Page 19 of Palm South University: Season 3

“Thanks for your help,” I say, sheepishly holding my binder up. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Have a good night, Miss Daniels.”

And where I need to turn left for the garage, he turns right, unlocking a pearl white Acura NSX parked in the reserved section with a soft beep before sliding inside. I can’t even move another inch toward the garage until I hear him rev it to life, the engine roaring and purring under his touch. It idles for a minute, my eyes on the blacked-out windows, wondering if the ones inside it are focused on me, too.

When I finally turn, the engine hums again as he throws it in reverse, and it takes every ounce of self-control I have to not watch him drive away.

“Okay, now that Erin’s party details are hammered out, I have a favor to ask you,” Cassie says, ordering us another round of margaritas. Ralph’s ended up being packed so we moved to the Mexican restaurant just off campus, and after two margaritas I was thankful for the switch. Nothing makes a long day better quite like tequila.

“Ah, so that’s why you’ve been buttering me up with chips and queso.”

“AndPatrón,” she adds with a wave of her finger.

“Fine, I’m as buttered as toast. What’s the favor?”

“Okay, so ever since Grayson agreed to headline the Alpha Sigma concert, I’ve been trying to think of ways to make it even better than last year. Not that Adam doesn’t already have that covered, but I just…” She pauses, tucking her wild hair behind her ear. “I know it was hard for him to ask Grayson to help, since they don’t exactly get along, and I want to try to take some of the stress off him.”

“That’s really sweet, Cass. Why don’t they get along, anyway?”

She shrugs, but something in her eyes gives me the impression there’s something she’s not saying. “Who knows. Boys are dumb.”

“Indeed. So what’s the favor?”

“Okay, so I pitched this idea to him and he’s in, but he doesn’t have time to do anything else. I told him I’d handle it, but… well, I need your help.”

“Just spit it out already.”

“I need you to auction a date.” She throws her hands up when I start to object. “Just hear me out. It’s almost exactly like the KKB auction we have every spring except instead of auctioning just the girl, we auction the whole package. So, basically they bet on the ‘date’ but the catch is that the girl auctioning it off has to go on the date with them. So, it takes the pressure off them for deciding what to do and it’s a little bonus, like paying for the activity itself instead of just the girl.”

“It sounds great, but I seriously can’t, Cassie. I barely have time to breathe, as it is, this semester.”

“Please,” she begs, sliding my new margarita to me when the waitress drops it off. “All I’m asking for is two nights — this Friday for the concert, and then whatever night the guy picks for the date. I already have the date items to auction so you don’t even have to worry about that.”

“What is the date?”

“It’s a four-car experience atPalm South Exotic Auto Racing. You’ll basically just have to sit shot gun while the guy gets wet over driving fast sports cars.”

I blow out a sigh, taking another, longer drink from my glass. “Fine. I stayed late tonight so I should be able to head out on time Friday as long as my manager is okay with it.”

Cassie squeals. “Thank you, thank you,thank you.I owe you.”

“Yeah, you do, and as you can see, I happily take queso as payment,” I say, popping another chip in my mouth with a grin. “How are you and Grayson, anyway? I know you’re excited about the show, but it can’t be easy having all those girls drooling over him all the time.”

Cassie’s face falls. “It’s not really the girls who bother me. I just don’t see him much anymore, and anytime we are together, it’s always me watching him from the crowd at the coffee shop or a local show. We haven’t had a single date all semester.”

I frown. “That’s kind of shitty.”

“Yeah,” she agrees, but shakes it off. “But I get it, and I’m sure we’ll spend more time together once the semester settles down a little.”

“Have you guys had sex yet?”

Cassie blushes, and I can’t help but laugh. She gets so nervous talking about anything sexual.

“Not yet…”

“But?” I probe, sensing more to her statement.

“Well, he did go down on me.”