Chapter 11 #2
“Well, it’s the base of almost the entire marine food supply and produces eighty percent of the world’s oxygen.
Plus, humans use it for food, medicine, biofuels.
You name it. Oh, and green algae blooms, like my costume, are so toxic they create dead zones where no marine life can survive.
It can even be fatal to humans. So, you know, I wouldn’t get too close if I were you. ”
The distracting little gleam returns to his gaze. “And what does Nova think you’re dressed as?”
“Poison Ivy.”
“Ah,” he says, mirroring my earlier statement. “So my sister did pull you into her shenanigans.”
“She usually does.” A soft laugh escapes me. It’s too easy, too comfortable. I straighten my spine. “So what are you doing here anyway? Adding stalker to your impressive résumé? Congrats on the win, by the way.”
He smirks. “Saw my medal, did you?”
Shit! I gave myself away. “What? No. You just have that arrogant air of victory around you.”
“My natural state.” He nods so seriously I have to smother a laugh.
Dammit, he’s funny when he wants to be. “But, no, sorry to disappoint. I’m not stalking you.
I just couldn’t sleep, so I thought I would make Logan’s night and come check out the party.
Then I saw you out here and figured I should probably apologize before the frostbite got to you. ”
“Apologize?” I arch a brow, hugging the cape closer. With the warmth of his body heat leeched from the fabric, it’s not nearly as helpful as it was before. My teeth are starting to chatter. But there’s no way in hell I’m leaving before I hear this.
He sighs and pulls off his sweatshirt. “Take it.”
“I’m fine.”
He doesn’t even say anything. He just stares at me in such a bullheaded way, I know there’s no way he’s going to relent and supply the aforementioned apology until I do what he says.
Joke’s on him. I’m freezing and I was only trying to be nice—a mistake I’ll clearly never make again.
The cape falls to the ground as I snatch the sweatshirt and pull the fabric over my head.
Oh my god.
An indecent groan escapes my lips as the warm cotton slides across my skin.
It feels so fucking cozy, I can’t stand it.
With the hood over my head, I pull my knees up to my chest and slide the hem down to my ankles so I’m fully surrounded.
His sleeves are so long, I don’t even bother to free my hands.
I just keep them wrapped up from the cold as I hug myself around the calves and turn my face back to his.
I can’t read the look in his eyes when I find him staring at me.
There’s something almost soft in his gaze. It makes my breath hitch.
“I believe you said something about an apology?”
“Right.” He licks his lips and looks away, back to the lake. “I’m sorry I made that stupid joke at the pool, about what I said to Danny. I didn’t think it would make you so angry.”
“You wouldn’t.” My defensive instincts crank into gear.
He frowns, turning back to me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” A dark laugh slips out. I’m not sure if it’s aimed at him or at me, but a familiar embarrassment leaks from my heart. That girl who’s a virgin. I’m not sure he has any idea how perfectly his dagger hit its mark.
“Tell me.”
“I’m just not surprised you didn’t think it would make me angry, that’s all.
You clearly like to sleep around, and that’s totally fine if that’s what you want to do.
I’m not judging. It’s just not the way I operate.
I need to feel something to be with someone.
I want butterflies, you know? Maybe it’s old fashioned or whatever, but I want that buzz.
That anticipation. And if it’s not there, the whole thing’s just not worth it to me. So laugh all you want. I can take it.”
His green eyes darken, so intense I need to look away. A gust of wind blows. Ruffling leaves fill the silence as he keeps staring, boring a hole into my cheek. Voices and music from the tent trickle to my ear—an escape.
“Look, I—”
Nox puts a hand to my shoulder, stopping me. Even through the layer of fabric, it burns so hot my muscles tense. A flare zips down my spine, sparking like a firework. As if lured by a magnet, my eyes instinctively shift to meet his.
“I told Danny to back off because everyone else in that room could tell you weren’t into it, and he should learn to read the signs, too. That’s it. That’s all.”
There’s something he’s not saying. I know there is. But I’m not going to press it now. I just want to get out of this alcove and back to the tent. Somehow the swell of a hundred other bodies feels more spacious right now than sitting here for one more second with him.
“I should go.”
“Me too.”
Neither of us moves. Two beats pass. I jump to my feet like a spring suddenly released, reluctantly tugging my arm through the sleeve.
“Keep it,” he says roughly.
“You don’t—”
“Just keep it, Clara,” he snaps, as if he’s angry with me. I have no idea why. And that’s the problem with him. Every time I think we could maybe, possibly start being friends, he pisses me off all over again.
“Fine, I will.”
I spin on my heel and stomp back to the tent.
I don’t realize he isn’t following until I make it back inside and turn around to wrinkle my nose at him like the petty child I obviously still am.
Nox isn’t there. He isn’t anywhere. I peek my head back outside the door, but the quad is empty. A groove furrows my brow.
I thought he wanted to find Logan…
“You’re back!” Willa’s voice has me spinning. She wraps me up in an enthusiastic hug, as if I’ve been gone for a year instead of twenty minutes. When I finally extricate myself with a laugh, her eyes have that glassy sheen of a happy drunk. A silly smile paints her lips.
By her side, Nova gasps. She grips my sweatshirt, staring at it hard. Her similarly hazy eyes go wide as she yanks me forward. I stumble into her chest, nearly knocking us both to the ground.
“Were you with a boy?” she whispers excitedly.
Shoot! Technically, yes. But I know it’s not the way Nova means. “No, I just got cold,” I lie, not entirely sure why. I could tell them I ran into Nox outside. It’s not as if we don’t see each other all the time. But…I don’t. “I just ran back to the dorm for a sweatshirt.”
“Boo. No fun.”
“Come dance!”
They tug me back into the throng. It takes another hour for the party to wind down.
Nova leaves with a guy, promising she’ll text us updates so we know she’s okay.
Willa and I head back to the dorm, picking up Grant along the way.
He’s such a gentle giant off the football field, I can’t even match him up with the maniac I saw strong-arm a two-hundred-and-thirty-pound defenseman to the ground as if it were nothing, and I sort of love that about him.
Without my even needing to ask, he offers to help me get Willa up the stairs to her room.
And when she grabs his arm and pulls him inside to watch an old episode of Planet Earth with us, he doesn’t even bat an eye.
He sinks down on the opposite end of the bed, grabs some chips, and settles in.
Willa’s out cold in twenty minutes, but he and I finish the episode together.
It’s Shallow Seas and there’s no way in hell I’m turning it off before we reach the footage of the great white sharks hunting off the coast of South Africa.
He’s never seen it, and I cover my mouth with my palms to hide my anticipatory grin as the scene draws closer.
My gaze darts to him right before the best part.
“Oh shit!” He gasps at the sight of a twenty-four-hundred-pound fish with nearly three hundred razor-sharp teeth leaping completely out of the water in pursuit of a poor little seal.
I let my hands drop, revealing my shit-eating grin. “I know.”
“That was—”
“I know!”
When the episode ends, I usher him out, letting him know I’ve got it from here.
I tug off Willa’s shoes, tuck her under the covers, and take off her cochlear, having long since learned what to do.
The battery goes in the charger. The processor goes into its dry box.
Then I grab a water bottle from under her bed and set it up on her desk for when she wakes up in the morning.
Nova’s still out when I get back to our room, but she texted a winky-face a little while ago so I’m not too concerned.
I know I should probably shower or at least change, but I don’t.
I just reach under the hoodie and slink out of my bodysuit, then my tights, before climbing into bed.
A little hint of chlorine clings to the fabric.
I find it oddly comforting as I hug the warm cotton around me and drift off to sleep.