Page 36 of Confusing Hearts

CHASE: see you in 5?

JENNA: ok.

My heart raced with anticipation. I hadn’t planned on seeing him outside of the library. Speeding up departure, I practically plowed over Anita on my way out of the door.

“Oh, hey,” I said in surprise.

“Where are you off to in such a hurry?”

“Study group at two and I need to grab some lunch first.”

“Oh, what study group?”

“Calculus,” I said, without even thinking she was in the class, too.

She perked up immediately. “I’m really struggling with a couple of the questions on the practice test he gave us. Can I tag along?”

There was no way I could say no. “Sure.”

We headed over to the café. Chase was already there waiting, and Matt Williams was with him. I looked at him curiously. Anita squealed happily when she saw him. Anita hugged him and he kissed her right there in front of everyone as they went off to find food.

“Sorry,” Chase said. “I didn’t know Matt was struggling with calculus when he asked my plans for the day. I told him I had a calculus study group at the library, so he invited himself along.”

I threw my head back and laughed. “Anita’s crashing, too. Same exact scenario.”

He grinned. “Guess we suck at sneaking around.”

“Guess so.”

“Come on, let’s grab some lunch at least. I’m starving. And my treat, no arguments.”

I didn’t want him wasting his money on me. I knew how tight budgets were for college students. Money had never been an issue for me; my father was wealthy and I was raised with every advantage, but I didn’t want to bruise his pride by saying no. I vowed to discuss it with him later.

I picked up a tuna sandwich, some chips, and grabbed a water. Chase looked at my meager lunch and added a fruit bowl and side salad to it.

“You expect me to eat all of this?” I asked him, even knowing I could polish that off and then some. I was starving.

“Yes, I do,” he said definitively, and that was when I noticed the heaping pile of food he had on his own tray.

I shook my head. “Wolves.”

He grinned and pulled out a black Amex card to pay. It was crystal clear I didn’t know as much about Chase Westin as I thought.

The girl at the register glared at me behind his back.

“Thanks, Kelly,” he called over his shoulder.

I sped up to keep up with him.

“You totally slept with her,” I accused before I could stop myself.

He turned to look at me in surprise. “Uh, why would you say that? And it was a long time ago.”

I laughed. “She’s clearly not over it, though, from the glares she was giving me.”

He cringed. “She was one of the clingy ones. Nice girl, but definitely not the girl for me.”

The smoldering look he gave me made me blush.

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