Page 30 of Neo

“I think I should head back to my place now. Give Lucia my thanks for the delicious meal.”

“It’s getting dark.”

“Exactly my point. Shouldn’t some of your teammates be home soon?”

“They are home.”

Oh my god!“They are?”

“What are you so worried about? Lucia probably told them that I have company, so they wouldn’t bother us.”

“So they think that I’m what…one of your puck bunnies or something?”

“Does it matter what they think, or are you more worried about what they’ll tell Shane?”

I notice how Neo’s left hand flexes again when he asks the question. When he walks toward me, I take a careful step back, recognizing that any proximity to him is unnerving for me and my vagina, but my backward movement seems to annoy him further.

“Are you afraid of me, Violet?” he asks, perhaps concerned about what my response will be.

“No, what I was trying to say is that this is a men’s hockey house and I’m a new transfer student with a reputation to think of,” I tell him.

“A reputation? This isn’t 1955, Violet,” he says straight-faced. “We’ve got girls in and out of here all the time and nobody is on campus calling them whores or pinning them with scarlet letters.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not one of your hockey bunnies or whatever they’re called, and I have no interest in becoming one. I don’t know what you want from me, but I’m at this school to get my degree and then get the hell out of Nevada with zero drama.”

“No drama here.” His face softens a bit, and he throws his hands up in a motion of surrender. “This was just lunch and all I want is to be friends.”

Just lunch.

Just friends.

Of course, that’s all this is.

Seriously, what was I thinking? I’m a bit embarrassed, implying that this impromptu lunch might have been more than what it was…just lunch. Neo is just a flirt. I think he may even still be with Vikki and even if he isn’t, he can have any woman he wants on this campus. In fact, I’m beginning to think that the only reason why he invited me here is because Kennedy told him to stay away from me.

“Good, so I’m free to leave?” I ask, feeling a little stupid about the last ninety minutes I’ve spent over this house.

“Absolutely, but I’ll walk you home.”

My first reaction is to protest the escort back to my place. I’m already mortified that I was even having some of “those” thoughts, but I have a feeling that Neo would never go for it, so I simply agree to get this evening over faster. Then I’ll never have to see him again, at least not on purpose.

Our walk to my apartment is mostly quiet, and it leaves me feeling more uncomfortable than I was fifteen minutes ago. It’s a complete 180-degree turn from how he was acting earlier–friendly. Have I made a complete fool of myself tonight?

When I can’t stand the silence anymore, I decide to fill it with words because that’s what I do sometimes when I’m nervous.

“Are you going home for Christmas?” I ask, realizing that I don’t even know where home is for him.

“I don’t go back to Ohio much.”

“You’re from Ohio?”

His head tilts to the side and his mouth forms a half smile. “I keep forgetting you’re new around here. Yeah, I’m from the Columbus area.”

“Why don’t you want to go back and see your family?”

He stops walking for a moment and so I stop too.

“A drunk driver killed my brother when I was in high school. I don’t like to go home much.”

---