ve never been on a date before?”
I shook my head. “No. Never.”
“How is that possible?”
I shrugged. God, I didn’t want to admit any of this—it didn’t make me look good in the slightest. “Girls were only ever for sex. I didn’t need to wine and dine them for it. I’d flirt at parties or whatever and that was that. There’s never been anyone I wanted more than one night with. Not until you.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders relaxed and she nibbled her lip as she processed.
“Yeah. So if I’m acting like I have no clue what I’m doing, it’s because I literally have no clue what I’m doing.”
Harper was quiet for a long moment, just looking at me. Then her mouth curved into a small smile.
“Drew.”
“What?”
“You called ahead to make sure they had the butternut squash ravioli I mentioned wanting to try…what? Weeks ago when we still didn’t even really like each other.”
“So?”
“So you listened to some random comment I made and planned an entire evening around it.” Her smile grew. “I think you’re doing just fine.”
“Really?”
“Really.” She squeezed my hand. “Although next time, maybe don’t stress yourself out so much. I’m not exactly high maintenance.”
“Maybe, but you deserve high maintenance treatment.”
Her cheeks flushed a rosy color that had my thoughts immediately circling the drain. “That’s sweet of you to say, but really I just want to be with you. And her,” she added with a nod to Rory. “Fancy restaurant or not.”
I felt some of the tension leave my shoulders. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.” Harper grinned. “Although, I won’t lie, witnessing you nervous was kind of adorable. I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
“Too late.”
Our server returned with the drinks, and this time when I looked at the menu, I didn’t feel like I was going to mess everything up. Both my girls were happy, and Harper just wanted to be with me.
Maybe I could do this whole boyfriend thing after all.
THIRTY-SEVEN
The whispers started the moment Drew and I walked across campus hand in hand Monday morning.
I’d anticipated stares—Drew was well-known on campus, and on top of that, everyone at CFU was aware of our rivalry after all the ways we’d tried to sabotage each other since freshman year. But I hadn’t expected the sheer volume of whispers that followed us from the moment we stepped on campus grounds.
Drew’s fingers tightened around mine, and he shot them a look that had them quickly averting their eyes.
“They don’t matter,” he murmured, tugging me closer to his side. “You okay?”
“Fine.” Though my stomach was doing gymnastics, and warmth spread through me at the protective way he’d pulled me closer.
By the time we reached the student center, I felt like we were part of some bizarre campus tour.
“I knew you were popular, but I didn’t expect every person on campus to have an opinion about us.”
