Young Love (Bloomfield #4) (7 page)

No. Not mouth-watering.

She was Cat’s friend, and Perrie’s cousin. I was trying to be a nice guy - that’s all.

Those grey eyes glanced up to lock with mine. Fear mixed with something else flashed there, setting my nerves on edge. My blood pounded as I drew closer. Whatever else had been there seemed to call to the desire that I struggled to tamper.

It was fighting its way up now, clawing at my insides. I reached her, watching her throat work as she swallowed nervously. She tried to hide it with a defiant look in her eyes, but I wasn’t convinced.

I smirked, knowing she wasn’t nearly as unaffected by me as she’d like to think.

“Honor,” I said, speaking to her for the first time tonight.

“Grey,” she replied.

“What are you doing sitting here all by your lonesome?”

She shrugged. “To be honest? I’m beat. I only came here to keep Cat company.”

I glanced over my shoulder where Cat was still dancing.

“Doesn’t seem like she needs it,” I said, turning back to her.

“Apparently,” she muttered, her lips pressing together.

I chuckled. There was something cute about Honor being all disgruntled. She reminded me of a kitten with its hackles up.

“What’s so funny?” She asked.

I shoved my hands in my pockets, biting back my smile. “Nothing,” I said. “Look, I don’t want to be here either, but since we are, how about a dance?”

Her mouth dropped open a fraction. “A dance?”

“Yeah, Honor. You know how to do that, right?”

“With you?”

“Is there something wrong with me?”

“No,” she said quickly, her cheeks flushing as she snapped her mouth shut.

We stared at each other in silence.

“Well?” I said, breaking it.

“What about Kelly?”

“She’s fine with it.”

She bit her lip, looking over me at the dance floor.

“I don’t think so,” she said slowly.

“Come on, doll,” I said with a snicker. “I promise you, it won’t kill you to dance with me for one song.” I reached down, grabbing her hand and pulling her off the chair.

“I really don’t think this is a good idea,” she said lowly, only the two of us able to hear it.

I searched her eyes, seeing the same uncertainty there that I felt when it came to being close to her. Was it possible Honor was as afraid of the chemistry between us as I was?

“One dance,” I said, knowing there was no way I could back down now. Especially not now that I held her thin hand in mine.

She bit at her lip again. Without waiting for an answer, I turned and led us to the dance floor, my heart beating a mile a minute.

Chapter 9

Honor

The alarm bells in my head were going haywire. There was a small voice shouting “iceberg straight ahead”, and Grey was the iceberg. I was about to get in a whole shit load of trouble.

My hand in his felt small and clammy as he led us to the dance floor. I couldn’t help but follow, even though I knew everything about this situation was bad.

I quickly glanced about, finding Kelly at the bar with some people I recognized from school. She smiled at me, giving me a thumbs up. What the fudge?

Okay, so clearly she was fine with this. That didn’t mean I was. I’d been doing my best to stay away from Grey, avoiding him at all costs. I hadn’t even said a word to him until he approached me just now. Dancing with him had definitely been out of the question.

And yet...here I was, following him to the crowded floor like a woman being led to her ultimate demise. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Grey. He seemed nice enough. It was just, I couldn’t deny my attraction to him, and that was a problem.

It wasn’t even just that he had a girlfriend, which was a huge no, no for me. It was everything about him. He screamed trouble. And as someone who grew up in the rougher part of Bloomfield, I’d made it my life’s mission to avoid trouble.

So why was I allowing this? For exactly the same reason I’d been keeping my distance from him. I couldn’t help how I reacted to Grey. That kiss, the attraction that sizzled between us, it was too much.

We reached the crowd of dancers, and he pushed his way through until we were lost in the sea of people. Turning to me, his hands landed on my hips pulling me closer. I could feel the sweat drip down my spine as our eyes met. Despite the heavy beat around us, we stood still, secluded in our tiny bubble.

That same voice inside my head was now shouting at me to get out before I drowned in the blue depths of the gaze peering back at me.

Grey was too good looking for his own good. I both hated it and loved it.

