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“Gotta go,” I grunted as I pulled away and ran out the door.
Chapter 7
Emmy
I stared at Ivan’s retreating back in bewilderment. He was like a yo-yo. Hot one minute, cold the next. My body was still trembling, hot and achy all over from just the brief contact of his lips.
Delaney gave me an odd look. “Is something wrong with him?”
Right. Our relationship was probably looking weirder by the minute. “Uh, he’s still coming to terms with our relationship, so he kind of freaks out sometimes.”
I supposed that was true enough, just based on today alone.
Delaney nodded her head. “Yeah, a lot of guys can be like that. Hot and cold. Even Drew sometimes zones out. He’s not moody or anything, just sometimes absent.”
“Does that bother you?”
Delaney shrugged. “It doesn’t happen too often, so I just assume he has stuff on his mind, you know? But he’s so good to me, so I’m fine if he gets a little distracted. I mean, just like you with Ivan. He was looking like he wanted to eat you alive, then he ran.”
I wanted to agree with her, but it wasn’t like I had a normal boyfriend situation, and I was hardly an expert with my zero relationships.
Her phone chimed that she received a text and a wide grin blossomed on her face. “Drew just asked if he could drop by—do you mind, Emmy?” she asked.
I looked around the room. Most of my stuff was put away; her side was a total disaster. “It’s fine by me.”
“Great! I’ll tell him to come on over.”
I was putting the last of my stuff away when I heard a knock on the door. Delaney ran over, pulled it open and jumped into the arms of whoever was standing there, presumably Drew.
“Drew! How are you?” she squealed.
He put her down and moved into the room. “I’m good. How’s it going here?”
Drew was your typical looking midwestern guy with boyish looks and short dark hair under his Cubs baseball cap. He was wearing a University of Illinois long sleeve t-shirt and jeans. He looked like every guy you imagined seeing on a college campus. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up as clip art for a hundred college brochures.
“This is my roommate, Emmy. Emmy, this is Drew.”
I held out my hand and as he shook it, I was surprised by the roughness of his palms.
“Nice to meet you. What kind of work did you do over the summer, Drew? Seems like you built up some calluses.”
Drew grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, I did some construction with my friends. Got some blisters and a lot of sore muscles.”
“He definitely has muscles,” Delaney said, wiggling her eyebrows.
Drew rolled his eyes but put his arm around her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “Believe me, I have nothing on some of the guys I worked with. It was like they’d been hauling cinder blocks for twenty years.”
“You should feel his bicep,” Delaney said, and Drew accommodatingly curled his arm.
I laughed at Delaney. “That’s okay, I’ll take your word for it.”
“Go ahead, Emmy. Touch it.” Delaney grinned at me expectantly, I guess hoping I’d give her boyfriend’s bicep my seal of approval. Jesus.
I reached out and gave it a quick pat, then nodded weakly. “Oh, yeah, it’s strong,” I complimented lamely. I guess it was enough because Drew gave me a broad, proud smile and Delaney beamed. Based on their shared enthusiasm for positive feedback about Drew’s muscles, they seemed like a perfect match.
“Are you a musician, Emmy?” Drew asked, looking over my side of the room. It wasn’t particularly hard to figure out I was into music. My handheld harp was sitting on my desk and I had several small harp figurines my mother and sister had given me decorating the top of my desk. Not to mention my posters for the London and Chicago Symphony Orchestras.
I stroked my chin in mock curiosity. “Now, how did you guess that?”