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Kell's heartwas still pounding, but somehow, having been confronted about it like that had actually wiped some of the nerves away. To his surprise, he felt braver. Now the only butterflies in his stomach were because of that brief moment of contact they'dhad.

"Only if youpromise to be less of an ass," Kell said. "But maybe I can't expect that ofyou."

Now I knowhe doesn't hate my guts, at least,Kell thought. That was something. Actually, he felt the opposite. Jessie had been right—the guy was a jerk because headmiredKell's work. He was trying to push him to get better by being harsh on him. On the one hand, it irritated him that a guy the same age was treating him like he was his little disciple, or something. But on the other hand... it was Parker. Parker Leipold was interested inhim, and the thought gave him a littlethrill.

"Ican't promise anything,"Parker said, "But I'll try." For the first time, a slight smile formed on his lips. Kell's heart did a little flip when he sawit.

Damn,he thought.He's actually really hot when hesmiles.

And then,as quick as it'd come, it wasgone.

"Well,I'm glad we got all that cleared up," Kell said. "I could've sworn you didn't like me, orsomething."

"Inever said that I do,"Parkersaid.

"What happenedto trying to not be anass?"

Parker snorted."Anyway. We should exchange phonenumbers."

"Yeah, okay."They pulled out their phones and swapped info. It felt a little weird—Parker was the absolute last person he would've believed he'd exchange numberswith.

"And as for address...I guess we don't really need to exchange thatinformation."

"No, I guess not.”Kell said. “Anyway, we can take care of the project here at school. It's not like I have much room at my apartment." And he felt weird about the idea of Parker coming over to hisplace.

"Yeah,"Parker said. "Me neither. It's best we just meet here to do the work. Most of the final work will be done digitally, anyway. We can work in thelibrary."

It wasa surprise that Parker was living in a crappy apartment in Forest Glenn, because he knew that Parker came from wealth. He’d heard it mentioned before that Parker was living in a swanky hillside loft, but apparently that wasn't true, at least anymore. Kell wondered if something had happened, or if maybe he wasn't as spoiled as he thought. The guy did still drive a Bentley,though.

Parker openedhis sketchbook and turned it to Kell. "I did a few quick thumbnail mockups. Take alook."

Kell tookthe sketchbook from him, surprised. He'd done these in the fifteen minutes since class had ended? They were rough, no doubt, but clear on the concept as an advertisement for the mock company they were supposed to be designingfor.

"These are really good,"Kell said. "I had no idea you were so good at commercialstuff."

"It helpsthat I already do this kind of thing for work," Parkerreplied.

Kell felt a pang of self-consciousness.Right. So, he wasn't just living off mommy and daddy's money. Parker was already working professionally. Of course he would be. With work likehis...

"But,"Parker said, "I have no doubt that you could easily learn this. Absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be able to, with yourskills."

Kell looked at him,surprised. "Did you just give me a compliment? An actual nicecompliment?"

Parker smirked."Did that make you feelbetter?"

Kell rolledhis eyes and pushed the sketchbook into Parker's chest. "So, should we sit down somewhere and do some moremockups?"

"Unfortunately,I can't today. I have work afterclass."

"Crap.I've got work beforeclass."

"Where do you work?"Parkerasked.

Kell shifted uncomfortably.Again, that damn easy blush response. "Oh, just a... This one, um...it's a bigcompany."

"Adesign firm?"

"Not exactly… I work retail.”