Page 61 of To Professor, with Love
Standing up, I reached across the table for her hand and pulled her up behind me.I’d never been a hand-holder before today, but I liked twining my fingers through hers and pressing our palms together.There was something wholesome and innocent and yet utterly erotic about swinging our arms in sync as we walked side by side.
“Mmm,nowthisis why I dragged you here,” I said after we both had cones full of ice cream.“I couldn’t very well buy ice cream by myself.”
Aspen tempted me out of my mind with the flash of her tongue as she lapped up her vanilla coated in chocolate and crushed M&Ms.“Why’s that?”
I snorted.“How lame is it for a guy to visit an ice cream stand by himself?Hell, it’s even wrong for a guy to take another guy.It’s only right when some chick is unwillingly dragging him along.”
Wrinkling her nose, she bumped her shoulder against mine.“So, I’m your ice cream beard, then?”
“Exactly.”See, she totally understood me.I didn’t even care that the entire idea made her laugh at my silliness.I loved her laugh.
We wound our way through the strip together, holding hands and eating our ice cream cones, checking out all the strange shit people had for sale.Homemade jewelry and odd little knickknacks mostly made us laugh.But then Aspen found a used books rack.
I watched her scan through the frayed paperbacks, charmed by the fascination on her face.She was in her element and looked good there.When she found a story I knew had caught her interest, I paid the vendor for the paperback before she’d realized what I’d done.
“You didn’t have to do that.”Her words said one thing, but her eyes said another as she gratefully hugged the book to her chest.
I rolled my eyes.“You’re welcome,” I said, bumping my shoulder into hers.“Now let’s find a grassy spot and stretch out for a minute so you can read.”
Her eyes grew big.“You...did you just offer to let me...read?”
I shrugged.“Sure.Why not?It’s our lazy day to relax and do whatever we want.And I’ve seen your bedroom, remember?I know how much you like to read.”
“But...you’re just...”She shook her head, at a loss for words.“That’s probably the sweetest thing anyone’s ever offered me.”
I couldn’t believe she was so touched by the suggestion.I didn’t see it as a big deal.Trying to play it down, I said, “Actually, I have a selfish motive.I was thinking a nap in the sunshine sounded like heaven right about now.So...if you were reading—”
“Wait, wait, wait.You brought me on a date to take a nap?”
When she arched her eyebrows, I laughed and raised my hands.“Hey, whoa.Who’s calling this a date?I thought I made it very clear I wasn’t going to try any of that hanky-panky that happens on dates.I just wanted to hang out with someone I enjoyed being with and do things we both wanted to do together.And since I can see in your eyes you’re dying to open that book, and I’d kill for an hour of rest, the two would go good together.”
And apparently that was all the explanation she needed.
“Okay, then,” she agreed before I could try to cajole her any more.
So that’s what happened.We stretched out together, side by side with our faces basking in the sunshine and our backs propped up by a huge ornamental rock, and I closed my eyes while she opened her book.
I don’t know how much time passed, but dusk was approaching when I came to.I felt more rested than I’d felt in a long time.It might’ve had something to do with the fact that my face was pillowed on her thigh or that she was running her fingers through my hair, but damn, it felt good.I lay there a second, just soaking it in, wondering how the hell my face had gotten down there and how I could get it there again, sans clothes.
I heard a page flip above me and decided to sit up, yawning.Aspen’s hand fell from my hair, which was a shame, but she smiled at me in a lovely manner as she lowered the book and asked, “Better?”
“Much.”I stretched, realizing she’d made it halfway through her story.Damn.“What time is it?”
I’d taken my phone out of my pocket before I’d gone to sleep to be more comfortable.When I spotted it nearby in the grass, I went to reach for it, but Aspen answered, “It’s almost seven.”
“Fuck.”Ten was probably having a shit fit.
As if he’d just heard my thoughts, my cell phone went off.
“And oh, yeah,” Aspen added.“Someone named Zero keeps calling and asking where his truck is.”
I groaned and answered my roommate, telling him to hold his damn horses.Aspen read the reply over my shoulder.“I take itZerois a friend?”
“Yep.”I pocketed the phone.“My roommate.He goes by Ten, so I of course label him as Zero.He takes Modern Lit with me, actually.Oren Tenning.”
Her eyebrows lifted.“Oh.”The way she said it told me she knew exactly who Ten was.“He writes very...interesting papers.”
Laughing, I leaned into her to smell her hair.It smelled exactly as I imagined it would, like lavender and warm sunshine.“I’ll bet.Chock full of f-bombs and crude comments, huh?”
