Page 49 of Talk Swoony to Me

“Wow,” I whisper. I take a breath and hold it there as blood fills my cheeks. “Okay, then.” I turn into the hallway. “I guess I’ll see you around.”

Drew steps forward. “Heidi…”

“Don’t,” I say, holding up a hand. “This is okay.”

“It is?”

I smile, letting the warm pleasantness of the thought overtake the dreadful parts of it. “Well, we’ve been friends for less than a day and I’m already up a hundred bucks, so…” I shrug. “Yeah, I think it’s a good start.”

Drew laughs. “All right.”

I let my gaze slide down his glistening bare chest again. “See you Thursday,” I say.

“See you Thursday,” he repeats.

I step out into the hallway, then spin back around again. “Now, when you say a little skin, is that, like… above the waist skin or… below?”

Drew raises a brow. “Above,” he says.

“Great!” I say, stepping back again. “I was just checking. Bye.”

I escape down the hall before I get the chance to say anything stupid.

“Your syllabus says you don’t start full figure drawings until October.”

I freeze by the stairs and turn around. Drew stands in his doorway with one arm on the frame and a diabolic smirk on his mouth.

“Really?” I squeak.

“Yup.”

“And you…” I swallow. “You’re going to model for that, too?”

He nods. “Thinking about it.”

“Great!” I give a thumbs up. “That’s just… great.”

“Unless you have a problem with it.”

“No!” I wave a hand before casually putting it on my hip. “There’s no problem. What’s a little below the waist skin between friends? I mean, you… you live in a frat. You know what I’m talking about, right?”

He squints, amused.

I shift awkwardly, trying to figure out the correct way to bow out of this gracefully as my face melts off. “Bye,” I say.

“Bye, Heidi!”

I hustle down the stairs as quickly as I can, but I feel his eyes on me the entire time.

CHAPTER 14

DREW

“Oh, baby…”

“Jenna.”

“No, I get it now. I see what you like about him.”