Here With You (A Laurel Heights Novel) - By Kate Perry Page 0,22

The sound of his laughter made her feel warm, even if it was at her expense.

Flushing, she tried to not to notice the curious looks from the students around them—or the hatred from Madison.

"I'll make a deal with you," he said.

"What sort of deal?"

"I'll carry us through this project if you help me with my English term paper. I suck at writing."

"Writing is so easy though."

"For you maybe, but for me it's like pulling teeth." He turned to her. "What do you say? We can work after school."

"Not today," she said automatically, blushing when she realized he didn't mean to start right away. "It's just I have plans already today."

"What plans?"

She was going to Romantic Notions to wait for Griffin Chase. She had to give him the poem. She'd gone the past few days after school and waited for him until that lady who was his best friend closed the shop and went home, but he hadn't shown up yet. Rachel knew it was only a matter of time though. All the news sources reported that he was on a private island, working on his next album, but she'd seen him with her own eyes. It hadn't been some weird doppelgänger either.

"Rachel." Aaron waved his hand in front of her face.

She frowned at him. "What?"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, don't tell me what you've got going on. Just tell me when we can meet."

The lingerie store closed by seven each night. "Would after dinner be okay?"

He shrugged. "My parents are never home, so whatever works for you is great. Will your parents care?"

She swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. "It's just my dad, and he's always at work."

"Are your parents divorced?"

The tears sprang up so suddenly they startled her as much as they did Aaron. She ducked her head and pretended to search for a pencil as she blinked them away.

A Kleenex appeared in her line of vision. She looked up, to find Aaron looking contrite and worried.

No one had cared about her feelings in so long.

"I shouldn't have been so nosy," he said softly.

She shook her head, taking the tissue and blotting the edges of her eyes. "It's not your fault. It's just my mom died. It was a year and a half ago, but still."

"Is that why you moved to San Francisco?"

She nodded, not wanting to tell him about getting drunk at the party. She felt stupid enough on her own about that. "My dad thought we needed a change of scenery and a fresh start," she said with only a small amount of bitterness.

Aaron made a face. "That sucks. You must miss your friends."

She did, but they apparently didn't miss her. Not even Diana had texted her back.

"You were close to your mom?" he asked as he handed her a set of goggles.

"She was my best friend." She glanced at him. "I know that sounds weird but we were really close. She was awesome. Beautiful and talented. She was an editor for a big publisher."

"No wonder you love English."

She frowned. "I don't love English."

"Yeah, you do." He struck the flint and lit the burner. "You pretend like you don't care and aren't paying attention, but you do. I can tell by the look of disgust on your face when you disagree with something Michael says."

"I don't have a look of disgust," she protested.

"It’s like this." He lowered his head and scrunched his face.

A rusty laugh escaped her lips before she could bite it back. "It's not."

"I'll hold up a mirror next time I see it." He grinned at her. "Who do you have dinner with usually?"

It took her a moment to follow the shift in the conversation. She shrugged. It seemed pathetic to say that she usually ate a bowl of cereal standing up at the counter.

"Then maybe you can come over for dinner first before we work on my essay," he said, lining up the test tubes. "I make a mean frozen pizza."

"Maybe." She handed Aaron tongs, realizing her lips felt funny. It took a moment before she realized she was smiling.

Chapter Ten

"Right at this moment, Valentine and the Hulk are getting it on." Marley winked as she lifted her coffee cup. "Have you thought about that?"

"I try not to think about my friends getting it on," Nicole said, shaking her head and returning her attention to her sketchpad. On impulse, she gave the woman in her drawing red hair, for Valentine, because her friend would look awesome in this romantic pink bustier.

"But she's getting