I don’t have time to think about it. I shoved my jeans into my backpack and hurried out of the bathroom. Seems today was the day to literally run into people because as I exited, I ran right into Zack. I’ve run into him a few times since we met. He seemed nice enough, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right with him. He looked me up and down and grinned.

“A bit revealing, don’t you think, Dani?” he teased.

“Yea,” I laughed nervously, “I spilled coffee on myself and this was all I had.”

“Ah, so that’s not your boyfriend’s?”

“I’m just borrowing it from someone.” Something told me not to tell him about Johnny.

“Ah. Well, can I walk you to class?”

“My friend…”

“Layla, right? I sent her ahead. I hope you don’t mind.”

It’s not like he was giving me much of a choice. I’m sure he was trying to be nice, but something just didn’t sit well with me. It’s like when you’re eating your favorite dessert and notice there’s a new flavor added to the recipe. You can’t quite tell what it is, but you know it’s there.

“You’ll need to be careful in class,” Zack warned. “This new look is sure to garner a lot of attention.”

“I’m sure I’ll be alright. I’m not all that noticeable in the first place.”

“What? You’re telling me not one guy has asked you out?”

“Nope. I also don’t put myself out there. I’m also pretty busy.”

“I get that. Well, maybe we can grab a drink after class sometime.”

“Um, maybe. I tend to have issues holding my liquor.”

“Do you? That’s good to know.”

Before I could ask what he meant by that, I spotted Layla by one of the entrances to our classroom standing next to Jeff as they chatted casually.

“Dani!” she called out as she ran over to me. “I’m sorry I didn’t wait for you. Zack said you go ahead and then I ran into Jeff.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I smiled. I noticed that Jeff was staring in our direction, the smile on his face fading. “Well, thanks for walking me to class. I should probably go inside.”

“Think about drinks, ok?” Zack smiled.

“Uh, sure.”

We turned to head into the classroom. In the corner of my eye, I could see Zack heading toward Jeff. Did they know each other? You could feel the tension in the air as they spoke to each other in hushed tones. Maybe I was seeing things, but I think Zack shoved Jeff. I had to be wrong. Jeff wouldn’t take that and Zack wouldn’t do it…right?

“You look really cute today,” Layla commented as she linked arms with me. “I mean, you look like you’re just wearing a sweater and nothing else, but it’s cute.”

“Thanks,” I chuckled.

 “Hm, this smell’s kinda familiar,” she noted as she sniffed me a few times. “Definitely a guy’s scent.”

“Layla, didn’t anyone tell you not to sniff your friends?”

“Oh look Dani,” she said excitedly as she quickly changed the subject, “someone left you some coffee.”

I knew immediately who it was from. He even left a sticky-note attached to it with a one simple word on it: “Sorry”. How is such a small, simple gesture making me smile? I’m starting to think he isn’t so bad after all.

“I should thank him,” I said softly to myself.

When I looked up, I noticed two women standing in front of him and Jeff. “Excuse me?” the girl with strawberry blonde hair called. “This might be forward of us, but my friend and I have been wanting to tell you guys…”

I just stood there and stared as the two women shamelessly flirted with Johnny and Jeff. Why am I getting so worked up right now? Didn’t I say I didn’t care who or what he did earlier? Something didn’t seem right though. You wouldn’t notice it if you weren’t paying close attention, but it seemed like Johnny was trembling.

“Say something,” Jeff whispered loudly to his friend. When Johnny opened his mouth, all that came out was stuttering.

I need to do something. I quickly finished the coffee and walked over to his desk. “Dani, what are you doing?” Layla whispered loudly.

Honestly, I really don’t know what I’m doing, but I couldn’t stop myself as I placed the empty cup in front of Johnny.

“Hey,” I said to get his attention. He was just as confused as everyone else. “You didn’t have to get me another coffee.” 

These girls weren’t taking the hint and leaving. I’ll need to step it up. I put my hand on his bicep and moved it up his shoulder. Holy shit. Even through his shirt, I could feel the firm, toned arm underneath. His eyes widened, completely shocked I was feeling him up.

“I’ll return your sweater later…tonight. Ok?”

“Did you hear that?” I heard someone say. “Are they dating?”

The room was buzzing with noise. Johnny sat there, staring up at me bewildered. I gave him a knowing look and a slight nod hoping he would get the hint and nod too. It took him a minute, but he complied.

“Perfect, I’ll see you tonight.” I winked at him and headed back to my seat as the entire classroom erupted in noise.

When I sat back down, Johnny was still staring at me in shock. Jeff was shaking him asking what was going on, but he couldn’t take his eyes off me. Maybe I shouldn’t have done that. I was just trying to help him out of an uncomfortable situation. It’s not like I was jealous or something.

“What was that?” Layla asked.

I let out a sigh as I buried my face in my hands, “I don’t know, but I think I messed up.”

“Alright, settle down everyone!” the professor yelled as he walked into the classroom. “Today I want to talk to you about your final project. You’ll all be assigned to groups of four and will choose a project from this packet to plan, program, build and execute. The harder the project, the more points you can earn. Please note that these projects range from beginner to basically professional grade. To receive full credit, your project must be fully functional for its specific purpose for three minutes so choose wisely.”

As soon as the names flashed on the board, I scanned for mine.

Team 3:

Layla Matthews 

Jeffrey Spradley

Danielle Loughty

Johnathan Park

Great.  I had to grope him. We were going to be spending a lot of time together and more rumors are just going to pop up. I’ll never help anyone else again. As soon as the bell rang, I grabbed all my belongings and bolted for the door. I’ll pull a Johnny and get away as fast as I…

“Wait!” Johnny’s thunderous voice called. It was so loud it echoed down the hall.

