Daydream (Maple Hills, #3)(17)
“Sorry, sorry,” he mutters, standing quickly to take the call outside on the patio.
His interruption is a welcome distraction from the line of this book I’ve read four times. Professor Thornton’s class continues to be as terrible as I originally determined.
The French doors open and Russ reenters, pushing his cell phone into his pocket. “Rory is coming to study with us, if that’s all right with everyone.”
“You know you live here and we don’t, right?” Bobby asks, looking up from his game. “You don’t need our permission for your girlfriend to come over.”
“I thought she was going to book club,” I say, wishing I’d asked her to get me some cookies.
“Halle texted everyone to say a pipe burst and they’ve had to close the store to repair the damage, so it’s been canceled.”
It was frustrating when I met Halle a couple of weeks ago and on the way to get food Aurora could tell me basically nothing about her. When I suggested she was a lousy friend, she argued that Halle keeps to herself and she’d love to know more about her, which makes two of us.
“Tell her to bring everyone here. They can set up in the garden, just get everyone to bring a picnic blanket or something,” I say, closing my textbook, officially giving up for now.
Mattie shuts his laptop. “I support this vision.”
Anastasia scoffs. “You’d support anything that gave you a five-to-one ratio of women.”
“It’s actually more if you consider Russ has a girlfriend and Robbie is both taken and not here.”
“Are you sure?” Russ asks, reaching for his phone. “Is having a houseful of strangers not very distracting and counterproductive to finishing your essay?”
“Does this have anything to do with you having a crush on the book club girl?” Anastasia asks, causing overdramatic gasps from my friends.
I roll my eyes at how childish they all are. “I don’t have a crush on her.”
“Rory said you were flirting with her,” she counters, shutting her own laptop and tucking it into her bag.
Kris leans forward to get a better look at Anastasia. “Did Aurora say exactly how he was flirting? Because I’ve been trying to get eyes and ears on that situation for over two years now.”
“I wasn’t flirting. I was talking to her.”
She’s hot, so I would have flirted with her, but she was flustered and it sounded like she’d just gone through a breakup. Didn’t seem like the right time.
“Ah,” Mattie groans. “A conversation first. That’s where I’m going wrong.”
“Aurora said they’re going to head over now.” When we look at Russ, the tips of his ears have gone pink. “She also says thank you.”
“Looks like she said more than thank you, you big ol’ beet,” Kris teases. “Right, what was the book they read this week? Time to google the shit out of it until they get here so I can look educated and appealing.”
Anastasia’s eyebrow rises as she stands from her chair and slings her bag over her shoulder. “You’re going to be a doctor…”
Kris nods. “With a shitload of college loans. I need to find a wife while I still have this body.”
Anastasia gives one last sigh. “Goodbye.”
* * *
MY BEDROOM WINDOW IS CRACKED slightly, which is letting me listen to the laughter outside while I once again attempt to concentrate on my work.
As soon as Aurora turned up with her arms full of blankets, I retreated to the safety of my bedroom to stay out of everyone’s way. The noise outside eventually dies down, and I hear the front door open and close, signaling the end of the meeting.
Five minutes pass and there’s a light tapping at my door. When I pull it open, I’m pleased to find it’s who I thought it was going to be. “You cut your hair off,” I say.
“What?” Halle responds, instinctively running her hand down the now-shorter length of her brown hair. “Oh yeah. The girl I work with encouraged me to when I went to the salon with her this morning. Nicely, not forcefully or anything. I’ve just wanted to cut my hair for a long time and my e—someone stopped me doing it.”
The blunt ends sit right on her collarbone, dragging my focus across the area and up the column of her neck before I meet her eyes again. “I like it. You look really good.”
She’s flustered instantly, but I don’t think I said anything weird. It was just a compliment; a tame one at that. I step out of the doorway, holding out an arm to usher her in. She complies immediately, sitting on the bottom corner of my bed when I throw myself down onto my normal spot.
Maybe she’s not used to hearing compliments. Although that seems unlikely, because she’s beautiful. Maybe Will Ellington is as shit at being a boyfriend as he is at playing hockey. “Thank you,” she eventually chokes out. “That’s sweet of you to say. And sweet of you to let us use your house. I brought you something to say thank you. I made double in case you happened to show up again, then the pipe happened, and well. Here.”
She holds out a glass container lined with paper towels, and when I open the lid, the smell of fresh cookies fills my room. I take a bite, and they’re just as good as I remember. I’m glad she brought them up here so I don’t have to share with the guys. “Thank you. Want one?”