Her green eyes narrowed a bit, and she asked, “You didn’t bring your stuff?”
“My what?”
“Your stuff,” she repeated, “for the project we have to work on.”
Well, double shit. Totally forgot that was literally the entire reason I was here. This wasn’t a date. Come on, Mason. Stop being stupid.
“I, uh, forgot it, apparently,” I said, grinning—and feeling like an absolute idiot.
She gave me a strange look. “That’s okay, I have my stuff.” Bree went to her desk. Her bag sat on the floor beside it, and she fell to her knees as she unzipped it. It looked like it hadn’t been touched since she got out of class yesterday.
We ended up sitting across from each other on the floor. Her house had mainly hardwoods, but she had a large area rug covering most of it in her room. As she got out her notebook, I couldn’t help but watch her. Right now, I think we were at the stage where we were spitting out ideas about how to get a big subject pool for our questionnaire, but that wasn’t what was on my mind right now.
What was on my mind was Bree and her date last night. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. As I stared at her, my gaze dropped to her lips. Did they kiss? I didn’t like the thought of those lips touching someone else.
Why? That much was obvious. I wanted those lips to be mine.
I must’ve been staring too hard at her, for she said, “What?”
Blinking, I echoed, “What?” Man, if anyone was handing out awards for the stupidest response, I think I’d win today.
“You’re staring at me,” Bree whispered, her teeth nibbling her bottom lip. That little habit of her drove me nuts, because I wanted to bite that bottom lip, run my tongue over it, taste her and swallow her moans.
Okay, hold up. That was way too inappropriate right now. Get it together.
“No, I’m not,” I said, totally still staring at her—but at least now I wasn’t staring at her mouth. Now I gazed steadily into her eyes, their green hue reminiscent of how envious I was another guy had gone on a date with her. Twice, now.
Bree fiddled with the pen she’d gotten out a few moments ago. “You are,” she said.
“Maybe I am,” I admitted. “A little.” She lifted her eyebrows, which caused me to further say, “Okay, a lot.”
“Why?”
I shook my head. “No reason.”
“You’re still on it, aren’t you?” Bree knew me all too well. Apparently my desperation had seeped through those text messages last night after all. “My date with Calum.”
Calum. So that was his name? Hmm. Sounded like a stupid name, if I ever heard one.
“I am not—” I started to argue, but the look she gave me right then stopped me. Right. There was no use in trying to pretend something we both knew wasn’t true. Might as well own up to my lameness now, I suppose. “Fine, I totally am. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Why? You weren’t even there.”
“Hence my issue.”
Bree turned confused, her eyebrows coming together and her nose scrunching a bit. “You wanted to be there?”
Uh, a third wheel on her date with another guy? I didn’t think so. I said, “No, I mean, I want to be the one to take you out, not this Calum guy. Not that I know him, but he sounds like a jerk—”
“He was actually very nice last night,” she said, her words coming out quietly.
I could’ve sworn my eye twitched right then.
“You’re jealous,” she went on. “It would be easier for you if he was a jerk, wouldn’t it?” Bree set down her pen, fiddling with the sleeves on her sweater. “You shouldn’t be jealous, Mason. It isn’t like I’m his girlfriend.”
Ah, so the date didn’t go that well, huh? Good.
I knew I was a terrible person for thinking that, but I couldn’t help it. I just couldn’t help it.
“I’m not yours, either,” she added. “So I don’t understand why you feel so jealous.”
Emotions warred inside of me, waves of strong feelings I couldn’t deny. Was this girl really that oblivious, or was I that good at hiding how I really felt? Either way, I figured I should tell her, just to clear the air, to get it off my chest.
I opened my mouth, slowly saying, “Because, Bree, I like you.”
Her eyes widened somewhat, and it would seem I rendered her speechless with my declaration.
Resisting my urge to scoot closer to her, I said, “I like you.