Summer Fling - Players of Marycliff University, Book 1

Chapter 4

Lance quickly stepped ahead of Abby so he could grab the door to the mall. She gave him a funny look, but walked in. She'd opened the inner door before he could get there, but he put his hand above hers and held it while she went through. He kept having to work harder than normal to beat her to the door. It was like she didn't want him to open doors for her. But his mom had raised him to be a gentleman, and that meant holding doors for ladies. He even did it for the annoying chicks that flirted with him, all twirling hair and flashing cleavage. He was always polite to them, but he never went out with girls that flirted too hard. Flirting should be light, fun, not pushy.

He liked girls that bantered. That were smart and funny as well as pretty. That didn't just try to trade on their looks. Girls like Abby.

He was relieved that she'd agreed to let him replace her shirt. He'd felt like a complete ass when he'd taken the laundry out of the dryer and saw what had happened to it. He'd just tossed everything into the dryer without looking at it, so he hadn't realized anything bad was happening to the shirt until it was way, way too late.

He just threw all his clothes in and washed them the same way no matter what. He'd never tried to wash anything for a girl before and didn't know there were rules about it.

He followed Abby, lengthening his stride to catch up. "So, where to?"

Abby headed toward the nearest department store. "I need something I can wear to work. Megan lets me borrow stuff, but I'd like to keep that to a minimum if I can."

"Who's Megan?" He was walking close to her, almost close enough to brush his arm against hers. Her hair was down today, and landed just past her shoulders. He'd thought her hair was more dark blonde last night, but the sun coming through the mall's skylights picked up hints of red.

Abby glanced up at him. "My roommate."

"Is she the one that you went to the party with last night?"

She nodded. "Yup."

"Did she wonder where you'd gone after you left the party?"

Abby shook her head. "No. I texted her that I caught a ride with a friend. She saw me today so she knows I'm not dead in a ditch somewhere. Parties aren't really my thing anyway, and Megan knows that. I doubt she expected me to stay the whole time."

Lance couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. "So we're friends, huh?"

She tilted her head from side to side. "It was the simplest explanation. Besides, you have been friendly."

He wasn't sure friendly was what he was going for, but decided to let that go for now. "So why were you there last night?"

Abby led the way through the store to the women's department, heading for the section with business wear. "What do you mean?"

"You said parties aren't really your thing. Why'd you come to the party?"

She started pushing through the clothes on a rack. "Megan told me I had to. She thinks I need to break out of my shell more. I'm not sold on the idea, but she promised she'd do all the dishes this week if I went."

She looked up and smiled at him, her blue eyes twinkling. Lance smiled back. "Nice. I can see how that would be convincing." She moved to another rack and Lance followed. "So, where do you work?"

"I run the language labs for the Spanish One and Spanish Two classes over the summer. I also grade their online homework. I don't actually have to dress up, but I like looking a little nicer than if I were one of the students. I have a hard enough time getting them to take me seriously as it is."