𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐘

[19] The Boys

t h e  b o y s
COVEY'S POV:

I walk over to the Starbucks in the food court and see Venice and his group of friends sitting at a table towards the east wing of the area. When I get my order, I make my way over to them and try to jump scare Venice.

"Venny," I exclaim, poking his side.

He jumps a little and looks over his shoulder, already scooting over on the bench to accommodate to me. "Hey, Covey. Guess I deserved that, huh?"

"For more things than one," I respond curtly, then I offer him a smile. "Landon, West, and Tyler, right?" The three guys nod and I internally pat myself on the back. 

West's last name is Westbrooke, but everyone just calls him West. He has brownish-black poofy hair on top of his head and smooth, dark skin the color of milk chocolate. And he has perfect white teeth with the kind of smile that is so contagious, it makes you want to smile back. 

"What'd Professor Monroe want from you this time?" Venice asks, raising an eyebrow at me in amusement. "You sure are innocent but you have no filter when it comes to taking the class lowkey."

Whew, so he doesn't know we were kissing and talking about doing sex... having sex... teaching me sex? Oh my dinos, why am I thinking about this right now?

"I don't think he minds," I mutter, looking around the food court, anywhere but at the table of guys I'm sitting with.

"No?" Venice asks in confirmation, laughing. "He looks like he wants to tape a piece of duct tape to your mouth every time you say something in that class." 

That's kinky. Oh my, what has he done to me?
Holy snizzle crackers and huckleberry humans. 

I shrug, trying to get rid of my thoughts. "I think he appreciates my participation more than he does Margot's. Today I was trying to get her to back off."

"And then you called Professor Monroe a twig," he laughs, the other guys laughing with him. "That was golden, that was—that was... revolutionary."

"And that is taking it too far," I say, taking a sip of my coffee. "I mean, honestly, it wasn't that funny."

"You should've seen his face, babe," he chuckles, shaking his head at me.

Babe. Conrad is gonna kill him.

"Babe?" West asks, his eyes going wide. "Shit, so you guys are dating?"

I shake my head and Venice throws an arm around me. I let out a small laugh and say, "No, Kayley would kill me in my sleep if I was dating Venny."

"Oh my god bro," West sighs, rolling his eyes. "I fucking told you to drop her a long time ago."

"She's my sister's best friend," Venice grumbles, pulling me a little closer to him. "What am I supposed to do?"

"Tell her you're not interested?" Landon, the boy with blonde hair and green eyes suggests.

"That I'd be happy to sleep with her if she wanted—" Tyler stops talking when I raise an eyebrow at him.

I grab Venice's arm from around me and drop it. "Yeah before she starts walking over here, like she's doing right now, looking like she's ready to start World War III." I try my best to get distracted with swirling my straw in my frappuccino. 

"Relax, Covey," he says, leaning over the table a little bit.

"Venice," Kayley says, a fake smile spreading across her features. "I see you've met my roommate."

I try to hold in my laugh. "I actually met Venice before I met you, so..."

She puts a hand on her hip and gives me a not-so-nice look. It screams, 'Are you asking for me to kill you?' Well, I bet the dinos you couldn't. I eat lots of protein from those chicken nuggets, might I add.

"So yes," I say, "yeah, he has met me." Is she a dum-dum or what? He was literally in our dorm like twice—oh, whatever.

"I hope you remember what I told you the other day," Kayley continues with an attitude in her voice. "I wasn't joking."

"Neither was I," I reply, sipping my drink again. 

She flips her hair and sends me one more glare before stalking away, and I have to admit, she does a pretty good job sashaying her hips the best she can. But in all honesty, not even a piece of paper can have curves—there are only edges and corners.

I don't hate people, but I dislike them. And the fact that I dislike Kayley is actually surprising—because I don't dislike many people. 

It's just, it's so obvious that everyone is gonna die someday, so people should just get over themselves and realize we're all the same in the end.

"See," Venice points out, gesturing to me. "You have absolutely no filter when it comes to you talking. Now you have a target on your back."

"What I said wasn't even half as bad as calling Professor Monroe a twig or Coco Puff."

"Yeah, what was that about?"

"It's magically delicious!" I cheer, trying to think of the slogan. I furrow my eyebrows together and shake my head. "That's for Lucky Charms, isn't it?"

Venice nods, smiling wide. "Are you coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs?"

Oh man, if only you knew what he tasted like. Hehe. 

I have been corrupted. Darth Vader has taken me to the dark side. I mean, I'm not complaining. 

Shaking my head, I say, "I like dino chicken nuggets better."

******

I run into Conrad later in the day, more like almost-night, and he stops me in the hallway to start a totally and completely casual conversation. "Hey, Miss Jensen."

"Professor," I whisper, nodding my head respectfully.

He smirks a little and steps a foot closer. "I like when you call me that."

"Do you?" I ask, looking up into his stormy gray eyes.

"Yeah," he sighs, backing away again as another teacher passes through. "Yeah, I do."

"So... tonight?" I whisper, rocking back and forth on my heels.

He looks around the halls and steps closer to me again. "You want to come over?"

"Maybe."

"Yes or no, Covey?" He puts a hand on my shoulder as his other one presses against the spot on my neck where his thumb can feel my pulse, my heartbeat quickening.

"Yes," I whisper breathlessly.

He smiles and drops his touch from me. "Stay?"

I nod.

"Good girl."

These broken sentences are told and answered with less than words and more than simple facial expressions. I know what he's saying and he knows what I'm saying. He wants me to stay with him again, and I will do so gladly.

"Call me?" he asks, his eyes doing that thing where they look at me intensely.

"As I always do," I smile, slowly turning away from him.

He gives me a soft smile back and purses his lips as he watches me exit towards the common room. 

******
AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Sorry, pretty uneventful but not everything can be about Conrad and Covey.

Please vote, comment, and wait for the next chapter ;)