“I don’t get what you’re saying.” Cam tilted his head to the side.
“What I’m saying is that…” I trailed off. What the hell was I saying? The problem was I just didn’t get him—any of him. He didn’t know me. I didn’t know him and yet he was so… so friendly. The next words just came out of my mouth. “Why are you being so nice to me?”
A brow rose. “Is that a serious question?”
“Yes.”
He stared at me a moment. “Alright, I guess I’m just a nice guy. And you’re obviously new—a freshman. You seemed to be a little out of it on Monday and then you ran off, wouldn’t even come into class and I—”
“I don’t want your pity.” I was horrified. He was being nice to me because he thought I was a freshman freak. Oh God, that was…
Cam frowned, and I mean really frowned. “You don’t have my pity, Avery. I’m just saying you seemed out of it on Monday and I figured we’d just be partners.” He stopped and his eyes narrowed. “I can see that you don’t believe me. Maybe it was the cookie? Well, you refused to taste my cookies last night and honestly, I was going to eat the other cookie, but you looked so tired and sad sitting there, I figured you needed the cookie more than I did.”
I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, but there was a distinct gleam of amusement in his eyes.
“And you’re pretty,” he added.
I blinked “What?”
That frown had faded as he opened the door, ushering me out of the class and into the hall. “Do not tell me you don’t know you’re pretty. If so, I’m about to lose all faith in mankind. You don’t want to be responsible for that.”
“I know I’m pretty—I mean, that’s not what I meant.” God, I sounded vain. I shook my head. “I don’t think I’m ugly. That’s what—”
“Good. Now we’ve cleared that up. ” Tugging on my bag, he steered me toward the stairwell. “Watch the door. It can be tricky.”
I ignored that. “What does the whole pretty comment have to do with anything?”
“You asked why I’m so nice to you. It’s mutually beneficial.”
It sunk in and I stopped on the stair above him. “You’re nice to me because you think I’m pretty?”
“And because you have brown eyes. I’m a sucker for big old brown eyes.” He laughed. “I’m a shallow, shallow boy. Hey, it helps that you’re pretty. It brings out the nice guy in me. Makes me what to share my cookies with you.”
I stared at him. “So if I was ugly, you wouldn’t be nice to me?” Cam pivoted around, facing me. Even a whole step below, he was taller than me. “I’d still be nice to you if you were ugly.”
“Okay.”
A wicked grin slipped over his full lips. He bent his head down and whispered, “I just wouldn’t offer you any cookies.”
I folded my arms and tried to ignore the close proximity of our faces. “I’m beginning to think cookie is a code word for something else.”
“Maybe it is.” He tugged on my bag again as he took a confident step back, forcing me down another step. “And just think about it. If cookie is a code word, whatever it symbolizes, it’s been in your mouth, sweetheart.”
Part of me was slightly disturbed by that and the other part? A laugh bubbled up my throat and came out, sounding a bit hoarse. “You are really…”
“Amazing? Awesome?” He paused, brows raised. “Astonishing?”
“I was going to go with bizarre.”
“Well, hell, if I had feelings that might actually hurt.”
I grinned, falling into the easy banter with him. “I guess it’s a good thing that you don’t have feelings then, huh?”
“Guess so.” He went down a couple more steps and stopped on the landing. “You better hurry or you’re going to be late to your next class.”
Holy shit! He was right.
Cam laughed at my wide eyes and stepped out of my way as I charged down the steps. “Damn, if only you moved that fast for my cookies, I’d be a happy guy.”
“Shut up!” I tossed over my shoulder as I hit the next set of steps.
“Hey!” he yelled after me. “Don’t you want to know what cookies is a code word for?”
“No! Good God, no!”
His laughter followed me into the hall and all the way to my next class.
“Your apartment is really nice,” Brittany said from my couch. A history text lay open, but unread in her lap. “I would love not to have to live in a dorm. My roommate snores like a banshee in her sleep.”
I hovered between the coffee table and the TV, really unsure on how Brittany and Jacob had ended up in my apartment after class. At lunch, we’d talked about getting together and exchanging notes from history and somehow my place was offered up. I really think it was Jacob’s idea, and since both of them were here we were getting absolutely no studying done.
Anxious energy buzzed through me like a hummingbird. It had been so long since I had people in my space. Back home, no one but family came around and only the maid entered my bedroom. Not only had I been a virtual pariah in my town and at school, it had been the same way inside my house. But before that Halloween party, everyone hung out at my house, especially the girls from the studio. Everyone had still talked to me then and I’d still danced. Before that party, things had been normal.
I fiddled with my bracelet, nervous. I liked them here because it was normal and reminded me of the before. It was what people in college did, but it was so… different to me.
Jacob resurfaced from my kitchen, a bag of chips in hand. “Forget about the apartment. Don’t get me wrong. It is a nice apartment, but I want to hear more about Cam’s cookies.”
I took a chip from the bag. “I should’ve never told you about that conversation.”
“Whatever,” he replied, mouth full.
Brittany giggled. “I am so dying to know what cookies are slang for.”
“Probably his cock,” Jacob plopped down on the arm of the couch.
“Oh my God,” I said, taking a handful of chips. I needed the calorie fortitude for where this conversation was heading.
Brittany nodded. “Makes sense then. I mean, with the whole not sharing cookies with ugly girls.”
“I don’t think he really meant that,” I said, popping a chip in my mouth. “So, back to our history notes…”
“Fuck history. Back to Cam’s cock.” Jacob said. “Do you know, if cookies are a code word for cock, then that means his cock was in your mouth.”
I choked on the chip and grabbed my can of soda, inhaling the liquid as my face burned.
“Theoretically speaking that is,” Jacob added, grinning like a total shithead. He hopped up. “I don’t know how you do it, Avery. If I lived across the hall from him, I’d be plastered to his front door noon to midnight. And I’d be all over his cookies. Yum.”
Waving a hand in front of my face, I shook my head. “You can have his cookies.”
“Oh, honey, if he swung batter-batter for my team, I’d be all over that in a heartbeat.”