We remained frozen as his eyes dropped to my mouth. I swallowed, knowing exactly what he was probably thinking. I’d dreamt about our kiss enough times, remembered the look of desire on his face. It was there now.

This was worse than bad. This was catastrophic.

I needed an exit plan stat. Cat could find her way home with someone else.

Instinctively I took a step away from him, fighting the invisible string that wanted to pull me closer instead. His gaze lifted to meet mine as his hands dropped to his side, and I could see the same resolve I had come to mirrored there.

“We can’t do this,” he said.

I wasn’t sure if it was a question or a statement. Instead of replying, I simply shook my head slowly.

He took a deep breath, looking away from me.

“I should head home,” I said, thinking it was too soft for him to hear, but he did. Nodding his head, he reached up to rub a hand over his mouth before looking back at me, as if reluctant to do so.

We stared at each other again, a wordless exchange passing between us. Whatever was between us, neither seemed to want to accept or acknowledge it.

Straightening myself, I gave Grey a tight smile.

“Thanks for the offer,” I said. He nodded again, his jaw ticking.

Turning, I headed back through the crowd. A hand clasped onto my arm as I reached the edge.

Cat’s flushed face appeared beside me as she pulled me to a stop.

“Where are you sneaking off to?” She asked.

“I’m super beat,” I told her. “I’m just going to head home.”

“Then I’ll go with you,” she said.

“You don’t have to.”

She waved me off. “I’m tired too anyway. Come on, let’s blow this joint.”

A sense of relief washed over me. We headed out and thankfully grabbed a cab that was already sitting out there. There was a comfortable silence between us as we maneuvered through the streets, the college nightlife at its peak outside my window. I wished I could be more like the boys and girls I watched pass by, but I couldn’t be.

My mom had always called me an old soul. She said I was too serious for someone my age – and that was at five. It wasn’t that I didn’t like to have fun. I just knew that the fun times were only short, passing blips in the otherwise long, complicated avenues of life. And if I wanted to get out, and stay out, of the social housing I’d grown up in, then I was going to do everything in my power to do just that. Which meant keeping my head on my shoulders, and my brain clear and focused.

“So,” Cat said into the silence. I looked over at her as she lay her head against the cool glass of the window.

“So,” I repeated when she didn’t continue.

Her eyes slid over to me, and I noticed then she looked a little green. I prayed she didn’t puke in the cab. Not only would I feel bad for the driver, because
no one
liked cleaning up other people’s vomit, but I also couldn’t stand the smell, and
really
didn’t want to end up puking myself. It was an instinctive reaction, unfortunately.

“You and Grey, huh?” she said, her lips tilting up in a small smirk.

“What about us?”

She snorted, rolling her eyes. “What about us? She says. Why does everyone always have to deny the obvious truth?”

I got the impression she was no longer actually speaking to me as she stared back out the window, shaking her head against it.

“And what would that be?” I asked, afraid for her answer.

“That you two totally have the hots for each other.”

There it was. The exact answer I was trying to avoid.

Now it was my turn to snort.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I barely know him.”

“You don’t have to
know
Grey Anderson to have the hots for him.”

True.

“Regardless, I don’t have the hots for him. He’s dating Kelly,” I pointed out.

“He sure is,” she said lightly. “But he also couldn’t take his eyes off of
you
.”

I scoffed, shifting uncomfortably in my seat as I avoided her gaze when it returned to me. Man there were a lot of stars out tonight.

“You’re so transparent,” she said with a laugh. “It’s okay to be attracted to someone, Honor.”

“I’m not attracted to him,” I said, staring up as if a life line would suddenly drop from the heavens and save me from this conversation.

“Sure. Whatever makes you sleep better at night.”

I didn’t reply. Mostly because we pulled up to our building right then, but also because I knew how perceptive Cat could be, and I wasn’t going to fall into her trap. I paid the driver and thanked him as Cat teetered toward the front door. Helping her up the stairs to our floor was no easy matter. Especially when she puked halfway up.

***

“How was the bar Friday?” Chloe asked as she plopped down into the seat beside me.

