think something's going on?"
He pointedly looked at her head.
Her hand went to the ski cap she's put on because she'd been so cold. "I'm just trying out a new look."
He grinned. "It's working for you."
The door to Romantic Notions opened. Rachel sat up, alert, but it was only an older woman who walked out. She slumped back down. Where was he? Had she missed him? Maybe he'd gone back to Los Angeles or wherever.
He couldn't be gone. The –sons would torture her for the rest of her life if she didn't get Griffin Chase to make her poem into a song.
"You must have a major thing for underwear," Aaron said, pulling her out of her thoughts.
She glanced at him. "Why do you say that?"
"Because it's like you're casing the joint. Are you planning a heist?"
"Of course not."
He grinned. "I love it when you get prissy."
"I'm not prissy," she said, hearing the prissiness in her voice.
"So why are we sitting here?"
"I'm sitting here because I'm waiting. You're sitting here to plague me."
He didn't take the hint, simply asking, "What are you waiting for?"
She couldn't say she was waiting for Griffin Chase. Then she'd have to say why, and she wasn't ready to confess that much to a boy she barely knew, even if he was cute and funny and smart. So she said, "Nothing."
"Then come have a drink with me."
"I can't."
"Come on. Grounds for Thought has awesome chocolate chip cookies, and they bake a batch to be ready specially after school."
"I—"
"We still haven't gotten together to talk about my term paper. You promised you'd help."
She hadn't, but she figured it wasn't the time to point that out. "I'd be risking my life if I had a drink with you."
"Your life?" His brow furrowed.
"Madison told me she'd gut me if I didn't stay away from you."
"Isn't that reason enough to come eat cookies with me?"
She looked at Romantic Notions. She could keep an eye on the door from inside the coffee shop and rush out if Griffin Chase showed up. "You're right. Let's go. But we sit in the front."
Aaron stood up. "If only I'd known Madison was the way to your heart sooner."
"If you're going to be caustic, I'll stay here."
"Caustic?" He grinned and hiked his bag and hers onto his shoulder. "I love how you talk."
"I don't talk in any way," she mumbled as she got up and dusted off her butt.
"I noticed it the first time I saw you. You walked into class your first day late, and Michael pointed to the clock and asked if you were lost, and you replied 'No, just temporally challenged.'"
"You heard me?" She thought she'd said it quietly.
"Yeah." He laughed as he held the door open for her. "It cracked me up."
She walked by him, feeling her face go red as she brushed the front of his jacket. She hurried inside to a table in the front. It wasn't exactly by the window, but from the chair on the right she had a good enough view.
Aaron walked up and set their bags next to the table. "What would you like?"
"I can get it," she murmured, reaching for her bag. Her dad always gave her wads of money. As if money made up for the fact that he was never around.
"It's my treat." Aaron put his hand on top of hers.
She froze, looking down at where he touched her. His hand was warm and big, making her feel small and delicate. She felt a funny tingle in the pit of her stomach, and she looked up, startled.
Smiling, he withdrew his hand. "Mocha?"
"Hot chocolate," she replied, rubbing the back of her hand on her jeans to get rid of the tingly feeling.
"Be right back."
Sitting down, she watched him stride to the counter. The blonde was there, and he greeted her by name.
His smile was so nice. He was nice. She wasn't sure why he was being nice to her. She wanted to resist it, but she liked it. She'd never been into the boys at her school in Manhattan, because whenever she looked at them she remembered when they were six years old and lame. Her mom had always said she'd know when a boy was right for her.
Was Aaron right?
Rachel had no idea. She wished her mom were here so she could ask.
He came back with a plate of cookies. "I didn't know what you'd like, so I got a bunch to share."
"Why do you hang out with me so much?" she heard herself