that.
She plopped next
to me. “First, you have to approach this with no fear . Seriously, they
can smell fear. It totally puts them off the scent.”
I frowned. “Off
the scent? That’s so…” I tried to think of a more suitable word than aaauugh ,
but my brain hadn’t booted up yet.
“That’s so true ,
you mean?Look—guys are dogs. Women have known this since the beginning
of time. Guys don’t want to be chased; they chase. So if you’re going to catch
one, you have to know how to make him chase you .”
I squinted at her. Archaic, sexist, demeaning my brain declared, filling in for aaauugh ,
too late. This viewpoint shouldn’t have surprised me—I’d heard her say these sorts
of things before. I just never considered those off-the-cuff remarks to be part
of a creed.
I chugged half of the
OJ before commenting. “You’re serious about this.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “This is where I don’t say ‘as a heart attack,’ right?”
***
Go time.
I took a deep
breath. I had three minutes until class started. Erin said I needed one minute,
no more than two. “But two is pushing it,” she insisted, “because then you look too interested. One is better.”
I slid into the
seat next to him, but perched on the edge, making it obvious that I had no
intention of remaining. His eyes snapped to mine immediately, dark brows
disappearing into that messy hair falling over his forehead. His eyes were
almost colorless. I’d never seen anyone with eyes so light.
He was definitely
startled by my appearance next to him. Good, according to Erin and Maggie.
“Hey,” I said, a subtle
smile on my lips, hoping I appeared somewhere between interested and
indifferent. According to Erin and Maggie, that impression was a vital part of
the strategy.
“Hey.” He opened his
econ text, concealing the open sketchbook in front of him. Before he obscured
it, I caught a detailed illustration of the venerated old oak tree in the center
of campus and the ornamental wrought iron fence surrounding it.
I swallowed. Interested
and indifferent. “So, it just occurred to me that I don’t remember your
name from the other night. Too many margaritas, I guess.”
He wet his lips
and stared at me a moment before answering, and I blinked, wondering if he was
purposefully making my loosely-sustained indifference more challenging
to maintain. “It’s Lucas. And I don’t think I gave it.”
In the next
moment, Dr. Heller entered noisily near the podium, catching his handled case
in the door. An audible, “Dammit,” echoed through the lecture hall, thanks to
the planned acoustics of the room. Lucas and I smiled at each other as our
fellow classmates tittered.
“So… you, um,
called me Jackie, before?” I said, and his head tilted slightly. “I actually go
by Jacqueline. Now.”
His brows drew
down slightly. “Okay.”
I cleared my
throat and stood—surprising him again, judging by his expression. “Nice to meet
you, Lucas.” I smiled again before turning away and darting to my assigned
seat.
Keeping my
attention on the lecture and defying the compulsion to peek over my shoulder was
excruciating. I was sure I felt Lucas’s eyes boring into the back of my head.
Like an out-of-reach itch, the sensation nettled me for fifty minutes straight,
and it took herculean effort to refrain from turning around. Unknowingly, Benji
helped by making distracting observations on Dr. Heller, like tallying the
number of times he said, “Uuummm,” during the lecture with marks at the top of
his notebook, and pointing out the fact that our professor was sporting one
navy and one brown sock.
Instead of
lingering at the end of class to see what Lucas would do (speak to me or ignore
me?), instead of waiting for Kennedy to leave (funny, I’d paid scant attention
to him for the past hour—that was a first), I swung my backpack onto my
shoulder and practically sprinted from the room without looking at either of
them. Emerging from the side
She plopped next
to me. “First, you have to approach this with no fear . Seriously, they
can smell fear. It totally puts them off the scent.”
I frowned. “Off
the scent? That’s so…” I tried to think of a more suitable word than aaauugh ,
but my brain hadn’t booted up yet.
“That’s so true ,
you mean?Look—guys are dogs. Women have known this since the beginning
of time. Guys don’t want to be chased; they chase. So if you’re going to catch
one, you have to know how to make him chase you .”
I squinted at her. Archaic, sexist, demeaning my brain declared, filling in for aaauugh ,
too late. This viewpoint shouldn’t have surprised me—I’d heard her say these sorts
of things before. I just never considered those off-the-cuff remarks to be part
of a creed.
I chugged half of the
OJ before commenting. “You’re serious about this.”
She cocked an eyebrow. “This is where I don’t say ‘as a heart attack,’ right?”
***
Go time.
I took a deep
breath. I had three minutes until class started. Erin said I needed one minute,
no more than two. “But two is pushing it,” she insisted, “because then you look too interested. One is better.”
I slid into the
seat next to him, but perched on the edge, making it obvious that I had no
intention of remaining. His eyes snapped to mine immediately, dark brows
disappearing into that messy hair falling over his forehead. His eyes were
almost colorless. I’d never seen anyone with eyes so light.
He was definitely
startled by my appearance next to him. Good, according to Erin and Maggie.
“Hey,” I said, a subtle
smile on my lips, hoping I appeared somewhere between interested and
indifferent. According to Erin and Maggie, that impression was a vital part of
the strategy.
“Hey.” He opened his
econ text, concealing the open sketchbook in front of him. Before he obscured
it, I caught a detailed illustration of the venerated old oak tree in the center
of campus and the ornamental wrought iron fence surrounding it.
I swallowed. Interested
and indifferent. “So, it just occurred to me that I don’t remember your
name from the other night. Too many margaritas, I guess.”
He wet his lips
and stared at me a moment before answering, and I blinked, wondering if he was
purposefully making my loosely-sustained indifference more challenging
to maintain. “It’s Lucas. And I don’t think I gave it.”
In the next
moment, Dr. Heller entered noisily near the podium, catching his handled case
in the door. An audible, “Dammit,” echoed through the lecture hall, thanks to
the planned acoustics of the room. Lucas and I smiled at each other as our
fellow classmates tittered.
“So… you, um,
called me Jackie, before?” I said, and his head tilted slightly. “I actually go
by Jacqueline. Now.”
His brows drew
down slightly. “Okay.”
I cleared my
throat and stood—surprising him again, judging by his expression. “Nice to meet
you, Lucas.” I smiled again before turning away and darting to my assigned
seat.
Keeping my
attention on the lecture and defying the compulsion to peek over my shoulder was
excruciating. I was sure I felt Lucas’s eyes boring into the back of my head.
Like an out-of-reach itch, the sensation nettled me for fifty minutes straight,
and it took herculean effort to refrain from turning around. Unknowingly, Benji
helped by making distracting observations on Dr. Heller, like tallying the
number of times he said, “Uuummm,” during the lecture with marks at the top of
his notebook, and pointing out the fact that our professor was sporting one
navy and one brown sock.
Instead of
lingering at the end of class to see what Lucas would do (speak to me or ignore
me?), instead of waiting for Kennedy to leave (funny, I’d paid scant attention
to him for the past hour—that was a first), I swung my backpack onto my
shoulder and practically sprinted from the room without looking at either of
them. Emerging from the side
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