Too Close

Chapter Eight

Jared's blue eyes glowed with adoration as he watched and listened to Gianna talk about all of her dreams and accomplishments.

He thought it was interesting that she wanted to pursue a career as a novelist. It was rare to hear such a thing from someone in their age bracket and he wanted to know more.

"When can I read one of your stories?" Jared asked while cutting into the steak he'd ordered. Gianna got the mango salsa salmon and shrimp over rice.

"You don't look like the reading type." Gianna looked him up and down.

"I read Moby Dick." He joked making Gianna squint her eyes at him. Jared laughed before being more serious. "The most recent one I've read and enjoyed was Pray You Catch Me by Miles Douglass. Or something like that."

She chuckled a little harder than she should've but Jared didn't think anything of it. "I read that one too. Did you read some of his other work?"

"No, not yet. Can you recommend some good ones?" He put his ringing phone on silent while giving Gianna his full attention.

"I'll tell you later." Gianna assured him. She'd rather not talk about Miles in this moment. For the rest of this month would be fine too.

"Please excuse me. I'll be right back." Jared apologized as he picked up his father's second call.

Miles sipped on his drink as Jess talked his ear off for the fourth minute. Yes. He was keeping count.

She'd leaned closer to Miles' ear. "I was thinking we should do this again. Just the two of us." Jess put her hand on his thigh and Miles damn near choked on his drink mid sip when her hand went up way too far.

"You alright?" Jerome asked Miles as he was discreetly trying to get through his coughing fit.

"Yeah, I'm about to go the bathroom real quick." Miles excused himself from the table. On his journey to the restroom, he had the better mind to leave the restaurant entirely. But when he saw that Gianna's table was in that direction, and she was alone, he figured he would stop by to say... hello.

"On a date, Miss Graye?" Miles asked as he walked up to her table. He very discreetly looked her up and down and took in her appearance. She looked beyond beautiful. But that was nothing new to him.

"Yes even though it's none of your business." She replied smartly while picking over what was left on her plate. "Don't you have a date to get back to?" Gianna asked him even though earlier she clearly saw him sitting with the other faculty members. Miles got on her nerves but she oddly didn't really mind it. That's what pissed her off the most.

"You're the one on the date, not me."

"Exactly so I'm confused about why you're over here." She rolled her eyes. "You know what? I'm confused on why you even felt compelled to come over here in the first place. The hot and cold thing you keep doing is not cute and you need to learn how to keep it professional."

"This what you call keeping it professional?" Miles began to get defensive.

"You're the teacher, not me, remember?" Gianna's hard facial expression softened once she saw Jared coming back to the table.

"Sorry about that." Jared apologized again. "Who's this?" He acknowledged Miles' presence.

"My creative writing teacher, Miles Delgado." She looked off to the side while drinking the wine that was in her glass.

Jared raised his eyebrows, "Oh, it's nice to meet you. We were just talking about your book. It was great by the way." Jared extended his hand for Miles to shake. She plastered a fake smile on her face, so Jared couldn't see how aggravated she truly was.