Page 76 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 1

I laughed and sat in his office chair, my duffel dropped by his desk. The heat was enough to make me just a little uncomfortable in my jacket and hoodie and the tight T-shirt I wore underneath, so I peeled layers off.

Noah gulped and watched me from his bed as I pulled the hoodie over my head. In the process, it had lifted my T-shirt all the way to my armpits. Once I threw the hoodie onto Noah’s bed I fixed the T-shirt, but he had already taken a long look at my body and his face was even more heated. It was no wonder he needed coaching in these things. Even with me, the type of guy he’d never consider twice, he seemed short of breath and on the verge of stammering. And I’d only flashed a little bit of my skin in the most innocent way possible.

I wondered, when we went out on Friday, and when Noah came across some hot and smart jackpot guy like himself, what he would be like. When he was talking to someone he was truly attracted to, would he be a disintegrating mess?

I’d be there to lend a helping hand, of course.

“I haven’t heard from you,” he said and I realized we had been silent for a long time.

“I…didn’t wanna bother you,” I said.

The smallest frown ever wrinkled the place between his eyebrows. “What about the test?”

I shrugged. “No results yet,” I said simply. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I’d wasted his time. He could have trained a smarter guy on building spaceships by now. But a dummy like me couldn’t handle the basics. It was like my mind was prickly but all of physics was smooth and I stood no chance of ever fitting that knowledge somewhere in my head. Deciding to steer clear of that topic, I smirked. “What are we gonna do about your test, though?”

“My test?” His voice went squeaky.

“Are you free on Friday night?” I asked.

He snorted. “I don’t have a date if that’s what you mean.”

“I was more worried you had a brainiac coming over for hard drills in quantum mechanics.” I winked at him and he licked his lips, then pursed them.

“I’m trying to hear an innuendo in what you said, but it might be too advanced for me,” he admitted.

I laughed out loud. Odd. I hadn’t laughed since I’d read his last note. “I think you’re ready to try hitting on someone,” I said. “Pick your own outfit from the approved selection and we’ll go to the Thirsty Thinker. The atmosphere there is more welcoming than at the Brewhouse.” I suggested the tavern because guys at the Brewhouse knew how to cut deep with their eye-rolls. I’d been on the receiving end of a few in my heyday. Tougher crowd, but they knew how to show you a good time. Still, it was a little more advanced and I wanted to test Noah in a simple first date interaction. “We’ll scan the place, find a nice guy for you, and try a few icebreakers. No pressure.”

“When people say ‘no pressure,’ it only adds pressure,” Noah muttered. “I don’t think I’m ready.”

“Of course you are,” I insisted. “All you have to do is not fall apart and run away. Try a pick up line. Hit me.”

“Um, are you a Wi-Fi signal? Because I’m feeling a connection.” He cringed.

I cringed harder. “Whoa, that’s bad. We’ll stay clear of pick up lines. Keep in mind all I’ve taught you. Pout, glance, glance again. Hold eye contact, then look away. Meet eyes one more time, do a little ‘Sup?’ and wait to see what the climate is like. If he’s cold, look around so he sees you don’t really care. That’ll get him thinking.”

Noah growled. “Fine. But when I send all the wrong signals and the guy thinks I’m threatening him and there’s a bloodbath, it’ll be on you.”

“I’ll take those chances,” I said.

We caught each other’s gazes and held them a moment, then Noah looked away. Just like I’d taught him. The yellow glow of the Christmas lights above his bed and another from the lamp on his nightstand faded the shadows on his body. The dark green shorts he wore were high on his nearly smooth legs and the waistband was low. While he had decent abs, the V line of a shredded body wasn’t present, and it made him look so much more natural. He was lean and smooth and somehow vulnerable. His lithe body seemed breakable if only someone mishandled it. And his heart… I didn’t even know what to think of it. I could only vow to make sure whoever we targeted on Friday was decent. Fuckboys were off limits, that much was for sure. Our nature was to have fun and think of consequences later. But Noah didn’t deserve that. His expressions were too soft and his eyes too full of wonder and fear.

My heart clenched when I realized I couldn’t look away.

Friday came sooner than I anticipated, but Wallaby still hadn’t graded the test. I was slowly but surely getting ready for a failing grade. Even accepting it. Though sixty points was all I needed, I was prepared for half as many. Frankly, her lateness was the most infuriating, if the least surprising. Some odd night, she’d ping us all with our results, and it would come from out of left field.

Noah waited for me in front of the dormitory, his eyes narrowing in a sneer of superiority. “I beat you at your own game.”

“Or I brought you down to my level of tardiness,” I said casually, shrugging to really drive the point of carelessness home.

He looked horrified for a moment, then hesitated, and finally started walking. “I wish I was doing anything else in the world.”

I laughed. “I felt the same way during my test.”

Tonight was later than our usual meeting times. I’d returned from a game this afternoon, licking my wounds with everyone else on the team after we lost despite our best efforts. Exhausted and defeated, we had all retreated to our own ways of coping. Riley sulked, Cameron played his nerdy games, Tyler and Sebastian got far more competitive in table soccer, Beckett was off to hook up no doubt, Avery was a blank canvas, Caden disappeared. Paxton and a few others went out to some party. And me? I was about to test this awkward genius in the dating games.

“Come along.” I gestured with my head and we started walking. The student center was in the heart of Northwood’s campus, surrounded by recreational facilities, then faculties, and finally, the larger areas reserved for accommodations and sports as well as a few labs which couldn’t fit into the faculty buildings. The center was noisy almost all the time. During the day, all the seats were occupied by coffee-downing students. During the night, those same students poured copious amounts of beer down their throats.

And considering we were about to enter a tavern, I had a beverage in mind.