She nods. “That’s code for woman problems, right?”
When I don’t answer, she draws her own conclusions.
“If we go upstairs to… do stuff, am I going to be anRF?” she asks in a shaky voice before her finger presses to my lips to stop me from giving an answer. “That’s not necessarily a deal-breaker; it just… changes things.”
My heart bursts into a gallop.
How is this woman even real? She’s so sweet she’s making it hard for me to breathe. I’ve never believed my friends when they tell me I fall in love too easily, but it’s hard to deny it when the proof is sitting right in front of me.
I kiss her finger and lower it from my lips. “You are the furthest thing from a revenge fuck a person can get. At least you will be,” I clarify, offering her a smile. “Once we’re doing it.”
She visibly relaxes and offers me a smile, too. “Okay. Should we go now?”
I shake my head. “Finish your story.”
“Oh.” She nods, and her cheeks flush with the deepest pink yet.
I wince on her behalf. “It was that bad, huh? Did she set you up with a toothless, incontinent old man with a phlegmy cough?”
Lana wrinkles her nose. “No. But in some ways that might have been better.”
“How?” I ask, laughing at the lack of possibilities.
She gives me a look so defensive and harsh, it’s as if she may never tell me.
I raise my hands in surrender. “Not laughingatyou.I’m laughing because I can’t think of anything worse, and my imagination is working really hard on it. Please tell me. I need to know.”
“I didn’t say it wasworse,” she clarifies, shaking her head. “I said an old gummy man with wet pants and a chest infection might have been better. Because I was almostexpectingthat. I prepared for it. I’m not even remotely cool, and this acquaintance seemed to have little respect for me, so honestly, meeting that kind of date would have made more sense — I had a plan for such a scenario. But the reality was a surprise curveball Ihadn’tpre-planned a response to, and that’s what made it bad. Really, really bad. My reaction, that is. Not the person.”
“Lana, please just tell me.”
4
LANA
He blinks a few times fast. “She set you up with a girl?”
I nod. “And not justanygirl, Bates. Lydia is one of the hottest girls on campus. I mean, she’swayout of my league. The assignment debt was definitely repaid — in full and then some. Except I was caught off-guard because I hadn’t specified a gender of interest, but I had been expecting a guy, and then when I saw it was Lydia, I was glad Ihadn’tspecified, but I freaked out, because I knew I didn’t deserve someone at her level of awesomeness. I got stuck in my head, because part of me definitely wanted to sleep with her, but a louder part of me wassureit was a set up, because she’s upper echelon and I’m a total bottom feeder within the social construct, and no matter what angle I tried to see it from, my brain couldn’t figure it out.”
I look down at the table and shrug. “In the end it didn’t really matter how I wanted the date to go, because it was decided for me. Lydia wasn’t into my personality or the extensive notes I was having to make.”
Bates stares at me, his gray eyes darkening as his jaw tenses.
I rearrange his restless hands and lay mine back on top of his.
“I don’t know what to say,” he says after a while. “I was mad, but then you distracted me with thoughts of you hooking up withanother woman… then you broke my heart a bit.” He exhales slowly. “I think I’m still angry. Mostly because you put this Lydia person on a pedestal when she’s the one who didn’t deserve you. I hope it’s okay with you that I’m not sorry about how your date went. Her loss is my gain, and if she was here, I’d thank her for being the fool who passed on you.”
I stare at Bates. Is he serious, for does he feel the need to compliment me to ensure I’ll go to bed with him? I already said I’m a sure thing. He has no reason to keep saying stuff that makes me want to know how sweet his mouth must taste. I think he might actually mean it.
Bates looks down at our hands and chuckles softly. “Am I a bad consolation prize? This Lydia girl sounds hotter than me. Is she hotter?”
“You’re… different.” My voice sounds soft and distant — probably from the impact of seeing and feeling all of his pretty up close.
“Different, huh?” His eyebrow rises as if he’s not suredifferentis a good or a bad thing. “How so?”
“I’ve never met anyone who attracts me even slightly as much as you do,” I admit with the candor easily afforded me by the tequila coursing through my veins. “Lydia is conventionally beautiful, and while that had interested me earlier this evening, I can now say with clarity that she’s not my type, because I didn’tknowmy type — until I saw you. In my books, you’re a very charismaticten, who’s apparently dipped in my particular brand of pheromones. I’m enamored, I’m further dis-inhibited by alcohol, and you’re very,verypretty. It’s disarming to the point where can’tnotshow my interest in you.”
Bates studies me for a moment. “You’re serious?”
