Page 37 of Made of Steel (Made of Steel 1)

"Oh, before you go, here." She handed me a note. "I got all excited because I thought Mr. RA wanted to be alone with me. But there was one for you too. Apparently part of his job is talking to all of us every now and then or something."

I looked down at the note. I was supposed to meet with him at 3:30. "I'm supposed to be at work at 4. Do you think I should see if he'll reschedule?"

"I'm sure it won't take long. Although, I'm hoping my session will take longer, if you know what I mean?" She raised both her eyebrows. "You know...like what you and Eli were just doing."

I laughed. "No, I got it. I just thought it was a rhetorical question."

"There is nothing rhetorical about the things I'm going to do to him. I can't wait for you to meet him so we can drool over him together. Although, your mind already seems preoccupied by Eli."

"It is."

"So, you really like him?"

I smiled. "I do." I slid off the bed and laced my shoes back up. "He makes me feel so...safe."

Kins laughed.

"What's so funny about that?"

"The adjective you used to describe him makes him sound incredibly boring."

"He's not boring at all. We have a lot in common. He's a gentleman and I like that." I really liked that.

"Well sometimes the guys that seem too perfect are actually the weirdest ones. He's probably a freak in the sack."

"Kins!"

"I'm just kidding. Kind of. And who really cares if he is hiding something under that perfect smile? He is seriously gorgeous. Did his abs feel as good as they looked?"

I laughed. There was no such thing as being too perfect. Right? I shook away the thought. I couldn't trust Kins' judgment when it came to men. "Okay, I'm leaving." I pulled my backpack over my shoulder.

"See you later," she said. "I can't wait to hear about how tonight goes."

"I can't wait to hear about how your date with Mr. RA goes. Hopefully a little better than the other night."

"Well it couldn't go any worse. I can't believe those bitches got there before me and monopolized his time all night. We did make eye contact a few times though. And don't you forget it."

"I don't think you'll let me forget it."

"Hardy har har. Well, during my meeting with him tonight I'm going to make him jealous. I have that date with Patrick tonight, so I'm going to rub it in his face."

"Solid plan."

"I thought so. Now I just have to figure out what to wear."

"See you later, Kins." But I wasn't even sure she heard me. She was already rummaging through a drawer of clothes, if you can even call those tiny pieces of fabric clothes.

Chapter 22

Wednesday

One thing I was sure about was that finance was my least favorite class. At least I understood why Mr. Crawford had enrolled me in it now, though. I had money that I needed to manage. It was probably irresponsible to have it all sitting in the bank, but thinking about it made my stomach twist into knots. It was hard to believe that it was even real.

It took me a second to realize that everyone was packing up their things. I had been daydreaming during class. I never did that. My eyes gravitated to the notes the person was taking next to me. She hadn't written much more down than I had. Maybe I didn't miss anything important.

I hurried back to my dorm and changed into my Corner Diner t-shirt. Hopefully this meeting with the RA wouldn't take long. I pulled my hoodie back over my head as I walked out into the hallway. There would be no more accidental bruise sightings today. I'd be more careful at work. And I'd tell Eli I wanted to slow things down again. That was fine. I had already told him I wanted to take things slowly. Now I just needed to get my body to agree with my very sound reasoning.

The RA's door was open, but I stopped outside because I heard two people speaking. Well, a girl speaking. I was a little early. I folded my arms across my chest and leaned against the wall.

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