Idiot! Everyone in the vicinity was staring at us now. I could hear his heavy footsteps getting closer.

“Can you please lower your voice?” I hissed.

“O-oh. Sorry,” he apologized. He rubbed the back of his neck and small gap between the bottom of his shirt and the top of his jeans exposed more of his toned, tan skin. Breathe, Dani. Breathe. “I guess I was louder than I thought.”

“Yea, well you caught up to me. What do you need?”

“Jeff and Layla wanted to get together to talk about the assignment.”

“Tonight?”

He nodded. “They insist we get started right away.”

I let out a sigh. I’m exhausted. I worked both jobs today and had to deal with Sara and Lance twice. Not to mention the beast in front of me spilled coffee on me, tried to make it to me only to create a bigger scandal.

“Ok, let’s get this over with. Where are they?”

“They wanted to meet at the restaurant across the street from the west campus entrance.”

“Alright, let’s go.”

We walked side by side as we headed to the parking lot. There was a comfortable silence between us. I wasn’t as annoyed by him and he seemed to relax around me as well. It was far different from the first day we met. Maybe it was because of what happened earlier. Suddenly the image of XXL condoms spewed across a parking lot came to mind. Why am I thinking of that of all things?

“Thank you, by the way,” he said breaking the silence. “For earlier. With those girls.”

“I owed you,” I replied blankly.

“You owed me?” I grabbed the collar of the hoodie and shook it. “It’s my fault you have to wear it in the first place.”

“I told you it’s fine. I also told you not to get me another coffee.”

“I just felt bad. You looked like needed it.”

“I did. So…thank you.”

“You’re very welcome!”

I hate to admit it, but he can be charming. “Why are you always so nervous? Are you afraid of women or something?”

He was so caught off guard by the question he tripped on his own feet. “Fuck,” he cursed. “Sorry! That was rude. I didn’t mean to curse.” He took a deep breath and regained his composure. “The girl that approached me looked like someone I knew.”

“And me?” He looked at me with a raised brow. “Don’t act like you weren’t a bumbling fool when we met.”

“T-that was different.”

“See, you’re stuttering again.”

“I’m just not good at talking to….”

“What? You’re mumbling.”

“I said I’m not good at talking to p-pretty girls.”

I froze in place, my eyes wide as saucers. What did he just say? 

He realized I had stopped walking and turned back to look at me. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” he said as he scratched his head, further ruffling his already messy hair. “Do you want a ride?” Did he just ask me to ride him? “To…the restaurant. We can take my truck.?”

Jesus, Dani pull yourself together. “Your glove compartment isn’t full of condoms, is it?”

“I told you that was my friend messing with me!”

I laughed a little to myself. At least he’s fun to tease. The tension between us quickly melted as we walked to his truck. It bothered me a little he was acting as if he hadn’t called me pretty moments ago. How could he say something like that and then act so casually? When he said it, it didn’t feel unpleasant like it did with others. Zack had called me pretty and it made me uncomfortable. But hearing Johnny say it made me feel…good. 

He opened the door for me when we got to his truck. He has manners, I’ll give him that. He tossed his backpack in the backseat and headed for the driver’s seat.

“Should I put my bag in the ba…” I trailed off when I turned around and saw the booster seat behind me. I quickly faced forward and clutched my backpack.

“I looked through that packet and if we want a high grade,” he said casually. It was as if he didn’t realize I saw the booster seat. “I think we should do one of the harder projects. Jeff and I thought we should do the companion project. It’s programming a robotic puppy and we came up with the idea of also making a receiver. The user would wear it and if there’s a change in heart rate, the puppy would automatically go to the owner to aide them or call 911 if needed.”

“That’s pretty complex. Can we do it in time?”

“It would be tight, but possible. Jeff has experience in app building and Layla apparently used to dress animatronics at a theme park. That would just leave the receiver, puppy, programming and coding. I can handle most of that.”

“What about me?”

Johnny quickly glanced over at me then back at the road. He completely forgot about me!

“The stuff I’m doing is pretty complex…”

“You don’t think I can handle it? You automatically thought I can’t do coding?”

“Well…can you do coding?”

Short answer: no. “Why don’t you help me with it then? You trying to do three things at once opens a bigger opportunity for mistakes.”

“That’ll require us to be together nearly every chance we get.”

“You have a problem with that?”

The car jerked a little. I let out an exasperated laugh, “Whatever.” 

The short drive felt like it took forever now. The silence was louder than any metal concert you could imagine. How can someone flirt so shamelessly then act like spending time with them for a school project is a burden?

He didn’t speak a word as we were seated at a table. He stared at the menu in front of him, shaking as if he had been left out in the bitter winter cold. How could a man his size be so…pitiful? The silence between us was even louder in this noisy restaurant. As time ticked away, I began to wonder where Jeff and Layla were. I picked up my phone to call Layla and noticed I had a new text from her.

Don’t be mad.

Famous last words. She said she and Jeff decided to get drinks at another bar and to have a nice time with Johnny. He must have gotten a text too because he had a panicked look on his face. 

“So, are we going to do it or what?” I asked.

He looked up at me with his big blue puppy dog eyes. Whenever I think I know even just a little bit about him, he does something that throws you for a complete loop.

“Ok,” he finally said as he nodded. “Let’s do it. I mean the coding! We can do the c-coding together.”

“Good. Let’s eat and get out of here. You’re paying.”

The least he can do for all the trouble he’s caused is buy me dinner this one time. I mean, it’s only dinner. Right?