The Weight of Words (The WORDS Series) (7 page)

“Okay, it’s a date.” Julie pulled on her coat. “I guess we’re supposed to wait to tell him on Friday.” She nodded her head in Daniel’s direction.

“I guess so,” I said, shrugging on my own jacket. We moved toward the door, but before we could escape into the hall, Daniel called after us.

“Miss Price? Could I have a moment?” I glanced at him and then back at Julie with a sigh.

“I’ll see you on Friday,” she said, her eyes glinting mischievously as she moved through the door and started to pull it closed behind her.

“Leave the door, please,” Daniel asked.

Julie obliged and disappeared down the hall. Daniel rubbed his temple and then brushed his hair back off his forehead, a wasted effort as it simply flopped back down. His hair needed a trim as well as a good wash. How was I supposed to properly admire his eyes when his hair was always in the way?

“I have a small request,” he said.

“Fire away.” I crossed my arms, waiting for him to continue. Would he smile beatifically or shoot daggers at me through his eyeballs? The suspense was killing me.

“I’ve given some thought to what you told me yesterday, about how you work for my father. You two have a close relationship?” he asked.

“I think highly of your father. He’s a wonderful man.”

“Well, I think it’s probably in your best interest if you didn’t tell him you’re in this class,” he said.

“That’s a strange request.”

“Not really,” he said, resting his hands on his hips. “My having taken on this position as TA is stressing him out. He’s inordinately concerned about how things are going. Maybe he thinks if I do badly it’ll reflect on him or something. He takes a lot of pride in his reputation on campus. If you tell him you’re in this class, you’ll become his one-stop shop for information. He’ll be quizzing you daily. He’ll put you in an uncomfortable position, I can almost guarantee it.”

“So you’re trying to protect me from being pestered by your father—from becoming ‘his informant?’”

“I suppose you could put it that way,” he admitted. “I also don’t want to open a can of worms. If my father discovers we’re acquainted, he might discuss things with me that would breed familiarity between you and me, or share information about your performance at work, whether good or bad. I’d like to avoid anything that could undermine my objectivity.” He looked down at the floor for a moment before bringing his eyes back up to search mine. “Can you do that for me?”

I considered asking him what the big deal was. Did he feel like he was losing objectivity with me? Or was he warning me about
my
behavior? Could he overreact more? Yeah, I was confused, but I nodded dumbly, feigning comprehension.

“Yeah, okay, I won’t mention it.”

“Thank you. Well, I’m sure everyone’s waiting for me downstairs, so…”

“Right,” I said, nodding vigorously.

He took two steps and then turned.

“Oh, and you might want to get some sleep in the next couple of days. I’m sure the tutorial will be interesting on Friday. I’d hate for you to nod off and miss all the fun.”

Ouch! You overly observant bastard!

He turned on his heel again and briskly exited the room. And as amazing as it was to watch his perfect ass swaggering away, I couldn’t help yawning once more.

Yeah, I was
that
tired.

Chapter 7

A Woman’s Reason

I have no other but a woman’s reason;
I think him so because I think him so.
(
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
, Act I, Scene 2)

I S
PENT
V
IRTUALLY
A
LL
O
F
M
Y
T
IME
on Thursday attending classes and forcing myself to focus, dismissing all thoughts of Daniel Grant and his fabulous ass. On Friday morning I contemplated the day ahead, the tutorial in particular. I was intent on owning it, if for no other reason than to remind myself that my number one priority was still my academic record.

Of course, if I were to be completely honest with myself, I’d be forced to acknowledge the other reason I wanted to shine during tutorial: I wanted to impress the pants off Daniel—literally.

So much for banishing him from my mind.

I’d replayed the conversation we’d had on Wednesday several times over. I couldn’t dismiss the suspicion that there was more behind Daniel’s request that I not tell his father that I knew him than Daniel had let on. What if he’d been trying to let me know that my less than subtle eye-gropings were making him uncomfortable and I needed to cease and desist because I was making it difficult for him to do his job properly?

I imagined a conversation he and Penny would have in which he’d tell his girlfriend all about me, this bright but misguided girl in class who kept ogling him. How he’d tried to be pleasant, but I wasn’t getting the message. Penny would laugh and kiss him, explaining that it was his own fault for being so damned gorgeous.

Gah! Stupid Penny!

I dragged myself out of bed and headed to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast. Joanna and Matt were sitting on the couch in the living room, drinking coffee.

“Jo! Stranger! What’s up?”

“Hey, Aubrey. Sorry I haven’t been around. I’d been so busy with school. After Stephen and I have dinner each night and then do a few hours of homework, I can’t be bothered to schlep back here. No offense, you guys,” she said, looking back and forth between Matt and me.

“Hey, none taken,” I said. “I’d take schtupping over schlepping any day if I had a choice.”

And how.

Joanna rolled her eyes and blushed a little. Such a sweetie. I tried not to feel envious of her situation with Stephen. They were so happy together.

“Hey, say the word, Aub, I’d be happy to help you out with your unlucky streak,” Matt offered.

“Jesus, Matt, is your memory that short? You wanna be able to reproduce one day?” I glanced down at his package and shook my fist at him.

