19. The Raffle
The Raffle
TALIA
“Very well, class.” Professor Cantucci smiles once everyone has handed their quizzes to her T.A.
“I hope everyone did well today. But if you studied what we covered so far in class, you should have passed this quiz with flying colors. Now, before I dismiss you, send one person from each group down here for our exciting raffle. You’ll be excited to know that this year’s group project is about Ancient Roman cuisine and the way it’s represented in figurative art throughout the centuries.
While we learned about how the Ancient Romans ate through the literature that has survived until today, art shows us exactly what that food looked like.
The frescos and mosaics that decorated the Roman villas are especially important in showing us how the wealthy class ate.
But mosaics and paintings decorated some public buildings too, and sometimes art depicted what the common people, the plebes, ate.
You will draw a food from the hat and then, as a group, you’ll research that food and prepare a presentation with all the visual references you can find during the entire span of the Ancient Roman civilization.
But this year, I thought it would be fun to go one step further.
Each group will also replicate that food, keeping as historically authentic as possible with the ingredients available today.
You’ll bring that dish to class so that we can all enjoy an Ancient Roman buffet.
I’ll contribute a few dishes of my own. Doesn’t that sound fun? ”
“Dude,” Tucker chuckles. “She gets excited like we were about to win a car, not be assigned homework.”
I can’t help but think that a car right now would be wonderful. Selling mine to pay for extra expenses my parents couldn’t help me with was painful. Luckily, Star Cove is a small town, but walking everywhere can be very time consuming. “Yeah, if you know of any free cars, sign me up.” I murmur.
“Tal, if you need to borrow my truck, you just need to say the word.” My brother says.
I appreciate his kindness. Tucker might be an overprotective ogre sometimes, but I know he loves me.
He even promised to buy me a car as soon as he gets his sign up bonus from his NHL team next year.
“I know, thank you. But I hate driving your truck. I’m too short and I struggle to even see in front of me.
Last time I drove it, I had to sit on two extra cushions. ”
Tucker pulls me into a side hug. “That’s because you’re pocket sized.”
I’m about to remind him how much I hate being small, but Macklin intervenes in our conversation. “If you need a car, you can borrow mine anytime. Or if I’m not at practice or in class, I’m happy to drive you anywhere you want.”
“Who would’ve thought you’d be such a good boyfriend?” Tucker ribs him.
Before Macklin can answer anything, Gen chimes in from behind us. “Yeah, he has his moments. When he doesn’t ignore you all day on game day or dumps you for no reason.”
Macklin turns to look at his ex-girlfriend. “Sucks being dumped, huh? I’m glad you know how it feels since you broke up with me every other month. But unlike you, I had serious reasons to end it.”
His blue eyes are dark and stormy as the gray swallows the blue in his irises.
“People!” Professor Cantucci is looking at us with her hands on her slender hips. “Can we get this show on the road? I have another class in fifteen minutes. You can socialize in your own time.”
“Sorry, ma’am.” Tucker says, rising from his seat. “I’ll go draw for our group, if it’s ok?” He walks down the steps to the professor’s desk once he gets the go ahead from his group.
I shift in my seat to look behind me. Becks is too far up in the classroom to hear me unless I raise my voice, but his blue eyes are focused on me.
God, he’s so hot. His facial features are different from Macklin’s despite having a similar bone structure.
It’s mostly his nose and lips that are different.
Their eyes, though, have exactly the same shape.
“Shall I go draw for group A?” I ask, pitching my voice as loudly as possible without shouting.
“No. Who made you the group leader?” Gen immediately snaps. “I want to go draw our topic.”
It takes all my patience to stifle an eye roll. “Fine. Go for it. I don’t care.”
As Genevieve descends the steps to the front of the classroom, Macklin shakes his head. “I didn’t know we were back in middle school. Did it matter who drew our topic?”
I shrug. “It didn’t. I think Gen is mad at me. She let me know it wasn’t cool of me to steal her boyfriend. My conscience is clean about that, but I get that seeing us together must be hard.”
