Chapter 5 #2
My heart palpitates, and I suck in a nervous breath. It takes every bit of energy not to react to his words first date. If I pretend that I didn’t hear him, maybe it’ll make the encounter a thousand times less awkward.
“Cute coat,” I say to Nova, smiling brightly as I pull my own beanie on to keep warm.
“Thanks,” Nova says. She walks beside me as we head outside, Luca right behind us, grumbling under his breath about being the third wheel.
I spin around on my heels, stopping, and he nearly collides with me. “What was that?” I ask, feigning innocence, all smiles.
He looks flustered that I spoke up, or maybe he didn’t realize I could hear him. He’s cute but not nearly as quiet as he thinks he is.
He jingles his keys at me. “Are we taking my car, or walking somewhere in this frigid weather for dinner?”
It’s not much of a question. It’s too cold to walk anywhere. We pile into his vehicle. I sit up front in the passenger side while Nova is seated in back. The car hums to life, but none of us has decided where to go eat. The heat blasts cold air, which doesn’t help.
“Where are we going?” Luca asks. He glances at me and then, presumably in the rearview at Nova.
“I don’t know,” Nova says. “I don’t know what’s around here.”
Luca shifts, glancing at me. “What do you feel like?”
“Not freezing to death,” I joke. “How about the Chinese buffet around the corner?” It’s cheap, has decent food and, more important, is close to campus.
Nova chats the entire drive over to the restaurant. The car doesn’t even have time to heat up before he parks out front.
I climb out of the car, and Luca hurries to open the front door as we step into the warmth of the building. He brushes against me. “Chinese food for our first date, huh?” he teases into my ear.
I can’t even say it wasn’t my idea because it was, but also, no one else was making a decision. They both left it up to me. “This isn’t a date,” I whisper a little too loudly, and Nova glances over her shoulder at us.
“Oh gosh, did I invite myself along when I shouldn’t have?” Nova quips.
Luca and I both answer in unison, but he shouts, “yes,” and I answer with a resounding, “no.”
“I’ve only ever seen you studying with Luca,” Nova says, clearly changing the subject. She doesn’t offer to leave, and I’m grateful. I’d also be worried if she tried to wander back to the house in the cold dark of night.
We grab a booth, Nova sitting on one side, and I climb into the opposite, which apparently gives Luca the opportunity to slide in right beside me. Maybe I should have opted to sit next to Nova, but I suppose if he doesn’t try any funny business, it’ll be all right.
“You don’t go to any of the boys’ hockey games?” Nova asks.
I shake my head. “I’ve never been to a hockey game.”
“Never? You’ve watched a game on television, though, right?” His eyes are wide, like I might have just traumatized the poor guy. Maybe he’s beginning to realize that it could never work between us.
“Never,” I say and shrug. “I’m not really into sports. Sorry.” I offer a faint smile, meeting his intense stare.
“No sports at all? What about the Olympics?”
That wins a smile. “I watch some of the Olympics when it’s on, but that doesn’t count.”
“What about the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup Playoffs?”
“Boring.”
“Would you ever attend one of my games?” Luca asks.
I inhale sharply. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. “You want me to watch you get your butt kicked by a bunch of guys?” I smile, trying to lighten the mood. “I suppose I could be down for that. Will there be popcorn?”
“I like her,” Nova says, grinning at Luca. “Can we keep her?”
I snort with laughter and then cover my face with my hand, humiliated.
“Oh, that’s adorable,” Luca says, nudging me. “Don’t be embarrassed.”
We give the waitress our drink orders and then migrate to the buffet before coming back to take a seat at the booth. Luca is still grabbing food while Nova and I have a minute of girl time alone to chat.
“What’s the deal with your brother?”
“What do you mean?” Nova asks.
“He’s a cute guy, clearly has the girls pining for him. What’s his deal?”
“Oh!” Nova’s eyes widen. “Do you mean, does he have a girlfriend? No, I don’t think so. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him hook up with anyone.”
“A while,” I repeat, taking a slow bite of food, trying to digest her words.
How long is a while? A week, a month? Is it just a dry spell for him?
Luca brings his plate heaping with food to the table and slides into the booth beside me. “What are we ladies talking about?” he asks, smiling at the two of us.
“Harper was just asking about your deal.”
“My deal?” Luca says, nodding slowly, eyes raised, like he’s getting all the secrets of the universe from his sister. He shifts and stares at me. “You could have just asked me directly. My deal is I’m single, for now.”
