I begin to surreptitiously turn my head so I can see what color his eyes are, when I realize I’m wasting my precious exam time trying to check him out instead of focusing on the questions. I give myself a mental slap and tell myself to get it together. Ogle him next week at your leisure. I stare down at the paper in front of me, but all I can feel is the heat emanating from him. If I moved my elbow the tiniest bit, I might brush up against him. My God, these seats are close. How many people were they attempting to cram into one row when they designed these? And why do I turn into some kind of sex-starved stalker whenever I see him? I’m not a bad looking girl, I could probably get a guy if I wanted to. Not that I want to, after what Jared did last year.
Okay, now I really need to focus. He who shall not be named is not allowed in my thoughts, and my classroom crush needs to go on the backburner until after this exam. I study the first multiple choice question and think I know the answer until I realize it’s not one of the choices. Well, crap. I stumble through the rest of the questions, alternately noticing a new thing about my seatmate, like how deep his voice sounds when he clears his throat or how good his butt looks in those jeans when he finally stands to hand in his test, and telling myself to pay attention to what I’m supposed to be doing.
I let out a small sigh when he leaves the room, glad I can fully concentrate now. I glance up at the clock, only to realize I have ten minutes and too many questions left. I power through the rest, taking my best guess, and turn in my exam when the TA says pencils down. As I shuffle out of the classroom along with the other stragglers who clearly had a hard time too, my stomach lets out a growl. Crap. I never ate anything in my rush to leave the apartment this morning.
Veering over in the direction of the student center where I know there’s a McDonald’s, I pull out my phone and text Becca, thanking her again for waking me and driving me over.
Becca: No prob, I knew I’d hear all about it if you missed this midterm. At least it wasn’t an English class you were late for. Then you would’ve gone super psycho.
Me: For reals. So, you’ll never guess who I sat next to today.
Becca: Was it that one boy you said farted so bad in class that everyone around him had to get up and move to a different seat?
Me: OMG that would’ve been terrible. No, it was my hot guy!
Becca: Whaaaatttt??? Did you sit next to him or did he sit next to you? Maybe he saw you and was like, oooh here’s my chance to get close to my mystery crush. :)
Me: Yeah, right. I highly doubt he’s ever even noticed me. There are at least two hundred people in that lecture hall. Besides, he sits in the front every class, so he can’t see me moon over him anyway. I sat next to him, completely by accident, but then he kept distracting me the whole exam!
Becca: What, on purpose?
Me: No, it was just me in my head being stupid. I wish I could have switched seats, but that would’ve looked weird. I definitely didn’t do as well on the exam as I could have and it’s a third of our grade.
Becca: I’m sure you did fine. You always do. Okay, I’m headed into class now. Let me know when you’re ready to go home, my last class is over at three-fifty.
Me: Okay thanks, I’ll text you later.
I walk into the student center, inhaling the smell of fried grease coming from the McDonald’s tucked away in the corner. I normally don’t indulge in fast food, both for health and money reasons, but today is a special exception considering I’m starving and brought no lunch with me. If there’s ever a day to indulge, it’s today.
I examine the walls as I wait in line, noting the enormous plastic spiders that appear to scurry and cobwebs strung from the ceiling. They really took decorating for Halloween to the extreme this year. It actually looks kind of like Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Hopefully, someone didn’t make a life-size Aragog too.
Maybe Becca and I could decorate our apartment like this for the upcoming Halloween party we have planned. Wait, the Halloween her and her boyfriend have planned. I just got roped into helping.
Josh’s landlord threatened him with eviction if he throws one more rager at his apartment, so somehow that translated into having the party at our place instead. Normally I’d put my foot down, but Halloween is Becca and Josh’s anniversary, which apparently means the party is definitely happening and no expense should be spared. Any modest ideas I’ve had have been squashed by Becca’s grandiose plans, so I finally gave up and said I’d chip in twenty bucks and call it a day.
After getting my sausage biscuit and hash brown, I find a free table and dig in, pulling out my planner to scan the list of stuff that still needs to be done to prepare for the party before Monday and mentally count. Today is Thursday, so we only have to do three things a day to get everything finished on time. Jesus, when did this list get so long?
My eyes glaze over, mind drifting back to sitting next to my hot guy earlier. I told Becca about him last month and she asks for an update every week. She’s encouraged me to actually approach him and start a conversation, but there’s no way I can really do that. What am I going to say? Hey, I’ve been watching you all semester and you’re insanely hot. Wanna go out? Yeah, that doesn’t sound creepy at all.
I don’t know anything about him, but my body seems to be aware of him on a purely physical level. Smart guys are my thing, ones that value brains over brawn, so being this attracted just to someone’s outward appearance is a little strange for me. I’ve never been comfortable with the idea of hookups or one night stands, wanting an emotional and intellectual connection too. Plus, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m pretty shy, so I’ve only been with two guys, and unfortunately parted on bad terms with both of them.
David dumped me in high school to ask out someone prettier and more popular, and I discovered Jared going down on another girl last year when I went to surprise him in his dorm room. He claimed it wasn’t cheating because they hadn’t technically had sex yet, which I still can’t believe he said with a straight face. I remember staring at him in horror at what he was doing, but also fascinated that he thought I would actually buy that excuse before leaving and never speaking to him again.
I saw him for the first time since the incident, as Becca and I have dubbed it, the beginning week of classes this semester in an Intro to Sociology class I was taking. Naturally, I promptly dropped it and registered for Intro to Psychology instead. There was no way I was spending several months seeing him twice a week. Call me crazy, but I don’t need that kind of stress in my life.
Considering my track record with brainy guys, maybe I should consider brawn a little more, though. My Psychology hot guy certainly fits the bill. He has to have at least some brains to be in college, and he always looks like he’s paying attention and taking notes in class, but brawn definitely wins out with his chiseled body and rugged appeal. I don’t think I’d ever have the nerve to go up to him in real life, but he’s a nice daydream to have.
I pull out my Kindle after finishing my meal, settling in for a mini reading session before my next class. But every time I try to picture the hero of the book, I can only picture him instead. It’s a historical, but that doesn’t seem to make a bit of difference to my imagination. It easily fills in the gaps, dressing him in tight breeches and Hessian boots with a matching English accent. I’ve never heard him speak, so it’s not implausible, but I’d peg him for an All-American kind of guy.