“I gotta tell you, Emerson,” she said, “I really enjoyed that Indian place, Patak's. So much, in fact, that I had dinner there again with my parents on Sunday night.”
“Oh, did you now?” I said with a wry smile. “Looks like I got someone hooked on Indian food!”
She laughed and blushed slightly. Damn, she was cute when that shyness came over her. “Yeah, I think I might actually be hooked now,” she replied with a hint of something laced in her words. “What have you done, Emerson?”
If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought she was flirting with me. That maybe there was a hidden meaning in what she’d just said. I shrugged. “Oh no. Don't blame me, Brooke!”
“I have to blame someone, don't I?” She raised her eyebrows slightly and grinned.
“I suppose you do.”
“Anyway, when I was there with my parents, Mr. Patak recognized me and came over to say hi.”
“Oh, really? He always says he never forgets a face.”
“Yeah, well, he wouldn't shut up about you.”
“Me?”
“Yep,” she replied, blushing again. “He told my parents how awesome a young man you are. Um, how awesome he thinks you are, that is,” she quickly added.
“Nice to know he thinks that about me,” I replied.
“Well, anyway, my mom said I should invite you to the barbecue we're having this weekend.”
I tried my best to keep a look of calm, cool and collected on my face as I replied. “Oh yeah? A barbecue with your parents?”
“It's my dad's fiftieth birthday. It's gonna be a pretty big occasion, so I wanted invite a few of my friends. And after everything Mr. Patak told my parents about you, they insisted that I invite you. So… interested?”
I smiled. Hell yeah, I was interested. “Absolutely. Tell me where and when and I'll be there.”
“Great. Well, it's this Saturday at two in the afternoon. I'll text you the address.”
“Awesome. Saturday it is then.”
She looked like she was about to say something else when Garrett sat down beside her just as the professor walked in. She glanced back over her shoulder once more and flashed a smile that made me feel warm before she turned her attention back to the front of the class. My attention, however, was now on everything but class.
Chapter Nineteen
Brooke
Dad's birthday barbecue weather turned out to be pretty perfect. The sky was clear, the sun was bright, and it wasn't too hot. A gentle breeze hummed along and kept everything just cool enough.
I still couldn’t believe I actually invited Emerson to the barbecue. I hadn’t planned to. When my parents initially suggested it, I made up excuses as to why he wouldn't be able to make it, having absolutely no intention of inviting him. They accepted that I'd be coming alone, which was exactly what I had in mind. But then, when Emerson and I started talking in chemistry class, the invitation just kinda popped out of my mouth, seemingly of its own accord. I’d even lied about the fact that I had invited some of my friends. That was not even the case. Naturally, Leslie was invited, but she was the extent of it, but she had something going on with her family, so she wasn’t going to make it. It was just going to be a bunch of my parents’ friends, a few family members, me, and Emerson.
The truth was, I didn't really mind at all. If I was being honest with myself, I had to admit I was even a little excited about it. Over the past few days, I'd hardly been able to get Emerson off my mind. We'd had a great chat during our practicals on Wednesday. In fact, we talked and laughed for at least half an hour before even starting the experiment, by which time another pair of lab partners had showed up, giving us dirty looks as they waited for us to rush through the experiment because we had gone way over our booked time with all the chatting.
Friday I was handing out flyers for one of our RAG projects advertising an outdoor film festival for movies made by the students at the university’s film school when Emerson left the group of friends he'd been throwing a football around with and offered to help--but not before he asked about the details. I told him all about how the films would be shown on an outdoor projector on one of the campus lawns where people could bring picnic baskets and deck chairs, and that all of the proceeds from the tickets were going to a charity that built schools in rural parts of Kenya. He took most of my flyers and jogged around campus handing them out to everyone he came across.
Strangely enough, his apartment had been pretty quiet over the past week. I didn’t know if Emerson had finally managed to convince Chris to keep his music down, if Chris had been away for a while, or if there had been another reason for the silence. But whatever the reason, Leslie and I had appreciated the peace. And there was the lack of other sounds coming through the wall. I still hadn't found out if it had been Chris or Emerson behind those particular noises, and I really didn't want to know. As long as they had stopped, I was happy.
Part of me felt relieved that the extracurricular commotion had stopped, especially if Emerson had been responsible. Because it meant that… Well, let's just say I hadn't seen Melissa or her friends around the apartment building, either. Maybe that meant Emerson felt…
I stopped my train of thought. The last thing I needed to do was start jumping to conclusions. I couldn't afford to get into anything right now, not that and maintain focus on my studies.
Then there were the remnants of Andrew.
Although, weirdly enough, that seemed to have lost most of its sting. Especially after what Emerson had done for me at Patak's when Ben walked over to the table. Even though the whole idea of moving on, finding a new guy, feeling happy, and doing well for myself had been an act concocted by Emerson in the face of Ben's smugness, it had actually helped. I had finally started to feel like I was moving on, or at least like I was ready to move on and start a new chapter of my life without the shadow of Andrew hovering over me.