Page 38 of Show Me 1

There was something else, too. A seed of…excitement almost, or curiosity, dancing in my stomach. Something I didn’t have a word or label for yet. “I was just about to go get something to eat.”

“Your default. Do you do anything else?”

“Many things.” I let a meaningful pause stretch between us before cracking a grin. “Between eating.”

Jesse rolled his eyes and told me to lead the way.

We got my usual booth at Cafe on Main, and I sent a wave over to Cam once we sat. Jesse twisted around to see who I’d waved to.

“Oh yeah, I forgot he worked here.” He waved, too. “So,” he started, leaning in, then pausing as Cam came over with menus.

Cam held a fist out for a bump, which I gave, and then he smiled at Jesse, looking him up and down thoughtfully. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Hi. I still exist.”

“Very much so,” Cam said, and Jesse’s gaze went as suddenly sharp as I was sure mine did when Cam’s smile turned almost coquettish.

“Do I remember you mentioning you’ve had Applebaum for a class?” Cam rested a hand on the back of the booth near Jesse, and my gaze kept straying to the distance between his fingertips and the back of Jesse’s neck.

“Oh yeah.” Jesse frowned in sympathy. “Superhard.”

“Ugh.” Cam groaned. “I hoped you would tell me he gets easier as the semester goes on.”

“Sadly, no, but as long as you do all the assignments, it’s okay. I got out of there with a B and without being called out like he loves doing.”

“I already got called out. It was brutal.”

“But you survived. Hey, I still have my notes, I think, if you want them?”

Cam perked. “That’d be great.”

Silence fell for a beat, and they exchanged a glance before Jesse promised to get the notes to him.

I looked between them, unsure if there was another conversation taking place that I wasn’t privy to. After Cam left, I planted my forearms on the table. “He was flirting with you.”

Jesse looked up from his menu with a laugh. “Maybe, and?”

“Just another example of how you’re constantly talking about how you can’t get laid, and yet since I’ve been around you, I’ve seen countless dudes make a pass. Just saying.”

Jesse rolled his eyes, then lifted the menu like a divider between us, which I stared at resolutely. There was a smile in his eyes when he lowered it a couple of inches again, though. “You’re still there.”

“Shocking, right?”

He tossed the menu aside. “Fine. I can get laid. Getting laid is easy—”

“But—”

Jesse lifted a finger. “I said getting laid is easy. Meeting someone I want to do it with on a consistent basis is the hard part. I have certain…standards. A mental checklist of sorts.”

“Oh?” I cocked a brow. “And what might these standards be?”

“Uh-uh.” Jesse shook his head. “A lot of them are too embarrassing to admit. Suffice it to say, I doubt Cam or any of the other guys you’re thinking of would meet them, so I’ve shelved them until after this year.”

“What about John?” I asked, and Jesse pressed his lips together. Bullseye.

“John meets a lot of the criteria, but he’s also really busy, so we’ll see.”

“What about that date you were supposed to go on with him?”