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“Go? Why?”
“You’re…upset?”
He opens the door for me, and we step outside to cooler air, taming the heat burning my cheeks.
“It…happens sometimes, but don’t worry, I told her it was rude as shit, considering I was there with you.”
I’m not following…
My brain starts to string events together until it flashes on the numbers I saw on the bag. “She gave you her number,” I state. And that’s why he didn’t want to get dirty looks while we were in there eating. “You told her that was rude? For me?”
“Well, yeah, because it is.” He takes a deep breath, his gaze searching around campus. “We could go to the cafeteria. The library? My room?”
As much as the mention of his room sends a jolt of heat through me, I say, “The library is good.”
“We can get a quiet corner and talk.”
I nod in agreement.Now I won’t actually have to lie to my dad about where I was.
Cade leads me in the direction of one of the newer buildings on campus, a fair bit more modern with sleek lines and policies that aren’t from the Dark Ages. For example, we can take our food and drink to a table in the co-study area. We just can’t take them into the stacks.
The lighting is low for a place that’s erected for people to study. Cade finds us a spot near a window that looks over the quad. It’s a two-person table with plush lounge chairs.
The only time I’ve been in this building was during orientation, and I definitely don’t remember this being on the tour. We’d only stopped inside the lobby before they told us about the research area and books, not cozy places to sit to talk to a gorgeous guy.
Cade takes a sip of his coffee while I sit. I stare at the top before I do the same, hesitant at first. My mouth, however, is pleasantly surprised by the surge of caramel that takes over my tastebuds. “Mmm, that’s good.”
“Isn’t it?”
Cade hands me a napkin and then puts each of our doughnuts on one. The chocolate frosting on mine mounds to a point in the middle. The clear glaze smells delicious and inviting as I take my first bite. The savory-sweet flavor has me moaning. “Man, this is good.”
“Now you’re making me jealous.”
“Of a doughnut?”
“Anything your mouth touches, Sunshine.”
“You’re ridiculous.”
I peer around, more at ease here than when I was at the café. “Do you come here a lot?”
“I used to,” he says, swallowing his bite. “But now I have a single room, so since I have private space, I don’t really need to anymore.”
“It must be nice to be Cade Farmer.”
He licks a piece of glaze from his lips, and I have to look away.
“What about you? Do you have a roommate?”
I can feel the energy drain from my face. This is stupid. I should’ve known I wouldn’t be able to talk to Cade like I was a normal person. How do I tell him about my dad?
“Yeah,” I croak out. “I have a roommate.”
“Do you get along?”
“Sometimes.” Now that is mostly true.
“If you ever need to get away, you can stop by my room.”