Page 11 of Scandal

“I know,” he says, sounding a little arrogant. Maybe he caught that though, because he adds in a kinder tone, “I see snippets of your work, in our room. Hard not to notice. Only so many places to look.”

A chuckle breaks free from my lips. “I can relate, obviously,” I say in a knowing tone, lowering my eyes at him.

Xander’s mouth becomes a tight line and I’m sure I’ve said the wrong thing again. But he seems to decide to let it pass as he tells me about his latest code work. “Doing a project for Whitmore right now. The code compiles literature from a field, organizes it based on keywords. Sort of like writing a literature review. Then it matches those reviews with calls for grants. It will make Whitmore faculty much more competitive in grant writing. Which means more money for Whitmore.”

“Sounds cool. How are you doing it?”

My question works like a charm, because Xander is saying more words to me than he ever has. He’s almost reciting code to me from memory. That’s when I decide he must be some sort of genius. Hopefully not the evil kind, unless you are asking him. He doesn’t seem to have a high opinion of himself. That is probably the most surprising thing about him. For all his cockiness and arrogance that he seems to portray to the world, I am starting to wonder if that isn’t armor.

When my phone pings with a reminder to start walking to class, my plate is empty and my elbows a little sore from how long I’ve had them planted on the table while I listened to Xander talk. I think I could listen to him read the dictionary and still find it interesting. He is that charismatic. And by charismatic, I mean hot.

Even as I sit in class, I am still clinging to the sound of his voice, the way his orange-brown eyes watched me while he speaks. It is the most attention he’s given me, and it feelsreallyfreaking good. Maybe he is right. That kind of attraction will be dangerous if I don’t get my stupid crush under control. I need to hang with friends. That will help.

After class, I text the guys from my LGBTQ+ student group. We haven’t really clicked yet, but maybe I haven’t tried hard enough. When I ask if anyone wants to get drinks, Leo and Dillan say yes, so at least that will give me a little distance from Xan. I stop by the room only to toss my bag and switch into something cuter—my tight black jeans and an even tighter caramel-colored T-shirt. Tonight, I need to get attention from actual gay men, ones who are emotionally available.

Chapter Three

Data Types

Programmers don't byte, they nibble a bit.

Cameron

“Why are you so sulky lately?” Dad asks as I push some torched green beans around on my plate. Since this side dish is usually my favorite, I guess I’m being pretty obvious.

“It’s nothing.” I brush his comment off and force myself to take a bite of the lemony legume. Try to forget that six days ago, my roommate let me touch his thigh in the middle of the night, and I had to crank it in the bathroom afterward, and now I’m crushing on him a little bit, and I don’t have any real friends yet, and no guys like me. Yup. That’s nothing. Totally fine here.

Dad gives me a pointed look, lowering his chin in that way that invites conversation.

“I feel weird, talking about it with you,” I admit.

“It’s a sex thing?” he asks nonchalantly. I am wholly not prepared for my father to bring up sex so casually, so I practically choke on my bean. Sputtering and coughing, I take a sip of water to clear my throat.

“It’s not a sex thing,” I say in a hushed whisper. “It’s just that, none of the gay guys at this school seem to have any interest in me. See why I didn’t want to say that to my dad?”

Dad shakes his head. “Not really. We’ve always talked about everything. This should be no exception. Now, what makes you think guys don’t like you? After all, you have the Parker man genes, and we are lookers.” His eyebrows waggle obnoxiously.

“Yeah, that’s why we’re both single, because we’re so handsome.” I make sure he sees my eyeroll.

He brushes his shoulder off in dramatic fashion. “I’m single because I’m focused on my career. Not because I don’t have options.”

“Way to rub in it,” I groan.

Dad sets down his fork and his brow pinches as he looks at me. “I don’t know how dating guys works...”

I belt a laugh at that. “I’d assumed as much.”

He smirks. “And I know you have always been good at reading people, but is there a chance you aren’t sending the right signals to these guys?”

That’s a thought. I swallow my green bean and start cutting at the chicken. “What signals should I be sending?”

Dad points his fork at me, a bite a chicken dangling off the end. “Well now, maybe you are sending friend signals, when you need to be sending flirtatious signals.”

I think over his words. Have I really found anyone attractive enough to flirt with? Besides my roommate, who I totally should not flirt with. I mean, Leo and Dillan are cute, but I can’t say that I have tried to get their attention. I’m not sure if I like them like that. Maybe Dad is right.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” he says with a smug grin.

“It’s rude to read people’s minds,” I complain, before returning to my dinner with new gusto. “Maybe I do need to put myself out there more.”

---