Page 5

Parker gave him a look."Well, that's too bad, then. I have to get going. I'll see you in classtomorrow."

"Hey,wait—" Kell said, but Parker was already out the door. He stared after him, the door shutting behind him. Kell gritted his teeth. "What the heck?" He'd been left even more annoyed than he had been before.Obvious?!What was so obvious about any of this? "Dammit," he muttered to himself, and turned for the other exit at the opposite end of thehall.

He foundJessie in the campus cafe and plonked himself down in the seat across from her. She looked up from her cell phone as she munched on a burger, and Kell stole a French fry from her tray and stuffed it into hismouth.

"What is up with that guy?"he asked, stealing anotherfry.

"Who?"

"Parker.I went and talked tohim."

"Really?"She looked surprised. "Aboutwhat?"

"Iwantedto know why he's always such an ass about my work. It's always me, specifically. You've noticed that,right?"

"Uh-huh. What'd he say?"

"Ithought it would be obvious,"Kell said, imitating Parker's voice. "What the heck is that supposed to mean? And I overheard Andrew asking himout."

Jessie raised an eyebrow. "No way?"

"Yeah,and you know what he said to him? Basically that he only likes talented people. Man, what anass."

"Poor Andrew,"Jessie said. She finished her burger and pulled out her sketch book. She liked to do quick sketches of people sitting around the cafe during her breaks. She pulled out a ballpoint pen and clicked it against her chin. "Maybe it's because Parker thinks you'retalented."

"What?"

"Maybe you'rethe only one he's super critical about because he thinks you're talented? I mean, youare."

Kell felthis heart do a flip, much to his surprise. The idea of Parker noticing his work... of actually acknowledging that he liked it. Kell had never considered that before, because Parker had never once paid him a compliment on it. It'd always just been harshcriticism.

Or,hadhe...?

This isn'tyour best work.That was what he'd said, wasn't it? So, Parker thought that there were other projects he'd done better? Was he actually paying attention to them and not just putting themdown?

"He's never saida single nice thing to me," Kell said, and stole another fry from Jessie's tray. She slapped hishand.

"Alright, that's enough, fry thief."

He smiled apologetically."I'm gonna grab somefood."

The cafeteria bustled with people,and he wound through people holding trays of food, bottles of soda and cups of coffee to get to the line for burgers. His mind was occupied with what Jessie had just said. Had Parker actually been critiquing him hard because he liked his work? But why the hell didn't he do that anyone else in the class? There were plenty of other really skilled artists, and yet all of them got fair criticisms from Parker. The guy was never so harsh to everyone else. Kell couldn't wrap his head around it. If he liked people's work, he wouldn't just tear it pieces every time, he'd give it fair criticism, and that includedcompliments.

I'm only attractedto people withtalent.

Parker's voiceechoed in Kell's mind, and he felt his face grow hot. He shook his head, trying to clear the weird thoughts away. Parker thinking he was attractive? No, that'd be really weird, even though hewasprettycute...

Kell grimaced.Oh, god. How could he even think something like that about Parker 'Jerkface' Leipold? The guy was an ass. A guy like that would probably be a terrible boyfriend. Not that he really had any actual experience knowing what made a boyfriend good or bad, but he could imagine Parker being a nightmare. The guy'd probably criticize his kissing technique. "Too much tongue. You've kissed better,before."

He snorted to himself.And sex? Could he imagine doing it with a guy like that? It'd probably be horribly rough and hard, more like a beating than anything else. Not romantic at all. Shit, he imagined Parker would probably be into hardcore BDSM, or something, with a heavy serving ofS.

All sortsof graphic images popped into Kell's mind at that moment, and he felt his face grow hot and his cocktwitch.

Wait,wait, wait, he thought.No, that's not supposed to happen.Why am I getting turned on bythis?

"Are you ready or not?"

Kell snappedout of his thoughts. The girl manning the cash register stared at him, smacking away at a piece of gum. "What's your order?" she said,annoyed.

"Oh,sorry. I'll have a cheeseburger and fries,please."

He paidfor his meal and stepped aside to wait for it to be ready, his thoughts returning to Parker. The guy was an ass, end of story. Had it been middle or high school, Parker would’ve probably been the guy who'd 'accidentally' spilled paint all over his work. Or stole his clothes from the locker during PE. Or any of the bullshit Kell'd had to deal with back then. He could just tell—he was one of those rich kids who'd always had an easy time in life, and probably would have an easy life until he died. Parker was probably working already, too. He'd overheard him talking about some design job for a family friend's company. Ofcourse.

Nah,there was no way Parker thought anything good about him. And there was no way that Kell would ever likehim.