“I’d tell you, but then I’d have to leave the room, turn three times counterclockwise, swear, spit, and knock to be let back in.”
I shake my head. “Theater people have some strange superstitions.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” he says, chuckling. It’s the second time he’s laughed in as many minutes, and I like it. It makes me want to laugh too, and I want to hear more of it. Hell, I want to be the one responsible for it.
I want to smack myself upside the head for going there, but that would be too obvious. So instead, I pinch my thigh. Hard. It’s not quite as effective as a head slap, but it does the job. For the time being. Now I’m focusing on the pain in my quad instead of my irrational need to make a guy I barely know laugh.
“Mr. Dennis.” Professor Frost’s lazy drawl finishes what the pinch started, reminding me that I’ve got a game to play and a class I don’t want to take but have to pass. “Will you be joining us sometime today?”
“Sorry, Professor. Just giving Adam a few final pointers.”
Kolby flashes a smile, making a dimple pop in his cheek. It makes him even more attractive, if that’s possible. It doesn’t seem fair. Like shouldn’t a dude that hot have buck teeth? Or acne? You know, something to level the playing field. At least give a guy—or girl—a fair shot at holding out against him.
“Uh, yeah,” I say, backing him up. I tell myself it’s because I don’t want him to get in trouble with the teacher and I’d do the same for anyone. It has nothing to do with the naughty fantasies he’s been starring in since that day in the registrar’s office. “Thanks, man. Break a leg.”
His smile widens, making the dimple more pronounced. “See? You’re a fast learner.”
He takes his place opposite Caroline, a petite, pretty blonde who I only know because she hooked up with one of the guys at the hockey house last weekend. Almost immediately, it’s clear who’s going to win this round. Kolby is seriously good at this game. His questions come fast and furious, almost as if he’s got a stockpile of them stored in his subconscious that he can access with the flick of a switch.
It takes him all of two minutes to dispense with Caroline. Honestly, I’m surprised she lasted that long. Which means it’s my turn to get slaughtered.
I walk to the center of the room as slowly as humanly possible. Any slower and I’d be walking backward. Kolby greets me with that fucking killer smile, dimple included, and I know I’m in trouble. Well, more trouble than I already knew I was in.
He doesn’t waste any time. At least his first question is a softball. “What are you doing here?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Why do you care?”
“Do you drink coffee?”
The abrupt change of subject throws me for a second, but I manage to recover before Professor Frost hits the button on the T-Rex. “Who doesn’t?”
“Have you ever been to the Green Bean?”
“Who hasn’t?” The Bean is Moo U’s campus coffee shop. Virtually everyone’s gone there at one point or another.
He takes a step toward me. We started a couple of feet apart, but now I realize he’s been steadily creeping closer with every question so that we’re almost toe-to-toe. Meaning he can drop his voice to a sexy rumble that’s barely above a whisper.
“Wanna go after class and grab a cup of cold brew? Maybe a sticky bun?”
I swallow around the rock that’s suddenly lodged in my throat and my pulse picks up speed. It’s racing faster that it was already—and not because of some stupid game.
Are we still playing? Is this some sort of strategy to throw me off? Or is he seriously asking me to get coffee with him? And if he is, is it a date, or more of a friendly study buddy thing?
I’m full of questions. None of which I’m willing to ask in front of a room of virtual strangers who I have to deal with for the next three months. And who have no clue that I’m bi.
“Th—that’s two questions,” I finally manage to stammer. “Cold brew and sticky bun.”
T-Rex’s tinny roar echoes in the classroom. I’m out, but I couldn’t care less. My gut wants answers to the questions I’m too scared to ask. Even if my head knows I shouldn’t go there.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Serrano, but you’ve been eliminated. Nice work, everyone. Let’s take a ten-minute break and regroup. Stretch. Get some water. Talk amongst yourselves.”
Water. Great idea. I need something to cool me down. Only I don’t know if I’d be better off drinking it or pouring it over my head. Or down my pants.
I make a beeline for my backpack. One advantage of being an athlete is that I’m conditioned not to leave home without a water bottle.
I go for the less splashy option of drinking over dunking. I’d probably get a lot of strange looks if I doused myself in the middle of class. I already don’t belong here. I don’t need to give my classmates any more reason to be wary of me.