Macklin’s jaw ticks. “If she gives you any trouble, let me know. You have done nothing wrong. It isn’t your fault nor mine if she doesn’t get the meaning of the word over.”
“So,” Professor Cantucci presents the students who walked down to draw a topic with a fedora hat full of folded squares of paper. “Who wants to go first?”
Gen and Tucker’s hands shoot toward the hat at the same time.
“Sorry. You can go first, Gen,” my brother offers.
“Thank you, Tucker. You’re such a gentleman.” She bats her fake lashes at him, running her long nails down his bicep.
Tucker’s face turns bright red. “Don’t mention it.” He takes a step back, clearly embarrassed.
Isn’t it funny how Gen accused me of stealing her boyfriend and then flirts with Tucker in the same breath?
Taryn has nothing to worry about since Tucker is totally devoted to her. But I know she wouldn’t like the way Gen is looking at her boyfriend.
Genevieve picks one piece of paper and hands it to the professor.
“Victor will note down everyone’s topic,” Professor Cantucci says, showing the inside of the piece of paper to the class, even though no one beyond the first row can read it. “Group A will research and reproduce garum.”
“What the fuck is that?” Macklin whispers in my ear.
I take a second to answer his question. His warm breath fans over my ear, his lips so close that I can almost feel them on me. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Tucker is next.
“Group B has Emmer. Group C has Moretum.”
Once every group has received their topic, Professor Cantucci dismisses the class.
“Holy shit,” Tucker says, coming back to get his stuff. “Tests make me hungry. Who wants to come and eat something together?”
Macklin
“I’d love to.” Is Gen’s response to Tucker’s invitation. “But I’m on a diet, so I can only eat salad.”
I bite my tongue. Gen is tall and thin. Not rail thin like Professor Cantucci, but she’s definitely on the brink of being underweight for her height.
We’ve discussed her obsession with dieting many times when I expressed concern over her not consuming enough calories.
She’s a dancer, and she spends a lot of energy during her dance classes, so she needs to fuel her body properly.
Of course, my involvement wasn’t received as a sign that I cared. She insisted she needed to lose weight no matter what I or her parents said.
“Sure.” Tucker’s sheepish expression tells me that the invitation wasn’t meant for Gen, but my teammate is too nice to let her know that.
“I could eat.” Colsen says. “Exams always make me hungry.”
Becks reaches us in that moment.
“What about you, Beavis?” Tucker slaps my brother on the back.
He ignores his nickname, but I know he hates it. “Yeah, count me in. If group A is all there, we could start discussing how to proceed with our project.” His eyes are fixed on Talia when he says that.
I bet he’s been looking at her the entire time. I noticed him staring when we arrived holding hands. Just like I thought, he’s jealous.
Talia is gorgeous, so the fact that he noticed her is no surprise.
But you know what? In love, like in hockey, if you snooze, you lose.
If he wanted Talia, he should have taken his shot straight away.
I guess we’ll find out if Becks really wants her for her or if he just wants her because she’s mine.
And if I can help it, if I can make Talia want me more than she wants him, I don’t plan on our relationship status ever changing. We might be fake dating right now, but the way I feel about Talia is as real as it gets.
“Sorry, man.” I pull Talia to my side, wrapping one arm around her shoulders. “But I was planning on taking Talia out to lunch, just the two of us. You know how it is with our crazy schedule. I have to make every spare minute count to spend quality time with my girl.”
That goes down as well as a hockey stick to the teeth. Becks’s jaw ticks. But it’s Gen the one who makes a bitter comment.
“Isn’t that nice? You never gave a shit about quality time when you were dating me.”
I have no problem calling my ex out on her bullshit.
It took me a second to understand that my romantic feelings for her were long gone way before I learned that she’d been unfaithful the whole time we were together.
“Talia is just as busy as I am between classes, the Zetas, and her job. But even if that weren’t the case, she doesn’t whine about my busy schedule.
She’s shown nothing but support so far.”
“Whatever.” Gen flicks her hair as she walks out of the classroom. “Hockey is boring as fuck. Wait until the novelty wears off, and she’ll complain just as much as I did.”