“I’m just sayin’.” He laughed, cupping his crotch with both hands.

Joanna narrowed her eyes. “Did I miss something?”

“Don’t ask,” I said, turning back to Matt. “So, dude, you seem to be in better spirits. Good sleep?”

“Oh yeah, even though twinkle toes here woke me up at midnight when she came crashing in.” He gave Joanna a gentle shove.

“And you told Jo what happened?” I asked, dismayed by the thought of him having to repeat the story of his heartbreak again.

She nodded sympathetically. “He told me the whole story. It’s pretty crummy.”

Pretty crummy
. So cute. The girl seriously wouldn’t say “shit” if her mouth was full of it.

“Look, ladies,” Matt said, kicking his feet up on the coffee table, “I’ll bounce back. I appreciate your concern, though.” He took a long swig of his coffee and then bobbed his head at me. “I didn’t see you at all yesterday. What time did you come home?”

“I put in a four-hour marathon at the library after classes. When I got home at ten, you were out like a light on the couch. There’s no way you were waking up,” I told him.

What I
didn’t
tell him was that seeing him curled up on the sofa the night before, all rosy-cheeked with the blanket pulled up under his chin, had completely tugged at my heart. I also didn’t tell him I’d ruffled his hair as I’d tucked the blanket more tightly around him, wishing I could force myself to feel something other than sisterly affection for him.

No, I didn’t tell him any of that.

If I thought I was going to have a leisurely Friday morning at work, I was sadly mistaken. I ran around the office like a maniac for three hours and was sweltering by the end of my shift. I briefly contemplated racing back to residence to change out of my black turtleneck, but a quick visit to the washroom after saying goodbye to Dean Grant changed my mind. My face was flushed, but the color did me good.

I repeated my new routine, swinging by the coffee shop to grab a snack before class. I still made it a good five minutes before the lecture was scheduled to start. Julie had reserved what were apparently going to be
our seats
. We humans are such creatures of habit.

“Hey, dollface. You look really nice! I love that sweater on you,” she said. “Makes your boobs look awesome, but not in a trashy way.”

“Thanks, I think.” I laughed.

“Hey, I have that concert ticket,” she said, pulling a small envelope from her pocket.

“Great. I’m so psyched. How much do I owe you?” I asked.

“Pfft, buy me a few beers at the show and we’ll call it even.”

“Cool, I can do that.”

We settled into our seats, awaiting the arrival of the dynamic duo. Professor Brown and Daniel arrived together in the midst of what appeared to be a fascinating discussion. Daniel was waving his hands around, highly engaged in the topic. He looked adorable, making it difficult for me to continue being pissed off at him.

He reclaimed his position at the front table, and Professor Brown took out his lecture notes, spending the allotted time concluding our study of
Hamlet
. I snuck a few glances at Daniel, but he was busily writing away, so I ignored him.

When Julie leaned over to whisper, “I don’t know what’s outside, but check out Daniel’s face,” I looked up, and sure enough, he was staring fiercely out the window as if he wanted to kill whoever was on the other side. I scanned the quad. There was no one out there. “Wasn’t he all smiley and happy half an hour ago?”

I shrugged and shook my head, retreating to the safety of my notes and beginning to wonder in earnest if he had some sort of mood disorder. As class drew to a close, Professor Brown assigned the reading of
The Taming of the Shrew
and explained to the class that Daniel would be staying around for a few minutes to confirm dates for the following week’s viewing of
Hamlet,
but that his Friday tutorial group could proceed downstairs and provide our preferred dates during tutorial.

“That’s us,” I said to Julie, gritting my teeth and collecting my belongings.

She followed suit, and we went down the stairs to wait outside the seminar room. We both groaned as Cara and Lindsay strutted along the hall in our direction. Could this get any worse?

“Oh, crap,” I groaned.

“Kill me now, Aubrey,” Julie said.

Sure enough, they parked themselves beside us, talking inanely about how much they’d had to drink the night before, each one blaming the other for waiting too late to sign up and being forced to pick Friday’s tutorial slot. After a few moments, there were thirteen or fourteen of us milling around outside the room. Daniel finally came down the stairs.

“Sorry about that, folks,” he said as he opened the door and stood back to allow us to enter.

The expected jockeying for positions ensued as people insisted on sitting beside friends. Cara did her best impersonation of a speed bump, just standing and looking at the long table. Perhaps assuming that Daniel would sit at the head of the table, she took the seat at the corner beside the empty end chair. She and Lindsay exchanged a meaningful glance. Julie and I took that as our cue to sit at the opposite end of the table. I sat at the corner, and she plopped down beside me.

Once everyone had taken a seat, Daniel came in and closed the door. He looked at the fourteen of us, seven at each side of the long table, and hesitated before dropping his bag on the floor and sitting down at one end.

The one beside me.

Cara fixed me with an angry glare from across the room, and I looked blankly back at her. I wasn’t thrilled with the prospect of navigating the next hour sitting that close to Daniel, but Cara’s reaction made the situation bearable.

“Well, it seems the best way to start today would be with an ice breaker,” Daniel said. “So take a moment to share your name and give a brief explanation of your area of study. Why don’t we begin with you, Miss Price?”