Page 37 of Confusing Hearts

We joined Anita and Matt at the table. I immediately noticed Matt’s plate was piled high, too, while Anita had a small chef salad. Her eyes widened at the amount of food on my tray.

We were large cats, so our appetites probably rivaled the boys on most days; however, as ladies we did not show that to the opposite sex, especially guys we liked. I don’t know if it was the human television influence that caused us to hide it, or what, but all the girls did. Those that dated would practically starve themselves, then come home and ravish an entire turkey.

I happily ate my lunch, grateful for the bit of extra food, but still hungry when I was done. I hadn’t eaten breakfast, which made it worse.

I’m not sure how Chase knew, but as we talked, he casually dropped a slice of pizza on my tray. I tried to ignore it, but the longer we sat there the more it taunted me. After I ate that, he shared half his fries, and then a full slice of cheesecake. I sighed contentedly as I polished off the last bite. When I looked up, Matt hadn’t seemed to notice, but Anita stared in envy at my now empty plate.

On the walk to the library, Anita held back and pulled me with her. The guys talked as they walked ahead.

“I can’t believe you ate all that food in front of them,” she scolded.

“I was starving. I slept through breakfast.”

“You put way more food on your tray than you normally eat in public,” she pointed out.

“I didn’t, Chase added some of it,” I confessed.

“And then he just kept giving you his, too?”

I shrugged. “Wolves have like super hearing or something, you know. He probably heard my stomach still grumbling, and for sure they’re listening in on this conversation,” I pointed out realistically.

Chase laughed, confirming my suspicions.

“If you were hungry, why didn’t you just eat?” Matt asked Anita as the guys waited for us to catch up. “I may not put away quite as much as a wolf, but Chase knows we eat almost as much as they do. I may not be black, but still the same species, remember?”

“Why do you guys do that?” Chase asked.

“Do what?” Anita asked innocently.

“Pretend like you don’t actually eat. Buy a small salad and swear it’s enough. That’s such a human thing to do. We’re animals, we eat, and our metabolisms require much more food than an average human, so why bother hiding it?”

Anita and I both shrugged. “It’s a girl thing, you wouldn’t understand,” she finally said.

The guys shook their heads, but dropped it. We reached the library and settled into a study room on one of the upper floors.

“Who else are we expecting?” Anita asked.

“Huh?” I asked.

“You said it was a study group. How many more are we expecting?”

My eyes flashed to Chase’s for help.

“The other two texted earlier and couldn’t make it, so it’s just us,” he lied without even flinching.

“Oh, well, I guess it’s a good thing I tagged along, or you’d be stuck here with just these two,” Anita said.

“Good thing,” I agreed.

We opened our books and got down to work. Chase took the lead and walked through several problems, answering all our questions.

“Wait up, so you’re like some kind of math whiz?” Anita asked.

Matt laughed. “Shh, it’s his biggest secret. He’s a closet genius.”

I was pretty certain I was his biggest secret, but I’m sure that was a close second.

Chase shrugged. “No one will believe you if you try and tell anyone.”

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