She was looking at us with a wicked smile. “Bye, you two.”
When we were about halfway down the hallway, we heard Ling and the other psych students clapping and cheering. Apparently they got what they needed.
“That was by far the weirdest thing I’ve ever done,” I told Gavin.
I let go of his hand to put my sweatshirt back on. He walked quickly in front of me and pushed the glass doors open. The cold air blasted my face. He turned, grasped my neck with both hands, and kissed me again.
When he pulled away, his eyes were open. He was staring at my mouth. “It’s freezing out here, huh?” he said.
“Again,” I said.
He pushed me up against the building wall and kissed me, harder this time.
When he stopped, he asked, “Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No.”
“Come on then. I don’t want to be late for our first date.”
“I... I mean, I have to...”
“Come on, Java Hut awaits.” He was fun, spontaneous, full of life.
Inside the Java Hut, we went to the counter and Gavin pulled out his coffee card. “I’m treating, even though you managed to swindle four of these out of those poor psych majors. I mean, we both know I did most of the work back there.”
“Hey, I wasn’t so bad.”
His expression turned serious. “No, you definitely weren’t bad. Now what’ll it be, little dancing queen?”
“I’ll have a green tea.”
“Ahh, she’s healthy, too. I’ll take a large quadruple caramel macchiato with whole milk,” he said to the cashier, and then looked at me and smirked. “It’s like liquid crack. I’m gonna be so high at dance practice.”
“Wait, what?”
“Come sit,” he said, changing the subject.
I noticed the design on his T-shirt for the first time. It was orange with an illustration of a pickle wearing sunglasses. Underneath the pickle were the wordsDill With It.
I laughed as I sat down beside him. “What are you laughing about?” he asked.
“Your T-shirt’s funny.”
“Thanks.” He took my hands and held them across the table. It felt like we were on a real date, which was giving me whiplash. I’d known him for less than an hour. I slipped my hands out of his grasp and clasped them in my lap.
“Penny, we practically had sex with our mouths while wearing blindfolds. I mean, baby, you didnothold back.”
“Neither did you.”
“You know I knew you were pretty before I agreed to do the experiment, right? Tracy told me so.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, but I had no idea you’d be so uniquely beautiful. You’re transcendent. You really are.”
My stomach did a somersault. “Th-thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled. Gavin had a childlike quality about him. I liked the way he lied about not being nervous, and then easily admitted he was. He wasn’t afraid to tell the truth, and he didn’t seem to get embarrassed easily.