He grabs his fork and digs into his dinner, leaving me staring at him and speechless.
He’s not hitting on me. He’s flirty, jokes about dating me, but doesn’t actually ask me out.
Not that I necessarily want him to ask me out, only because I can already see how this won’t work out between us.
We live in completely different worlds. He’s a jock, I’m a bookworm. We don’t even share the same interests.
Oh, the over-analyzing is tiring. I shove my fork into my food and take a bite, keeping me from saying anything that will embarrass me further.
“I like her,” Nova says, nodding at me, as if I’m not right there and can hear every word.
“Me too,” Luca chimes in.
“Wow, I have a fan club,” I joke, trying to break the awkwardness that I feel with the two of them discussing me, right in front of me.
“Sign me up,” Luca says. “Do I get a card that I can carry in my wallet?”
“Sure, if you’ve got twenty bucks.” I hold out my hand teasingly.
After dinner, Luca drives me back to my dorm.
He leaves the car running, with Nova in the backseat, but climbs out when I get out.
“Are you walking me to the front door?” I’m half-joking but also kind of hopeful.
Although I don’t know what I’m hoping for exactly. Another heated kiss? When I think about that night, my lips still tingle and warmth floods me.
“Is that okay?” Luca asks as he grabs my backpack from the trunk and slings it over his shoulder.
“Sure, I guess that’s fine.”
“What kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t make sure you made it home safely?”
I don’t want to admit that I’m not ready to go home. If Quinn, my roommate, is around, it’ll just be hell until bed. I suppose I’ll pop on some headphones and watch a movie on the laptop until I fall asleep.
“I could never deny a gentleman anything,” I joke.
“Is that so?” he grins, and I feel heat flame my cheeks.
I head for the dormitory door, and he’s right beside me. We enter together, Luca escorting me inside the building and all the way to the front door of my dorm.
“Have a good night, Harper,” Luca says, and he leans in, brushing his lips chastely over my cheek. I turn slightly, letting his lips brush mine, needing a taste, wanting a reminder of what I felt that other night.
It all comes flooding back and more, the heat, the tingles pooling in my stomach and lower, making me feel things new and foreign. The butterflies are back, but this time I’m not upset or angry. I know he’s not interested in another girl, at least not Nova.
A part of me wants to invite him inside my dorm room, to finish our exploration and discover so much more about each other.
But I know Nova is in the back of the vehicle, the heat on, but she’s waiting for him to return, to take her back to the house.
And it’s that tiny voice, the annoying one that stops me from taking things any further.
Even though I want it.
I want him. I want Luca Ricci.
It’s fact. I’m falling for him, and I don’t know how to stop or even if I want to.
“Goodnight,” he says again, this time softer and sexier as his lips pull away. He’s smiling, his eyes dark and shining down at me.
I refrain from dragging him into the dorm room. I’ll have dreams about it, fantasies for the next several nights, imagining how it would go down if I tugged on his shirt and pulled him into the room with me, our limbs tangling together between the bedsheets, naked, hot, and sweaty.
A soft sigh escapes my lips, heavy and throaty as I whisper, “Goodnight,” back to him.
He plants one more kiss on my lips and waits for me as I fumble with my key before slipping into the dorm room, closing the door behind myself.
The warmth, the heat that flowed through me, instantly chills when I hear the sound of Quinn laughing and moaning as she’s making out with another random guy on her bed.
“I’m home,” I say, in case she didn’t see my presence or hear me enter.
She huffs, but it’s not sexy in the slightest. It’s clearly annoyance with me interrupting her. “You again,” she mutters.
“Yeah, me again.” I’ve tried giving the sophomore her space, been polite, even tried being cordial, but I’m done making friends with a girl who wants nothing to do with me.
It’s my room, too, and just because she has a guy over doesn’t mean I have to be hanging out in the hallway, again, until she’s done.
“Can’t you, like, get out for a while? Give us some privacy.”
“How about you go back to his place?” I say and jab my thumb toward the door. I reach for my headphones, already knowing she has zero desire to leave.
My phone buzzes with a text; it’s an unfamiliar number. I open the message, seeing it’s from Nova and it’s an invitation to a party next weekend. I don’t respond right away. I barely know the girl, and I’m not really into the party scene.
Of course, attending the party means that I’ll have a chance to see Luca again, which just makes me feel even more conflicted. I have feelings for him; they’re obviously growing into something that I’d rather not experience, considering who he is—one of Evergreen’s top hockey players.