As kids, Leah and Tanner hated each other. To this day, they still do. Tanner Cole is tall, dark, tattooed, and insanely attractive, though his ugly heart drowns all of this out to Leah. At eighteen years old, all Leah wants is to go off to college...
"Are you okay?" Ben whispers to me, sitting on my left as usual.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm fine," I whisper back, aware of the fact that the teacher is only a few feet away and is in a deep discussion about the work of Freud.
He holds his hand over mine and I look at him confused. "You were tapping your pen nonstop on the desk."
I look down at our hands again, and sure enough, he's right. There's a pen beneath them. "Sorry, I guess I'm a bit nervous about this party I have to go to later. I wish you could come too."
"If I didn't have plans with Toby, I would. Don't worry though, I'm sure you'll have fun," he replies with a small smile. His dimple showing through.
"Mr. Ames and a Miss Preston, is it? Could you two enlighten me and the rest of the class as to what could be far more important than my lecture," Professor Cass asks us, with an annoyed look on her face.
Shit!
The color drains from Ben's face in response to the teacher's murderous glare.
"Sorry, Professor Cass, my pen ran out. I was asking Ben if he had a spare."
Her sour expression tells me she doesn't believe me, but seeing as she has no proof, she lets it slide and goes back to her PowerPoint.
"Thank you," Ben mouths, regaining some color to his cheeks.
"No problem," I hastily mouth back, noting the professor's beady eyes are still on us.
I attempt to refocus on the class, but after ten minutes, I find it's no use as my anxiety has traveled to my leg, which is bouncing erratically up and down. Inwardly groaning, I pull my phone out of my pants pocket as discreetly as I can and type out a message under the table.
Me: Maybe I shouldn't come tonight. I won't know anyone there.
Tanner: You can't bail. We're working on this truce. Remember? Besides Zara is going too. You can stick with her.
Me: Ugh. Fine.
I huff despondently and go back to writing.
Ben seems to have brightened in spirit and is humming a familiar tune under his breath as he writes notes down in his book. He's probably excited about seeing Toby later for their weekend together. I'm happy he's at least having a good time.
When the lesson finally ends, a low chatter erupts in the room as people pack their things away and make their way out of the class.
"Do you want to go to the library for an hour or so before you drive to the airport?"
"Don't you want to go get ready for that party?" he asks with a puzzled expression.
I shake my head. "It's not for a few hours yet. Zara will be at pole, so I have some time to kill before seeing her."
"Okay. We can get started writing up the report on the conformity study we did if you want?"
"Sounds good to me," I smile gratefully back, happy to have his company for a little longer.
I sling my backpack over my shoulder and follow Ben out the door, heading in the direction of the library.
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