Page 4 of Fire of the Fox

Dallas pondered it. “Best burgers, hmm? That’s a pretty bold statement. I wouldn’t know any different of course. We just moved into town today for school.”

“Oh, you girls are freshmen over at Brinkley?” asked a dusty blond who sat on the bench against the grill’s front wall.

I nodded. “We are.”

“Nice,” Pizza man said. “We all go to school there too. We’re juniors.”

“Juniors. That’s exciting. Is it pretty hard there? I heard that the professors are super strict.” Dallas batted her lashes at Mr. Cheesy Pizza, who was already under her spell.

“Not too bad. For certain professors, there are tips and tricks to getting through their classes.”

“Sounds interesting. Maybe you could teach me those tricks?”

His big brown eyes stared straight into hers, and a deep smile formed on his lips. A small laugh escaped him, and he held out his hand to her, tilting his head up. “I’m Rance.”

Her small hand fit inside his easily. “Dallas.”

“Dallas. Nice to meet you. Why don’t you give me your number, and maybe we can arrange a time to go over those tips.”

After they exchanged numbers, his group of friends wanted to talk about our majors and what to expect about college life. It felt like hours when we finally pulled ourselves away from the group and proceeded onward, our bellies even more demanding of food. While we could’ve joined the boys for burgers, Dallas had this idea of keeping Rance on his toes by not looking too eager. So we parted ways, leaving the boys to stare after us.

“Well, that was a success, I think,” Dallas laughed.

I looped my arm in hers. “You are a mess! I can’t believe you actually got his number and arranged a date.”

She shot me a pout. “You doubted me?”

I laughed. “Never.”

Chapter Two

THE RESTAURANT WE settled on for dinner was a small Italian place. We sat in a booth at the far end of the restaurant, and the smell from the toasted garlic bread and seasoned tomato sauces made my mouth water. My stomach growled.

“Man, I need food now,” Dallas groaned, flipping through the menu.

“Same. But first, I need to use the restroom.”

She waved without looking up. “Have fun.”

Getting up, I quickly turned to go down the back hall to the bathrooms when I smacked right into a wall. Or so I thought. What felt like a wall was actually a person. I gasped, stumbling backward, but the person’s arm reached out to catch me.

“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled through my embarrassment.

Running into someone two times in one night, Bria. Nice one.

Looking up, I came face-to-face with a pair of startling amber eyes, their hue like that of liquid gold. The color was so startlingly vivid. I immediately took a mental snapshot to try to recreate that color in a future painting. My breath caught as he smiled down at me.

“No worries. Are you okay?”

My mouth opened, but no words came out. It was like I choked on them. His hair was so blond that I swear it was white. It was longer, barely reaching his shoulders, and it paired perfectly with those golden eyes of his. His full lips were turned up at the corners. He was almost too beautiful to look at.

Clearing my throat, I nodded. “I’m fine. You?”

“Totally fine.”

I smiled up at him as he gave me one final nod before walking on toward a table with a few other guys at it. He sat down with them, leaning in close to say something. I swallowed hard and quickly dashed to the restroom before racing back to the booth.

I was out of breath by the time I collapsed onto the leather seat, and Dallas watched me with bread paused halfway to her mouth.

---