“Finished it up the other night. Nothing better than Mormon culture in Missouri.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not. His voice didn’t raise with sarcasm, it just kept the same even tone. “Overachiever,” I whispered.
“I like to get things done.”
I tried to focus on the professor but I couldn’t help paying attention to every move that John made. It was probably a good thing I didn’t know he was in this class before or I would have never been able to concentrate. Every time his fingers touched the keyboard I found myself watching how his hands moved and thinking about how those same hands were on my hips just a few nights before and what other parts of him were pressed against me.
I was expecting him to be one of the guys that would just play games or check his Facebook, but he really was paying attention. Maybe he wasn’t the dumb jock I pegged him as.
By the time class was over I had barely taken any notes and was hoping there wasn’t something big I missed. I gathered up my stuff and put it in my bag, ready to walk out of class, but then John put his hand on my lower back. I glanced up to meet his pearly white smile. How was I supposed to stay away from the guy that made me melt just from a little smile?
“Where you headed, Red?”
“I have World Literature over in Brown, you?”
He kept his hand on my lower back as we headed down the row and out of the classroom. My whole body was acutely aware of his fingers and I had a feeling every other girl was aware of it as well. A few whispers came from some of the girls that we passed walking through the classroom and out the doors into the November air. I didn’t even want to guess what they were saying, but from the glimpses of snarled upper lips I didn’t think it was anything good.
“I’ve got Algorithms and Data structure over in Ike.”
“Say what?” I looked up at him.
He tilted his head back, laughing softly. “It’s a computer class. I’m a computer science major.”
“Seriously?” I widened my eyes. He had to be messing with me. A guy with a body like his had to be some sort of kinesiology major or something. I’d seen a lot of the computer science majors and they were the type of guys that lived for online gaming, not fine specimens like John Walden.
“Man, you don’t give me any credit. Yeah, I’m really a computer science major. Does that surprise you?”
“Honestly, yeah. I didn’t think that was your type of thing.”
“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.” He leaned down, pressing his lips to my ear. “And a lot I’d love to show you.” His tongue grazed the very edge of my jaw line, sending a shiver of pleasure all the way down to my toes.
“John Boy!”
John snapped his head up and I gasped when I saw two buxom blondes in Kappa Beta shirts sauntering in his direction. Just what I wanted to see. Ugh. I had nothing against sorority girls. In fact, Monica was a Kappa Beta at her old school and my sister was a Sigma. But there was just something about the way these two girls puffed their chests out and smiled at John that made my blood boil.
“Hey Layla, Hey Lex.” He nodded in their direction and still kept his hand on my back. Good. Showed them that I wasn’t just another random girl. Even though I wasn’t exactly sure what I was. “Do you all know Melanie? She’s Trey’s girlfriend’s friend.”
The curlier of the blondes slowly moved her gaze in my direction, blinking hard. “Oh, yeah. You work at Brewster’s, right?”
“Yeah. Yeah I do.” I nodded, unsure what I was supposed to say.
She turned her attention back to John and scooted closer to him, running her manicured fingers down his arm like I wasn’t even there. “So, did you and Gabe talk about the mixer for Friday night? We’d love to do an exchange with our Alpha boys.”
I felt like that was my cue to leave and I slowly tried to slip away, but then John’s hand slinked around my waist, pulling me against him. Even while his eyes were on the girl, I felt that his attention was focused on me. “Yeah. I’ll have Gabe text you or something.” He squeezed my side. “See you, Layla.”
He turned me in the other direction and started walking away from the two blondes, who had to be gaping at me. “Trying to get away from me, Red?”
“I just need to get to class and you were talking...”
He laughed, a low sound that came from deep in his stomach. “You need to chillax a little.”
“What?” I raised an eyebrow. The leaves were changing colors and starting to fall off the trees, blanketing the ground in a array of reds and oranges. If I was by myself I may have gone out of my way to find a particularly crunchy one to step on. But I couldn’t embarrass myself like that in public and especially not in front of John.
“You seem so tense. Maybe I need to come by your place and give you a massage or something.” He squeezed my side. If he thought I was tense before, he probably thought I had gone rigor. My body seized under his touch and it became hard to breathe.
“Um, no, that’s okay.” We were almost in front of Brown Hall and I had to get away before I did or said something stupid and made a fool of myself. “I better get to class. Don’t want to be late.”
I wiggled out of his grasp and power walked like an old lady toward Brown.
“See you around, Red!” I heard him yell behind me, but all I could do was wave because if I turned around and saw him smiling, there was no way I was ever going to actually make it to class.
On the one hand, he seemed like a big player. No guy just makes out with a girl in the middle of a fraternity party if he wasn’t. But on the other hand, there was something different about him that was becoming highly addictive and hard to stay away from. Maybe the guy wasn’t a player and maybe I’d get a chance to find out.
But that would have to wait until after class.
Chapter 4
The next few days were filled with the normal routine of work and classes. It made me acutely aware of what little of a life I actually had. My dad bailing on us put a lot of financial stress on my mom before I went to college. I had to rely on student loans and a lot of hours at the coffee shop just to get by. I couldn’t blow all that by going out every night. That would be why I was currently sitting alone in my apartment while everyone else was probably out.
The Halloween party at the Alpha Mu house was a fluke. No matter how much I tried to concentrate, I couldn’t help but let my mind wander to images of John. Not just how good he looked in a loincloth, but the way he looked at me. Like there wasn’t anyone else around. Hell, he ditched two blonde girls to talk to me.
No. I shook my head, even though no one could see me. I’d been staring at my open Word document, typing my paper for American Religious History. It was very dry material and I constantly had to take breaks to check my Facebook or watch a YouTube video just to stay awake.
After an additional half an hour of reading another boring article, I decided I deserved another Facebook break. Usually not much had changed on my newsfeed except for some more memes or people with bad grammar from high school posting about something stupid. But this time I did have something new. One friend request.
I clicked on it and there was a picture of a guy in a loincloth.
I couldn’t help it. I giggled and quickly pressed accept. No sooner had I pressed the button when a message popped up.
I gasped unconsciously. It was as if he was waiting for me to come on. I wondered what he was doing at this exact moment, but it would have been really creepy to ask, so instead I just went for normal conversation.
