Page 44 of Love Me Not

“Pepper or anyone else.”

What the heck? Were the girls making this up? “Then you don’t have a crush on me?”

He had the nerve to chuckle. “Do you want me to have a crush on you?”

“Don’t answer my question with a question. I hate that. Do you like me or not? Because the girls are all convinced that you do.”

“Yes, I like you.”

This was the reason I gave up dating. Because men were confusing and annoying and made no sense whatsoever.

“Then you lied to Pepper?”

“I didn’t lie. You’ve made it clear that you don’t date, and I respect that. Since you’re the only person I’d want to date, I’m not looking to date anyone else.” As if this wasn’t a total contradiction, he added, “So what I answered was the truth.”

A headache blossomed behind my left eye. “Let me get this straight. If I was interested in dating, you’d also be interested in dating?”

“Dating you, yeah. But you don’t date.”

“We aren’t talking about me. We’re talking about you.”

Head tilted again, he narrowed his eyes. “I think we’re talking about us.”

“There is no us,” I pointed out.

“Unless you plan to change your mind on the whole dating thing. ”

Did I plan to change my mind? Donna’s words echoed through my brain. Was this the moment to start thinking with my heart? And what did that mean, anyway? Was I supposed to make decisions based on every irrational emotion that bubbled to the surface?

“Lindsey,” Trey said, interrupting my brain spiral.

Blinking, I said, “What?”

“Do you want me to stop coming to rehearsals?”

Pausing, I decided the closest I could get to thinking with my heart was to follow my gut.

“No, I don’t.”

A smile split his face and my heart said that was the right answer. “Good.”

We’d reached some kind of agreement, though I wasn’t sure to what. “Good,” I repeated.

“Do you want to go back inside?” he asked. “You’re shivering.”

I hadn’t noticed. “I shouldn’t keep you out here.”

“Come on.” Trey pulled the door open. “Let’s get you out of the cold.”

We made our way back to the cafeteria, and he stopped outside the doorway. “You go in first so we don’t walk in together. I can wait out here for a couple of minutes.”

There was nothing wrong with two coworkers speaking alone at a school function. “Screw that. We can go in together.”

Grinning, he said, “You have a rebellious side, don’t you?”

Maybe he did know me. “A bit, yes. Is that a bad thing?”

“Not to me, it isn’t.”