“I’ll help you.”
Elsa jerked back. “What?”
“Look, I know what I’m doing, and you clearly don’t. This will be awesome for me to put on my college application.”
She shook her head. “No, that’s not going to happen. There’s no way in hell that I’m going to be—”
“I’ll do it anonymously. I can take pictures without your head, or anything that will give you away.”
“You can do that?” she asked, curious.
“There are a great many people who like their privacy. I can help you with this.”
“And you look awesome for college?”
“It’s a win-win for both of us. You lose weight, I get a good education.”
She bit her lip, hating and liking it at the same time. The last thing she wanted to be doing was allowing Noah to be near her. He wasn’t an awful guy, but other than being a jock, she didn’t know anything about him.
“So what do you say?”
“No one can know about this. Not your friends, or family.”
“It’s a secret.”
“Completely top secret.”
“Okay, so completely top secret, let’s go to my place,” he said, walking away from her car.
“What?”
“My place. Let’s get started. How long were you on the treadmill?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to go to your house.”
He turned toward her. “Do you want me to go to yours?”
“No.”
“Then where do you expect us to get started?”
“What’s wrong in there?”
“No, we’ve got some preliminary stuff to get done. We do it in there, it’s got to be done through Bruce’s books.”
She groaned. “No, I don’t want any record of what we’re about to do.”
“Then stop being a pain in the ass, and get in my car.”
“What about my car?” she asked.
“You don’t want anyone to know about this, right?”
“Duh.”
“Well duh, right back at you. Your car in my driveway is going to have a lot of people curious, asking questions. Do you want them asking shit about this?”
Once again she was stumped.
“You’re right.”
“You know, for a smart girl, it doesn’t show.”
She glared at him but couldn’t find a reason to tell him otherwise.
Climbing into the front seat of his car, she held her bag tightly to her, and stayed silent as he pulled out of the parking lot.
She hated awkward silences, and she felt utterly tense.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said.
“Oh, I know. I could probably squash you anyway.”
“Okay, rule one, do not put yourself down like that.”
“Excuse me?”
“I don’t want any fat jokes, or comments when you’re with me.”
She frowned. “I get called them at school. In fact I’ve been called a lot worse, by you and your friends.”
“Actually, not by me. I don’t get involved with that shit. My friends, that’s their deal, not mine. I don’t put anyone down. I don’t believe in that. In fact I actually believe in karma.”
“Karma?”
“Yeah, if I start putting you down for your weight or whatnot, then later in life I’m going to be hit by something that’s going to make my life suck. So, I live in a nice little bubble, and it works for me.”
“Wow, a jock who is weird, who knew?” she asked. “What do you tell your friends?”
“About what?”
“About where you work out? I thought you guys were supposed to train together or something. You know, compete for how big your dicks are.”
“Oh, look at you, knowing what a dick is,” he teased, and she rolled her eyes. “You do know what one is?”
“Shut up, Noah.”
“You’re not a very nice girl.”
“I’m a little out of my comfort zone.”
“You don’t think I am? I intended to relax today, do some weights, some running, maybe some laps in the pool—”
“You consider that relaxing?”
“What do you consider relaxing then?” He glanced over at her.
“Seriously?”
“You say that a lot.”
“I know.”
“So what do you think is relaxing?” he asked.
“I don’t know, anything that is not working out?” She looked over at him.
“Nope, that’s not me, I’m afraid. I find sitting around doing nothing stressful.”
“You don’t have to do nothing. What about a walk in the park? Or maybe going swimming?”
“I would have gone for a swim. We both have different ideas about relaxing.”
“There’s also my personal favorite, being a slob.”
His knuckles were white as they held the steering wheel. She sat back in his seat and watched the scenery go by.
“Jessica doesn’t know you’re here?” she asked, filling the silence.
“We’re not together anymore.”
“You’re not?”
“Jessica is lying. I’m not with her since before her little outburst a year ago in the gym.”
“Wow, a whole year. You still hang out with her.”
“She’s part of the cheerleading squad, I don’t have a choice. What about you, nerd, do you have any guy troubles?”
“Nope, I’m lucky that way.” She messed with the flap on her bag, and as she did, she couldn’t believe that she was sitting in Noah’s car, on the way to his house. This went against every single rule that she’d ever known.