LIB

Chapter 17

            David chuckled. “He seemed more like himself the other day. You’re good for him.”

            I shrugged. “He’s good for me, too. We seem to level each other out.”

            Rachel leaned forward a little so she could see me better. “Did he kiss you?”

            I blushed a little. “Yeah,” I mumbled.

            “Oh my god! What was it like? Is he a good kisser?”

            “He’s a very good kisser, but that’s all I’m telling you.”

            She pouted a little. “Spoilsport.”

            I grinned. “Don’t worry, you can grill him at lunch. He’s agreed to sit with me.”

            David’s eyes widened. “He’s seriously going to eat with us?”

            “Yeah. But don’t expect him to really talk or anything. He might be starting to be nice again, but he’s still not ready to really accept anyone else yet,” I warned.

            “The fact that he even agreed to eat with us is amazing enough, so I won’t be offended if he doesn’t talk,” David replied.

            Rachel just waved her hand in dismissal. “I’ll get that boy to talk. No one can resist my charm.”

            I lifted an eyebrow. “By all means, go ahead and try. But if he snaps at you, don’t take it personally. He doesn’t really have any manners yet.”

            The bell rang, so we turned our attention to the teacher. The class seemed to drag on today, but that was probably because I was eager to have lunch with Blake.

            When the bell finally rang to signal lunch, I jumped out of my seat. “See you in a bit,” I called out to my friends as I hurried out of the room. I stopped at my locker to chuck my bag in and then made my way to the cafeteria.

            Blake and Sophie were waiting outside the doors, and I saw Sophie say something to Blake. His head turned in my direction and I stopped in front of him a moment later. He reached for my hand and entwined our fingers. “Ready to get this over with?” he asked.

            I chuckled as the three of us walked into the cafeteria. “You make it sound like this is going to be torture,” I teased.

            “It kind of is to me. I don’t like people, remember?”

            “You like me,” I replied.

            “Yeah, but that’s just because you let me kiss you.”

            I rolled my eyes and shoulder bumped him. “Just for that, I might not let you kiss me for the rest of the day.”

            “We’ll see about that,” he responded with a smirk.

            Sophie chuckled. “I’m going to videotape you guys one day and put it on the Internet.”

            I grinned at her as we stood in the food line. “That would be kind of funny.”

            We bought our food and then went to the table where my friends were sitting. Blake fell silent as we took our seats, but I’d been expecting that. I greeted everyone and gave David and Rachel grateful smiles. Obviously they had already explained everything to everyone else, so I wasn’t bombarded with questions about Jared and Blake.

            Blake ate his food in silence beside me. Rachel tried to talk to him a couple of times, but he blatantly ignored her. She wasn’t perturbed though; she just shrugged and turned to talk to Allie.

            When I finished eating, I moved my chair closer to Blake so I could put my hand on his knee. I leaned closer to him so I could whisper in his ear. “Thank you for sitting with me.”

            He sighed before turning to kiss the top of my head. “You’re welcome. And you so owe me later. Rachel doesn’t shut up, does she?”

            I chuckled quietly. “No, she really doesn’t. But she really is a nice person. Maybe you’ll see that eventually.”

            “I know she’s nice. And I’m glad she’s with David. But her chattering is giving me a bit of a headache.”

            I kissed his cheek. “You learn to tune it out, don’t worry.”

            I saw his eyebrows rise from under his sunglasses. “Really? You think with my sensitive hearing, I’ll really be able to tune her out?”

            I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. “Okay, maybe you won’t be able to,” I said, amusement evident in my voice.

            “Oh yeah, just laugh it up,” he replied sarcastically.

            “You’ll survive,” I promised.

            He leaned in and kissed me softly. “And if I don’t, I’m taking you down with me.”

            I laughed at that. “Gee, thanks for caring so much.”

            He smiled wickedly. “Anytime.”