I stand and sling my backpack over my shoulder. I turn to Wells. He should be ashamed of himself. "You stop it. How would you like it if your friends just left you asleep somewhere?" These boys are using up all my glares tonight.
"Friends. Eh, I don't think so. Maybe a long, long time ago, but not now. And you don't even know him." He sounds like a teenage boy. Cameron went through a phase in high school where he was all growly and whinny when he didn't get his way. This is Wells right now.
"I'm going to wake him," I insist.
"Just leave him," Wells mutters.
I take a few steps to the side and step over the unoccupied seats to stand in his row, next to him. He's leaning back in his seat with his head leaning on his fist. His arm rests on the seat’s connecting desk.
I lean down and place my hand on his shoulder and shake him gently. "Hey, Ryker, wake up."
His body tenses ,and his head pops up. He looks at me and blinks, like he isn't sure what or who he woke up to. Next, he looks around the room and curses under his breath.
"Riveting stuff, huh?" I can't help my smile. He's really cute. He's just out of it enough that I can tell he probably fell asleep shortly after class started. Not to mention the red mark where his head rested on his fist.
He stretches to his full height. He’s so much taller than me. I'm a shorty, so ninety percent of the people I meet are taller than me. He's got at least eight inches on me. The hem of his shirt rides up as he lifts his arms above his head. My eyes snag on the tan skin of his lower abdomen. I drag my eyes away, and as I travel back up his body, I notice his smirk before I find chocolate brown eyes watching me.
I turn fifty shades of red right there, the second our eyes connect. I hear a chuckle from behind me, but I'm stuck in place. I can't move my feet. I can't take my eyes off his, and I can't speak. What is happening to me?
The chuckle turns into someone clearing their throat.
Cam nudges my shoulder from the level I just left. "Zella, dinner. Let's eat."
Ryker breaks our eye contact when he slides his gaze to Cam. It gives me just enough time to shake myself out of this daze.
I turn away from Ryker, then pause, look at him, and smile. "Want to get some dinner with us?"
Wells groans, and Cameron might have clapped. I'm not sure.
Ryker's slow and sexy grin nearly melts me from within. "I'd love to."
I don't want him to see what the nickname does to me, so I quickly turn and walk out of the row.
Cameron falls into step with me as we walk down the stairs toward the exit.
"Oh, Zells, I like where this is going."
I smile back at him because I can't help it. I do too.
Behind us, I hear Wells laying into Ryker. There are still enough students in the room that I'm unable to pick up any words. I look over my shoulder at them, and Ryker is watching me. He winks and…
Ugh. I've got to get myself under control. He cannot have this much effect on me. And even so, he can't know he does.
I need to dig deep for my inner Taylor Swift and show him who's boss. I have approximately sixty seconds before we are out of the room in a wide-open hall. Not to mention, I just invited him to dinner with us.
Twenty minutes later, we are at the Dining Hall and each of us are moving through the lines in the respective sections. Cameron and I are going through the grill line, Wells picks up some sushi, and Ryker—well, I have no idea where he went off to. I briefly wonder if he changed his mind about eating with us and left. I try not to look around the room for him. Cameron would only give me a hard time about it.
Play it cool, Zella, play it cool.
After paying for our food, Cameron and I spot Wells sitting at a four-top table. He's alone. We sit down at the circular table, leaving the chair between me and Wells empty.
I force myself not to look around the hall and make eye contact with Wells.
"He's trouble, Zella." His voice is just above a whisper.
"Why?" I put down the straw I worked on opening. I want to know why Wells doesn't like him.
"Let's just say he doesn't always feel the need to abide by the law. You don't want to get messed up with that."
"Like what kind of things?" Cameron asks through a mouthful of cheeseburger.
Wells ignores his own food and leans in toward me. "He's a hacker."
Wells stares us down like he expects our reaction to be dramatic, but Cameron doesn't react. I, on the other hand, lean back in my chair and run through my interactions with Ryker so far.
At the tower, he told me he was taking note of the password so he could hack into the school network to change a grade. I laughed at his story. But now, maybe it wasn’t the lie I thought it was.
"You're going to bite a hole in that lip there, Zella." The man in question slides into the last chair and plops his sandwich down in front of him, then slides his messenger bag over his head onto the floor next to him.
I free my lip from my teeth and smile. So, the story about stealing the password wasn’t a lie.
"Sushi? Pretentious much?" Ryker nods to the sushi on Wells’s plate.
Cameron snickers, and I bite the inside of my cheek. We are always giving Wells a hard time about his affinity for sushi. Cameron doesn't mind it, but I'm not a fan.
Wells huffs, opening his chopsticks, snatches up a roll, and he shoves it in his mouth.
"So, Ryker, what did you think about that class tonight?" Cameron asks between bites.
"Dude, that's some boring shit, all right. That's why I skipped last week." Ryker's admission stings just a bit, as I find it all fascinating.
Cameron chuckles and gestures to me with his thumb. "Our girl here is an art major, so it's right up her alley."
"Art major, huh?" He looks at me, assessing me. "I guess I can see that."
"What's your major?" I break into the conversation. Less about me, I want to learn more about him.
"Computer technology," he supplies.
"Is that the degree most hackers get?" I dip my chicken finger into ranch dressing, then ketchup. Cameron chokes on his drink next to me, and when I look up to check on him, he's laughing. Wells smashes his lips together, fighting the laughter as well.
When my gaze slides to Ryker's, he's staring at me. He doesn't look offended, but he's not smiling.
I play back what I asked, and oh crap. But Ryker turns his glare toward Wells. "You told her I was a hacker? Really? Is this how you want to play this, Officer?"
Wells's smile fades. There is some serious tension between these two.
"I told her what she needed to know before getting involved with you. It's only fair." The anger pouring from Ryker is palpable. Cameron and I sit in silence, watching the scene unfold.
Then, in an unexpected move, Ryker shakes off his anger, his shoulders relax, and he nods. "You know, you're right." Ryker turns back to his sandwich and takes a bite.
Wells looks confused, and I'm not sure it’s safe for anyone else to talk yet.
After he swallows his food, he adds, "The more we know about each other now, the more fun our first date will be." Then he winks at me.
Heat consumes me. Surely, my face is candy apple red right now. If I'm not careful, he'll stop calling me Blondie in exchange for Red.