3 Conjuring (6 page)

I had one more class left that afternoon, a philoso
phy class on the makeup of the sexual revolution and its impact on the world today. Yeah, they had me at the word “sex.” I can’t help it; I find the whole idea fascinating. As an added bonus, it made my mother roll her eyes when she saw my class schedule.

After class, I walked back to the dorms alone and trudged upstair
s dejectedly. The sex class wasn’t half as much fun as I thought it would be, and it was filled with horny guys who kept trying to look down my shirt. Yeah, I should have seen that one coming.

I opened the door to the common room, expecting to find some
combination of hungry roommates waiting for me – we had all agreed to go to dinner together after classes – and instead found Aric sitting on the small couch and watching the door expectantly. He wasn’t alone. Matilda, Kelsey and Laura were all sitting in the room with him and Matilda was staring at him adoringly.

“Hey,” I greeted him in surprise.

“Hey.”

I took small and deliberate steps from the c
ommon room into my bedroom and dropped my backpack onto my bed. I expected Aric to follow me and I wasn’t disappointed when I heard the bedroom door shut behind us.

“Are we just supposed to wait for her for dinner?” I h
eard Kelsey ask from the other room.

“It won’t take long,” Laura said. “Just turn on the television and wait.”

“I’m starving.”

“You can wait fifteen minutes,” Matilda grumbled.

“Fine.”

Aric raised an eyebrow as he regarded me cautiously
. “Are you all going to dinner together or something?”

“We’re supposed to.”

“Do you want me to go?”

“Not particularly.”

Aric relaxed into a tentative smile.

“Unless you’re going to get bossy again,” I added.

The smile dipped into a frown. “Bossy?”

“You don’t think you were a little bossy the other night?”

“I think I was trying to protect you, and that’s a different animal altogether.”

I blew out a sigh. “I know you have good intentions.”
And I mostly did. “But I also know that you get really pushy.”

“Maybe I was taking a cue from you,” Aric replied pragmatically.

“That’s what Paris said,” I mused.

“She did?” Aric looked surprised – and also pleased that someone
else seemed to have his back in this fight.

“She said that I’m super bossy and you’re super
bossy and when our super bossy attitudes collide they basically explode.”

“She said that?”

“Well, she used fancier words.”

“I bet,” Aric smirked. “And did you agree with her fancier words?”

I pursed my lips as I considered the question. “Probably,” I finally replied, nodding as I answered. “We both have strong personalities. It only makes sense that they would clash from time to time.”

“So are you still mad at me?”

I rolled my eyes in his direction but refrained from making actual eye contact. I knew I would melt if I actually looked into the dark pools of sexiness that resided there. “I wasn’t really mad at you.”

“You seemed mad.”

“I was mad at the situation.”

“Why?”

“It’s just so messed up,” I said, leaning back on my bed and moving the backpack out of the way to clear a place for Aric to sit. He did so wordlessly. “When Will came up to me, I was actually annoyed. Then, when he started talking, I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for him. It’s hard to see someone I’ve known for so long, someone I really used to care about, fall apart like that.”

“Do you still have feelings for him?” Aric’s voice was low and wary.

“Not like that,” I scoffed.

“Like what then?”

“Like I’m worried that a guy I used to sleep with is acting like a freak.”

“Don’t remind me that you used to sleep with tha
t guy.” Aric’s voice was a low rumble.

“Even though you have random people coming up t
o you at parties and reminding me that you’ve slept with half the campus?”

“I haven’t slept with half the campus,” Aric shot back. “It’s more like a quarter of the campus.” He was going for levity, but I could tell he immediately regretted the words the minute they left his mouth.

I tried to let the words wash over me, but there was a sharp poke in the area of my heart when I heard them. “Well, that’s a good distinction.”

“It’s different,” Aric said honestly. “You were with W
ill for years. You cared about him. You loved him. I’ve never cared about anyone.”

I raised my eyebrows dubiously.

“Until you,” Aric added hastily.

A wave of sudden warmth coursed through me.
“It’s good that you added that caveat,” I smiled smugly.

“You are the single-most frustrating person I’ve ever met,” Aric continued
. I wasn’t feeling so warm now. “You are stubborn. You’re obnoxious. You never think before you speak. You never do what you’re told.”

“I get it,” I snapped.

“You’re also funny and warm and … sexy.”

Okay, I was feeling warm again.

“I like the way you challenge me,” Aric said.

“You like the way I challenge you?”

“This might come as a surprise to you, but most of the women here fall all over me and tell me how great I am. They’re impressed with my body and my dad and the family money.”

“I’m getting bored with this conversation.”

Aric grinned. “You have never told me how great I am. Not once. You make me prove how great I am, and I like that.”

“I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Well, that’s a first,” Aric laughed.

“What is?”

“I’ve actually managed to render you speechless.”

“I’m not speechless,” I protested.

“Close enough.”

I didn’t hesitate. I shifted my body until I was straddli
ng Aric and pressed my lips to his suggestively. Aric accepted the sudden burst of affection by wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me close to him. I sank into the kiss, relishing the feeling of his mouth on mine, until finally pulling away a few minutes later.

“Don’t stop now,” Aric breathed. I could feel his h
eart racing in his chest as it pressed against mine.

“If I don’t stop now, I’ll miss dinner.”

“I’ll feed you.”

