Page 90 of No Such Thing as Serendipity
I stopped midstride. If I didn’t respond, it would be obvious. I turned and faked a puzzled expression. “Huh?”
Dana’s eyes were hard, whereas Robyn’s were soft—tender.
Fuck her.Anger would be easier to deal with. Hurt would be preferred to the gentleness I saw in her eyes.
“Uh, yeah, I just don’t want to be late to my next class.”
The others hurried past me. I assumed they wanted to scatter as quickly as possible to give us privacy. Dana, on the other hand, took her time gathering her belongings.
Emma walked over to Dana and stood beside her. “Which class are you going to?”
“Um, I don’t know,” Dana stammered, seemingly caught off guard.
“Let’s go find out.” Emma moved forward and motioned Dana along.
As Emma escorted Dana from the room, I wanted to laugh at Dana’s expression.
Emma called to me over her shoulder. “Take your time. We aren’t scheduled to be anywhere until ten thirty.”
When the others had gone, Robyn motioned to a chair. “Would you like to sit?”
“No, I’d preferred standing.”
“Okay.”
One point for me.
“I’m sensing something from you.”
The woman is a genius.
When I didn’t respond, Robyn said, “I’ve upset you, and I’d like to make it right.”
I continued to stare. Without her asking a direct question, it wasn’t rude not to speak.
“I want to apologize again for my unprofessional behavior,” Robyn said.
“I heard you the first three times,” I snapped. So much for remaining silent until she posed a question.
“You seem unwilling to accept my apology. May I ask why?”
I turned up my nose as if she’d said something offensive. “Why do you feel the need to apologize? You said it yourself. It wasn’t a big deal, so I don’t know why you’re making it one now.”
“Oh, god, how could I be so stupid?” Robyn smiled. “I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Robyn put her hand on my arm.
I flinched and stepped back. “What are you talking about? Why would my feelings be hurt? It was a stupid dance. We were screwing around, putting on a show. Nothing more.”
“Then why are you so angry?” Robyn asked.
“Why are you so quick to dismiss it?” I responded.
“Oh, Blake, I’m not trying to dismiss it. I’ve just never reacted this way with a student before. Never behaved that way. I was afraid I made you uncomfortable, so I thought it was my problem to deal with, not yours.”
Fuck.Now she decided to be truthful and vulnerable. I liked it better when she was apologizing. I needed to get this situation back under control. “That’s the thing about you touchy-feely sorts, you overthink everything. It was a fricking dance.”
“Do you believe that?” Robyn asked.
Damn her.How did I push someone like her away with all her calm? Give me the hothead Dana any day of the week. I did the only thing I could to save myself. I lied. “Yeah, I believe that. It was just a dance. But all this groupthink and woo-woo stuff is making everyone read a bunch of bullshit into everything. I was screwing around, mocking the whole fucking silent dancing bullshit. It meant nothing.”
