Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 16278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 81(@200wpm)___ 65(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 16278 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 81(@200wpm)___ 65(@250wpm)___ 54(@300wpm)
She rolled her eyes. “I’m not sure yet. Anywhere out of this town would be great. My parents went to England. They have some amazing universities there that I’ve been considering.”
“Wow, out of the country.”
She nodded. “I’m not sure, though. I think my parents are planning to rent a place near wherever I go. You know how they can get. What about you?”
“Undecided. I’m being scouted for some, but like you, I’m not picking just yet.”
She nodded. “It seems crazy how we’ve got to make these life-changing decisions that could affect the rest of our lives. I don’t even know what I want to do when I’m older, you know? I’ve had passions all my life. Cooking, writing, I even considered medicine, but I kind of faint at the sight of blood.”
“Kind of?”
“Yeah. It’s a little thing, but I hear to be a doctor, you need to be able to handle a whole lot of mess. Not good if the doctor is being treated before the patient. I can’t believe I’m talking about this with you.”
“It’s all good.” He wanted her to open up. “A lot of people think all I want to do is play ball. I’m good at it, and it’s fun and all, but I know there’s an expiration date. I need to have a plan B, you know?”
She agreed with him.
The oven pinged.
“Awesome, heated pizza. Just what the doctor ordered.” He winked at her, grabbing a towel to rest the hot trays on.
He placed them within arm’s reach and grabbed her a plate.
“This is weird. I can’t believe I’m sitting in your kitchen eating pizza with you.”
“I know, it’s uncanny.”
“Well, thank you for this. I’m actually enjoying myself.”
He watched as she took a bite of pizza. Patience. That was all he needed. “I’m glad. I don’t want you to freak out on me.”
She laughed. “You’re not a bad guy when you’re not trying to hurt me.”
“I never wanted to hurt you. Not even a little bit. The guys stayed away from you and I consider that a good thing.”
“Oh, really? You think no guys wanting to hang with me is a good thing?” she asked.
“From the look in your eye, I’m going to say no.”
“It’s fine. Boyfriends complicate life.” She shrugged. “You’ve done me a big favor.”
This wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. Boyfriends weren’t complicated. “Let me get this straight, you’ve never wanted a boyfriend?”
“Nope.”
“What about other things, like making out?” he asked.
“Blake, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but there is so much more to life than sex. You should give it a try sometime.”
He had. He hadn’t had sex in three years. Unless making love to one’s own hand was considered sex, and he highly doubted it.
Fuck. This wasn’t going how he wanted, and it pissed him off.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Tough.”
“I’m calling bullshit.”
“You can call what you like. It’s not going to change the fact. You can’t miss what you’ve never had.” She moaned. “This pizza, though, this is heaven.”
He ate his pizza but was rather pissed off by the outcome of the night. What he needed to do was get under her skin or at least work at it so she knew what getting a kiss from him would be like.
She would want to make out with him then.
Being mean had really fucked up with his plans, but he was going to rectify the situation instantly.
Chapter Three
For the next week, Blake was everywhere. Leah couldn’t get away from him.
He turned up at her front door to drive her to school and back home again. In each of the classes they shared, he started to sit beside her.
So far, the only break she’d had from Blake was when she snuck off to eat her food at the library.
She was just heading there now when Blake appeared, coming toward her.
“Hey, beautiful,” he said.
This was another thing. Beautiful, babe, sunshine, darling, all terms of endearment he seemed determined to use around her and near his friends as well. Some days, he’d come right up to her, taken her books and bag, and carried them around for her.
It was like he’d turned his asshole switch to protective boyfriend.
“Hey,” she said.
He grabbed her arm.
“Seriously, Blake, this isn’t cute. I eat in the library.”
“And today you’re going to eat with me.”
“I’m not going out with you.” She wasn’t going to give in to him.
“I know.”
“Come on, seriously, this is weird.”
“No, what’s weird is eating all by yourself when you don’t have to.”
He did have a point. “I like eating in the library. It’s fun.”
“And you’re calling me weird.”
“Your friends are not my friends, Blake. Enough of all of this.”
“It’s senior year then all of this is over. We’ll go our separate ways, and we’ll do whatever the hell we want to. Enjoy this while you can. I’m not trying to make your life hard, I promise. I’m trying to encourage you to enjoy new experiences. Is that so bad?” he asked.