I pulled out my notebook and pen, looking over at her with a sigh. “It was your typical Friday night bar scene,” I replied.

She chuckled. “That good, huh?”

I nodded.

“I’m glad I missed it then. Thanks for going with Cat though. I know you work Fridays, so I’m sure that was the last thing you wanted to do.”

Finally! Someone understood. Of course, Chloe was so sweet natured, it didn’t surprise me. Sometimes I wondered how Kyle of all people landed a girl like her. He was always so surly and miserable. Or maybe that was just how he wanted people to see him. I’d seen him be pretty goofy when we were younger, but that was a long time ago.

Someone sat down on my other side, causing us both to turn and stare. Chloe and I were the only ones who sat in the front row of child psychology. The teacher was practically catatonic when he spoke, a skill I was sure. How someone could be so boring and monotone when they spoke was mindboggling. The rest of the class went into some kind of coma induced slumber, and tended to sit far enough back that he wouldn’t notice.

Chloe and I were the only ones who seemed to actually care about what he was saying. Of course, we genuinely loved children and wanted to work with them when we were older, so this class was important to us.

We both fell into a surprised silence as the boy beside me smiled at us as though we were all friends.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,” we replied together.

I didn’t know who he was, but I’d noticed him on campus before. Mostly because he was always surrounded by a gaggle of geese. Okay, they weren’t really geese, they were girls. From the way they all giggled and waddled after him though, it was a fairly reasonable comparison.

Now that I saw him up close, I could see why he attracted such ardent followers. His skin was a shade of bronze that made me think he didn’t need the sun to achieve it. High cheek bones and smooth skin were decorated by a nice, wide mouth and eyes the colour of emeralds. Against his dark hair, they could do nothing else but draw you in.

“I thought I’d come introduce myself,” he said, reaching out a hand.

I looked at it as though I’d never seen anything like it. The question “why” was on the tip of my tongue. Thankfully Chloe had enough sense to stretch across me and take his hand.

“Chloe Morgan,” she said as I continued to blink at him in confusion. His gaze went to her briefly before returning to me. Those lips were tilted up in a smile that had me just as entranced as his eyes.

“Adrien,” he said.

I felt Chloe nudge me discreetly. Snapping out of it, I took his hand, swallowing as he enclosed mine tightly in his. “Honor,” I said, quickly letting go.

“Nice to meet you,” he said. He settled back in his seat, stretching out his long legs as he crossed them at the ankles. “So this is what the front of the class looks like.”

I looked around, peering up at the other students way above us, wondering again why he was sitting here with us. I turned back to him.

“I’m amazed that you two can manage to stay awake up here,” he said.

“Well we like to actually
learn
,” I replied. “Since we’re paying for this education and all.”

He chuckled. “We’re all paying for this education.”

“I guess that just makes us smarter then.”

He nodded. “Probably. I’d say seventy percent of first years are going to waste their money.”

“And what percentage would you fall into?” I asked.

He smirked. “I guess we’ll see when midterms come.”

He didn’t look as though he were ready to leave, not even when our professor walked in. I looked over at Chloe who simply shrugged as she got her pen out. Adrien was doing the same when I turned back to him. He caught me watching him, his brows rising in question.

“Is it okay if I sit here?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I guess so.”

He laughed. “Well don’t sound so sure of yourself now.”

“I’m just trying to figure out
why
you’re sitting here,” I replied honestly. “Most of the students stay back there,” I said, hitching my thumb over my shoulder.

“Yeah, but I figured you two are more interesting than any of them.” He got out his notebook, writing the date on the top as if that statement was a perfectly reasonable explanation.

I didn’t understand this man at all.

And I would still wonder about him for the rest of the week as he sat with us every day. He greeted us each morning as though we’d all known each other for years. Throughout class, he’d listen and take notes just as studiously as we would, but would also whisper jokes that had both of us laughing. Honestly? Adrien made the class fun. He had this whole carefree, happy-go-lucky kind of vibe to him, and I found myself looking forward to seeing him in class by the time Thursday came around.