2
When I wake up, the room is empty again. Thank god for early morning practices, I think as I get dressed. At least it means I’ll probably have the room to myself every morning since I tend to just roll out of bed as soon as possible before I need to actually be somewhere. And, I really do appreciate that the guys are quiet about getting ready, too.
I shouldn’t complain. There are way worse roommate situations I could have been stuck with. Someone loud or annoying or who blared music and tried to keep me awake all night.
This will be fine, I tell myself as I stuff my books into my backpack. It’ll just take some getting used to. Hell, maybe it will be good for me—if I can learn to ignore my own attraction to these guys, then I’ll be well set for ignoring any other hot guys I might stumble across this year. Making it through any other tests of willpower will be a cakewalk after this semester.
A little bit more cheerful after that thought, I head out of my room, chewing on a breakfast bar as I make my way toward my first class. The campus is already bustling at this hour, people crossing it in all different directions on their way to classes. I have bio first, which I’m actually excited about. But I get about as far as figuring out which of the towering glass structures surrounding me is the science building and then I completely lose my place. There’s a zillion different corridors inside the building, each one branching off a different direction, some upstairs, some down… The numbers don’t seem to be in order, either.
I walk at least five minutes down one hallway before it dead-ends and I realize I’ll need to turn around and go a completely different direction just to get back to another option.
Crap, crap, crap, I think, hurrying my steps. I left with plenty of time to spare, but if I stay lost in this maze much longer, I’m going to be late. On my very first day of class, no less. Way to make a great first impression on the professor.
Not to mention, I’ll probably miss some important introductory explanations of how the class is going to work…
I’m so busy beating myself up that I don’t even notice the person standing directly in my path until I nearly walk headfirst into them. I stop myself just a foot short of collision and look up to find Vin grinning at me, eyebrows lifted. “Lost?” he asks, and part of me wants to deny it just to wipe the grin off his face.
Because that grin is too irritatingly sexy.
But I don’t have time to play games right now, so I just sigh and admit defeat. “Totally turned around. I’m trying to find room 305, but…”
“Yeah, this building is a complete maze. C’mon, I’ll walk you.”
I fall into stride beside him, trying to ignore the fact that there’s only an inch of space between his arm and mine. I can almost feel the heat radiating off of him, and I can definitely tell that he went home and showered after practice—he smells mint-fresh, with a hint of cologne, and something else underneath, a scent I recognize from our shared room. The scent that’s all him, pine and dark woods and mystery.
His dark eyes cut sideways to find mine as we walk, the ever-present smile still lingering on his narrow mouth. “Excited for your first day?”
“I guess so. More nervous than excited, probably,” I admit, sighing as our steps speed up.
“Not what you expected?” he replies, quoting our conversation the day before.
My cheeks flush. “At least now I know I have no idea what to expect, actually,” I reply, trying for a smile. It’s an olive branch, and he takes it in stride, his smile widening.
“Don’t worry. Between the three of us, I think we’ll do just fine here.” He comes to a halt, and I nearly walk straight past him because I was distracted thinking about what he meant by between the three of us.
Then I realize we’re standing outside a classroom. My classroom. 305. And not a moment too soon, either. The bell sounds overhead, signaling the start of the hour, and of my bio course.
“Thank you so much,” I gush as I step inside. But to my surprise, Vin follows me in, his grin widening. I swallow hard as we slide into the only two remaining seats at the back of the 80-odd person lecture hall, side-by-side. “I didn’t know you were taking bio,” I whisper as our professor turns on the screen at the front of the room.
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me yet, Cassidy,” he replies smoothly, winking as he pulls a notebook from his bag, then assumes a jaunty lean in his seat, eyes on the board.
Even with his gaze directed elsewhere though, it still somehow feels like he’s staring at me. The space between us feels almost physical with weight.
As I figured, it’s difficult to focus on the professor, when all I can concentrate on is the feeling of him beside me. Wondering what he’s thinking. Why he’s taking this class, too. Is he also planning to be a Bio major, or is he just filling a science requirement? What does he want to do with his life, besides playing lacrosse?
There’s a break in the lecture as the professor tries to make his slideshow keep advancing, and Vin scribbles something on the corner of his notebook. Slides it sideways so I can see, and I have to stifle a laugh when I read it.
Might be a Bio pro, but he’s no techie, huh?
Vin offers me his pen, and with a reluctant glance at the professor—still lost in his laptop—I accept it and lean over his notebook.
Got to admit, I expected a little more from this class than just a PowerPoint presentation.
Don’t worry, he writes back, his letters long and looping. Prof. PowerPoint here is just the main lecture. The bio labs themselves are supposed to be pretty epic, and we have a better prof who runs those. So I’ve heard.
I cast another long sideways glance at Vin, again reappraising everything I thought I knew about him. If I had to guess, I’d have taken him for your standard jock, here on an athletic scholarship, willing to blow off classes, not actually interested in learning much aside from how to win at his chosen sport.
Clearly, I was way off the mark.
Something about the way I’m staring at him must tip him off that I’m surprised, because Vin leans across the desk between us to whisper in my ear, his breath hot against my cheek.
“What’s the matter, surprised that a jock actually gives a damn about class?”
He’s so close to the mark that my cheeks, bright red, answer enough for him. But I lean back over to whisper a reply all the same. “It’s a pleasant surprise, don’t worry. I’ll stop pre-judging you now, promise.”
Now it’s his turn to smile in surprise, eyes widening. “I knew I’d
grow on you,” he replies, smirking. “It’s inevitable. Side-effect of the jock super-powers.”
I punch his arm lightly, but he catches my hand and squeezes my fist once, fingers curled around mine for a breath of a second, before he lets go and turns to face the front of the classroom.
The professor is talking again. Crap. I didn’t even notice.
“You should take your classes more seriously, Cass,” Vin joke-scolds me, even as he plucks his pen from my fingers and goes back to taking diligent notes.
For my part, it takes me a few breaths to recover before I can hold the pen again without shivering, a telltale sign of just how much he affects me.
Dammit. This is exactly what I’d been hoping to avoid.
And yet, Vin is so much more than I pegged him for when we first met. He’s quietly serious, watching the professor with a steadfast gaze that’s almost as distracting as the warmth radiating off his skin or the faint whiff of his cologne that I keep catching when I turn my head to steal glances at him.
Toward the end of the lecture, our professor takes a break to fiddle with the PowerPoint again, and the class fills with chatter. I steal a sideways glance at Vin, feeling bad for pre-judging him. “Are you interested in this as a major?” I ask, genuinely curious.
“I’m considering it,” he says, leaning toward me easily, so fluid in his movements. “I want to study sports medicine. Too many people get injured playing sports; if I can help people avoid that, keep them on the path to their dreams…” His eyes catch mine, and my breath hitches in my chest. “I think that sounds like a pretty good career choice.”
“It does,” I admit, my cheeks flaring red from his attention. “I was thinking about going into medicine too. Not like, directly, but research in the lab. Working on developing new medications. Discovering cures.”
“You want to heal people too,” he guesses.
I nod, unable to tear my eyes from his.
“That sounds like a pretty good choice too, Cassidy,” he replies, and the sound of my name on his lips is hotter than I can explain.