“We’re having dinner with my roommates,” I reminded him.

“We?”

“Yeah, you’re coming with us.”

“And why is that? What makes you think I would want to have dinner in a dorm cafeteria? I’m way too cool for that.”

“Because, if you sit through dinner I’ll make it
worth your while,” I answered suggestively, shifting a little on his lap so he’d understand my intentions fully.

Aric blew out a sigh. “You don’t play fair.”

“How bad can dinner in a dorm cafeteria be?”

“YOU’RE RIGHT,
this is fun,” Aric said wryly when we were seated at a table in the first-floor cafeteria.

I shot him a silencing look and then shoveled a forkf
ul of macaroni and cheese into my mouth enthusiastically.

“How can you eat that?” Aric asked distastefully.

I glanced at his steamed broccoli and rice and arched an eyebrow. “How can you eat that?”

“This is good for you. That is just some congealed cheese on a plate.”

“Don’t forget the pasta.”

“Fine. It’s congealed cheese and pasta on a plate.”

“And it tastes good,” Kelsey said, happily digging into her own dinner. She usually ate a balanced diet, but she did have certain indulgences.

Aric shook his head but started picking at his own plat
e ruefully. After a few bites, he turned back to me. “I would have taken you out to dinner.”

“My parents paid for the meal plan, I might as well use it. Stop complaining.”

“I’m not complaining.”

“You’re complaining and it’s bumming me out,” Kel
sey muttered. “It’s bumming us all out.”

“See,” I teased. “You’re bumming us out. Shut up and eat your dinner.”

“Yes ma’am.”

After that, dinner conversation turned to the munda
ne. We chatted about our first day of classes and plans for the weekend – which seemed like a long way off. Aric listened to our chatter, smiling through most of it, until something behind my back caught his eye.

“What is it?”

“Don’t turn around,” Aric said grimly.

“Why?”

“Just don’t turn around.”

Of course I turned around. I immediately wished I hadn’t. “What is she doing here?”

“Jessica!” Laura got to her feet and waved. “Over here!”

“What is she doing here?” I hissed.

“I invited her,” Laura said slowly. “We’re going to go to the computer lab after dinner. I didn’t think it would be a problem.”

Jessica flounced over to our table, fixing me with an
icy glare when she realized I was seated with Laura. She shifted her expression to one of flirtatious joy when she caught sight of Aric. “What are you doing here?”

Aric placed his hand over mine comfortingly. “Just having dinner with my girl.”

“Your girl?”

“That’s what I said,” Aric said coldly. He wasn’t
even pretending to be amiable anymore.

“Wow,” Jessica said sarcastically. “You must be something special.”

“She is,” Aric answered for me.

“Well, I guess we should all just bow down to her then,” Jessica shot back.

“If you think that will help,” Aric replied smoothly.

I glanced at Kelsey, who had fixed her green eyes
on Jessica in an open show of hostility. They reflected a mixture of hate and curiosity. “What’s your deal?”

Jessica glanced at Kelsey dismissively. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes you do,” Kelsey challenged. “You’re over here trying to cause problems. We’re not stupid.”

“I’m sure you’re not,” Jessica said, studying her manic
ure disinterestedly. “I’m just making chit chat.”

“You’re being a bitch,” Kelsey corrected her. I was really starting to like her.

“Who is being a bitch?” I glanced up and frowned when I saw Brittany suddenly making room for herself at our table, squeezing between Laura and me without asking if she could join us. I shifted a little closer to Aric, who had left his hand on top of mine as a show of solidarity.

“Jessica is being a bitch,” Kelsey plowed on.

“Oh, I just figured you were talking about Zoe.”

“Thanks.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Brittany said contritely. “I just … so how was everyone’s first day of classes?”

“Fine.”

“You’re a journalism major, right?” Jessica asked, turning her evil eyes back in my direction.

“How did you know that?” Aric asked suspiciously.

“I saw her in a design class today.”

“You two have a class together?” Aric didn’t look like
as though the thought thrilled him.

“No,” Jessica shook her head. “I stayed after my class
to talk to the professor and I saw her there when I left.”

“Don’t you mean throw yourself at the teacher?” I asked.

Jessica furrowed her brow angrily. “I was not hitting on Professor Blake. I was just trying to get insight from him on the upcoming semester.”

“Sam Blake?” Aric asked in alarm.

“You know him?” Jessica looked surprised.

Aric exchanged a wary glance with me. “I’ve heard of h
im. You didn’t tell me you had a class with him.”

“I didn’t know,” I replied. “The class listing just said ‘Sta
ff.’ Trust me, I wouldn’t have taken it if I had known.”

“Did he say anything to you?”

“Why would he say anything to her?” Jessica asked.

“No,” I shook my head. “He pretended I wasn’t even there.”

“I wonder why?” Aric was lost in thought.

“It probably has something to do with our last conversation,” I said.

“Am I missing something?” Jessica asked.

“Nothing that’s any of your business,” I shot back.

Jessica rolled her eyes. “Laura, are you ready to go to the computer lab?”

Laura looked torn. “I … um … yeah, let’s go.”

The two of them started to leave the table, but Jessica suddenly turned back. “When you get tired of her, as I’m sure you will, why don’t you give me a call?” Jessica winked at Aric. “I’m sure you still have the number in your phone.”