Schooling the Jock (Nerds Vs Jocks #1) - - Eli Easton Page 0,71
mussed from the wind, and his navy puffer jacket outlined his lean body. Talk about cute.
I trotted up to him. “Hi.”
He smiled, but it was tempered with a worried look. “Is everything okay? You seemed mega stressed this morning.” He started walking, and I fell in beside him, not really caring where we were going as long as I could be beside Dobbs. Yes, that was a stomach-flipping admission, but there it was.
I said, “I had kind of a meltdown with Tray, and I feel bad about it. Poor guy, he pulled the tiger by its tail this morning.”
“I thought he was your good friend. What happened?” When I didn’t answer instantly, he said, “Did it have something to do with—” His finger flipped back and forth from him to me.
“Yeah. He thought he was being a friend, warning me that some of the guys are starting to talk about how much time we spend together, but I flipped out and overreacted.” I sighed. Dobbs didn’t say anything, just chewed on the corner of his lip, so I kept talking. “I mean, even if we weren’t fooling around, we’d have to spend a lot of time together for Quiz Bowl, so they can just fuck off.” My pissed offedness was rising again, so I took a breath. “Anyway, that’s what I told him, loudly.”
He snorted. “Wish I’d been a fly on the wall.” We walked quietly for a minute, and then he cut into the wooded area behind the nursing school.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s this gazebo thing by the lake. Some people might be ice skating, but probably not many. We can sit, and I’ll feed you.”
“And tell me your idea?”
“Oh yeah.” He gave me a smile, but it didn’t seem as warm as usual.
We found the gazebo that had a table and benches in it, and we sat across from each other. The air was really cold, but I’d put on the puffer coat I carried in my backpack, so I didn’t freeze my ass off.
When we were tucked into the table, he opened the carrier and took out a small thermos with a big cap. It turned out to be chicken noodle soup, clearly straight from a can, but it sure tasted good in the frigid air. Nice and salty. There was also a sandwich. I stared at the filling. “What kind?”
“Um, cheese and—cheese. I was a little short on ingredients. I stole a tomato from Jax to put between the cheese.”
I laughed and took a bite. He’d applied mustard liberally, which made anything taste good. “Thanks a lot. I was considering eating the contents of my chem beakers, which would likely have turned me into a werewolf.”
“Ah yes, the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley school of chemistry.”
I slapped a hand on my mouth to keep from spitting soup. I loved that he was so witty—he could always surprise me. When the danger passed, I drank the last contents of the thermos and started on the second half of the cheese sandwich. “I never did get breakfast. This is saving my life.”
Dobbs turned the empty thermos around and around. “So, the A-hoes—sorry, ALAs—are talking about us, huh?”
He said it casually, but there was a tension in his voice, like he was gauging my reaction, which was fair. Just how much was I going to freak versus letting it wash off me. Hell, the more I protested, the more suspicious I looked. “Yeah, but fuck ’em. They’ve got to have something to talk about or they’re not happy.” I shoved the last bite in my mouth. “So tell me this idea you’ve got.”
He leaned his head on his hand and stared at me for a minute. “I want to give you a present.”
“What? Why?”
“Hear me out. We’ve been working our asses off on Quiz Bowl, extracurricular activities notwithstanding. And sectionals are this weekend.”
I sucked in a big audible breath. God. This weekend. Yes, I knew I’d improved a lot, but was I good enough not to let the team down?
“We need one night’s mental health break. Kind of like when you train for a marathon, you take a day off running just before the event.”
“You’re suggesting a break?” I stared at him like he had two heads. “Who are you and—”
“I know, I know.” He chuckled. “Master Dobbs turns in his whip. But seriously, clearing our heads for one night will help. Trust me. We leave Friday night for sectionals, so I was thinking Thursday night.”