Page 13 of Of Pranks and Passion

He ducked into his room, giving his roommate a quick apology. I saw him flinch when blood splattered across the scene in the movie. It was a gory one, and normally I’d love watching movies like that, but Gary obviously needed a rescue. He barely slipped on his shoes before he was out the door and heading for the stairs. When I raised an eyebrow at him, he shrugged. “It’s good exercise?”

Lie. That was another thing I was good at. I could tell when people were lying to me. There was some other reason he took the stairs, but he wasn’t willing to talk about it, and I wasn’t interested enough to push. I followed him down the stairs and outside, drinking in the cool night air.

“Was there a reason you called?”

I glanced down at him, raising an eyebrow, so he clarified. “Earlier. You called me, but you were immediately distracted because I was freaking out a little.”

“A little?”

He ducked his head with a heavy sigh. “Okay, a lot. I hate horror movies.”

“So why didn’t you say no?” He had a serious issue telling people ‘no.’ First his family, now this? He needed to grow a spine.

He shrugged, wrapping his arms around his middle. It wasn’t that cold, but his clothes were pretty thin, and he looked like he weighed almost nothing.

“My roommate is really nice to me, and I liked that he invited me to do something with him. Yeah, I didn’t really like the movie choice, but at least he was nice enough to ask.”

I nodded, pulling my hoodie off over my head. When I handed it to him and he frowned at me, I waved a hand at it dismissively. “I run warm. It’s fine.”

At least this time, I could understand his reasoning. He didn't have many friends that I could tell, and even I felt something when my friends first started inviting me out. It was nice to be included. I didn’t do shit I didn't like, but I got it.

Gary pulled my sweater over his head, and I froze when he looked up at me. The hoodie was like three sizes too big on him, long enough to cover his hands, and went down almost to his knees. It was supposed to be for Coach, so it was his size and a little big on me, but he gave it to me because he didn’t like dark-colored clothes.

Seeing Gary in it sparked a possessive feeling I only got very rarely. Usually with my friends. It wasn’t easy for new people to come into our group, and a good part of that was because of me. Never for someone I was horny for. It wasn’t a romantic thing, and it’d be unfair of me to demand his attention since he seemed like a relationship guy, but it was intense, and it took me a few minutes to realize he was speaking to me.

“Are you alright?”

CHAPTER EIGHT

GARY

Easton had gone quiet,and he was staring at me. It always made me flush whenever he did that. I was going to ask him if he changed his mind and wanted his sweater back, but he cleared his throat and looked away, jerking his chin at a bench underneath a light.

I followed his direction, stuffing my hands in the pocket of the hoodie. It was so warm. No wonder he wore it all the time. Probably made me look like a little kid because it was huge on me, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. It smelled like him. I had to seriously fight the urge to bury my nose in the fabric. It’d basically scream I was into him if I did, and I wasn’t even sure if he liked men. He was impossible to read.

Sitting on the bench, I drew my legs up into the hoodie and snuggled in. The next time I could afford to buy new clothes, I was going to buy a hoodie that was too big. This was way too comfortable.

The silence was heavy, and I caught Easton staring at me a few times. Or maybe he just never stopped. I glanced at him and away, my face flushing, and every time I looked back over, hewas watching me. Desperate to ease the tension a little, I asked, “Didn’t you say you were busy most weekends?”

He grunted, stretching his legs out in front of him, his hands shoved into his pockets. He made cool look easy. “Saturday and Sunday I’m busy. Besides, my friends pointed out I was a huge dick to you on Monday. I called because I wanted to apologize.”

“Oh. It’s okay. You don’t need to–”

He flashed me a look that said he wasn’t interested in hearing me argue before continuing.

“I’ve always been short-tempered. I should’ve been nicer. I’m sorry.”

I honestly couldn’t remember a time when someone apologized for upsetting me. Yeah, I’d been a little hurt when he growled at me like that, and I tried to give him space since I pissed him off, but I didn’t think he’d noticed. He spent most of the classes we shared with each other glaring at his phone. The animosity only grew over the next few classes we had together, so I figured I’d ruined any chance at being friends with him and decided to let it go. We’d get through the group assignment and I’d leave him be. I didn’t think he’d show up to apologize.

“I…” I didn’t know what to say. What do you say to someone who apologized to you?

“I finished the project. I’ll email it to you on Monday so you can check it before we hand it in.”

My mouth fell open in surprise. “That fast?”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “You finished half of it in a weekend.”

I made a face, wrinkling my nose. Okay, technically I did. But also, no. Because it was just an outline. A detailed one, sure, but he was making it out to be a bigger deal than it was.

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