Page 57 of Keep Me Still
“Tell me,” I say, making a grab for her arm as she turns away from me to go in the diner.
“Wait, I have another question,” she announces suddenly.
My neck nearly snaps at the abrupt change of pace. “Okay, how about you answer mine and I’ll answer yours?”
“It was nothing. I’m fine. Just a nice thing you said, that’s all.” She waves her hand, and I want to call her on the bullshit, but I’m kind of curious to know her other question.
“Whatever you say. What’s your question?”
She eyes me. “How did you know I wasn’t going to UGA? That I was coming to SoCal?”
And there it is. That other damn shoe. The one I’ve been expecting to drop since she let me kiss her in the alley. This is it. The opening to tell her everything. And I should man up and do it, I really fucking should. But maybe the Colonel was right.
Maybe I am just too damn selfish.
“It’scalled the Internet, babe. And the magic of texting. Cam and DW kept me up to date on what was going on with everyone,” Landen says as we walk into the diner. The milkshakes are okay here, thick and sweet but not as rich and chocolatey as Our Place, the diner back home where Landen took me on our first date.
I’m still trying to process the fact that, even though we hadn’t even spoken to each other in over eight months, Landen gave up his dream of going pro to come here and try and get me to give him another chance. He took a risk, he said. I’ve never taken a risk of that magnitude, so I’m having trouble understanding why he would do that.
When our cheese fries and shakes arrive, Corin is laughing hysterically at something Skylar said, drawing my attention to him. He’s cute. Maybe if he weren’t sitting so close to a perfect specimen like Landen, a girl might even call him hot with his perfect smile and dark curly hair. But he might as well have “player” stamped on his forehead. Corin seems to know this already, so I don’t comment. Not like I’m an expert anyways.
But our waitress is a petite brunette and her tiny white uniform is a size to small. I don’t miss Skylar noticing, but Corin pays no attention. Just as I’m about to kick the goalie under the table for being a rude jerk to my roommate, Landen nudges me. “What?” I murmur, tilting my head toward him as I watch Skylar memorizing every detail of the waitress’s ass.
“He’s doing it on purpose,” Landen says, barely loud enough for me to hear. “To make her jealous.”
I blink. “Seriously?”
At that Landen laughs, and Corin and Skylar both look up at us. “What’s so funny?” Skylar barely manages to peel his eyes from the waitress to ask.
“Layla’s getting upset because you’re working so hard to get Corin’s attention.”
“Nice, man. ‘Preciate it,” Skylar snarls before shoving a handful of cheese fries into his mouth. “Fucker,” he mumbles through his full mouth.
Corin rolls her eyes and shakes her head, but she’s blushing a little.Blushing.Corin. It’s like we’ve entered an alternate universe.
“Well I hardly think undressing the waitress with your eyes is the way to get Corin’s attention,” I huff, still annoyed.
“It’s okay. I can get her number for you, if you’d like,” Corin offers with herI know a secretgrin.
And now I feel like an idiot for getting upset on her behalf. If she knows what Skylar’s doing and doesn’t care, then there’s no reason I should be all worked up about it. I can’t figure out what kind of game they’re playing, but I’m glad things aren’t as complicated with Landen and me. Well, they weren’t until I found out five minutes ago that he came here just to be with me. I should probably be cracking under the pressure or something, but somehow I’m not.
His presence next to me in the booth keeps me from fidgeting, and I can’t help but lean into his warmth. Glancing up, I watch as he takes a drink of his shake. The way his throat muscles work to pull it down makes my stomach tighten. I look away for fear I might not be able to keep my hands to myself if I don’t.
When I drop a fry on my shirt and reach down to get it, I feel his eyes on me. Slowly, I lift it to my mouth. “Corin, did you take notes in Intro this morning? I need to get them from you.”
“Yeah,” she tells me, still smiling from whatever Skylar just grumbled about her getting the waitress’s number for him. “It was all about how to study for comprehensive exams. Probably nothing you don’t already know.”
I nod and take a drink of my shake. Corin’s eyes flicker to my right, and I know she’s noticing Landen watching me. Honestly, I’m a little bit scared to look. Without turning, I slide my hand in between his thighs and give the denim a little squeeze. Muscles tense beneath my hand, and I carry on with Corin as if I don’t notice.
“Was it that same lady lecturing again today?”
Corin shakes her head. “Some dude with a comb-over. I think they get guest speakers or something.”
Skylar smirks at what I can only imagine is a pained expression on Landen’s face as I rub my thumb in slow circles on his inner thigh. Just being able to touch him has me drunk with power. “I mean, what professor wants to show up ass early and tell all of us how not to screw up and fail out? They probably draw straws every night to see which loser has to come show us how to sharpen our pencils.”
I laugh at his comment and so does Corin, but Landen is silent beside me.
That is until Skylar and Corin start arguing over the necessity of bacon on a cheeseburger and whether the correct term is syllabi or syllabuses, and whatever the heck else they’re going on about, and I feel his breath on my neck. I lift a cherry to my mouth and clean the whipped cream off with my tongue before eating it.
