Page 48 of Steeling Her
I send him a smile and he sends me one back.
We’re all sitting on the sofa. We spend the hours watching a movie. The boys were sitting on the sofa and Carter layed on her brothers’ laps while I sat on TJ and Nick. Danielle is on the single chair but she ran to it first. The furniture in the dorm is only really able to fit the three of us and one other person, so it’s a tight squeeze on the sofa.
We’re watching “Iron Man,” courtesy of Danielle. TJ is rubbing my foot under the blanket. It’s so relaxing, I could fall asleep right now. I’m usually ticklish with people touching my feet but this feels amazing.
Listening to the TV that’s on full blast, I’m not really watching it. I’m too focused on what happened between TJ and me in our bathroom. I smile just at the thought of it. I feel a squeeze on my foot, and I look over to see the culprit. TJ smirks over at me, and I shyly smile and look away. He knows I was thinking about it.
Everything is so calm despite how loud the room was. Nobody is speaking. This day is one of my favourites. I met the Steel brothers and I got asked out by the guy I’ve been in love with practically my entire life.
This is perfect. Everything is perfect.
I want to live this moment forever and never let it go.
Chapter Eleven
Fireball
Carter
I click my pen against my paper in thought about how we should approach this assignment. I’m so unsure about how reports are written in college. Research reports are the worst, and I haven’t even written anything. I sit there and mind-numbingly click my pen, synchronizing with the clock above us.
Kevin’s hand suddenly rests on my own to stop me. I forgot people can hear me, even through the walls.
We rented out a study room so we could do this assignment together and help each other out. He seems to know a way to write this ungodly report but I cannot seem to motivate myself to do the damn thing. It’s eating at me. I couldn’t be less motivated even if I tried.
Time is slowly ticking by, and I just want to leave. However, the deadline is two days from now and I haven’t done a single thing.
College problems.
“You going to keep staring at the blank page or are you going to start writing down some ideas?” Kevin teases me. His hand runs through his icy blond locks with a playfully pointed look. As soon as his eyes meet mine, his brows ride up to tell me he was waiting for a reply.
“My brain isn’t working today,” I say with a sigh and drop my head onto my arms that are resting on the cold wood. I groan at how tired I’m feeling. I sleep nearly twelve hours a night but always feel more tired than when I went to sleep. It’s just a recent thing.
It’s probably because I miss my family. My brothers were the last to leave me; they left this morning. I miss them so much. I hate being away from my family. It always bums me out when they leave.
“Are you okay? You look a little drained,” Kevin asks with a worried expression. I nod, not lifting my head off my arms.
“I’m just tired, that’s all. I probably need a nap or something.” I shrug my shoulders while I hear him chuckle beside me.
“Didn’t you sleep for like twelve hours last night? Maybe you have a cold or something?” he suggests. I groan in frustration, praying that it’s not. I have the worst immune system. It always fails me, I never have the strength to fight off sickness on my own. I always end up in the doctor’s office with multiple prescriptions afterwards.
“Don’t say that . . . I don’t need that on my plate right now.” He rubs my back out of comfort and I shift my head to the side to see him smiling down at me.
“How about we just make a plan for today and do some research? We won’t write up anything and we can do it all tomorrow morning before our class. It shouldn’t take long to do . . .” I sigh. After a bit, I sit back up with a smile as I’m making myself comfortable. My head is not in a good way today, for some reason.
We spend the next couple of hours planning out the report and writing notes to ourselves while researching, and let me tell you, the time did not fly by. Typing away on the computer and getting some sort of momentum going, I finish the last part of the sentence on my last bullet point. I sit back and breathe a sigh of relief that I actually got something done today. I haven’t been motivated to do anything other than lie in bed and read for the last few days.
“Let’s get you home. You look exhausted.” I feel my eyes ride up to the top of my head while I stare at him.
“Do I really look that bad?”
“Crap! I didn’t mean it like that! You look pretty today—I mean . . . shit . . . ugh . . . You just look like you . . . Forget it, I’m digging my own grave right now.” I laugh at him and his eyes widen in surprise at me. I lean back on the chair and try to cover my cackle while I feel my body shake. Once I finish, I open my eyes to see a grin on his face. It’s a mixture of confusion and amusement.
“It’s okay, Kevin, I know I look like crap today . . .” I close my laptop and slip it inside my handbag then gathered up my notepad and pens.
“You don’t look like crap, Carter.” I see his cheeks turn light pink in color as he averts his eyes away from mine so he can pack his stuff away. I give myself a tight smile, not knowing what to say.
I’ve never been good with compliments. I never got them often enough to know how to take them. Although, I don’t really know if it was a compliment to be honest. “Come on, I’ll walk you home.” He towers over me as he rises to his feet. He’s a tall guy and quite toned too. The girls in my class gush over him so much. He’s super nice and very sweet. I just don’t know why he wants to be around me. I’m the complete opposite of him; awkward and weird.
