“Now, let’s try not to have a repeat of yesterday. I’m assuming that you have all completed the required reading and the homework assignment, so if you could pass your worksheets to the front we can get start—”
“Sorry I’m late, Ms. Ingraham. I had an extra stop to make on my way to class today.” The voice of the arriving straggler cut through her orders, his interruption equal parts apology and authority. Polite enough to garner favor without encouraging further questioning. A smart approach, I thought, but I doubted it would be enough to stave off Ms. Ingraham’s wrath. Every head in the room whipped in the direction of the voice, mine included, eager to see how the latecomer would fare against the strict tardiness policy. My bet was, this kid had some serious detention-time coming his way.
Thankfully, I’m not much of a gambler.
It was Sebastian, of course. He leaned casually against the doorjamb with his backpack tossed over one shoulder, a styrofoam cup of coffee held in each hand. Ms. Ingraham took one look at him and blushed like a schoolgirl. To my utter amazement, I watched as my overweight, bespectacled teacher turned beet red and said in a breathy, flustered, totally disturbing voice, “Oh, Sebastian, don’t worry about it. Take a seat.” She gestured loosely toward the only two empty desks — the one directly behind my chair by the window, and another by Amber, Nicole, and the other popular kids in the opposite corner.
It wasn’t hard to guess where he was headed.
I rolled my eyes after catching sight of Ms. Ingraham, who was still staring at Sebastian in a bewildered stupor. I couldn’t really blame her — the boy was good looking, and all the teachers had been thrilled beyond measure when the senator they’d elected chose to put his son in the public school system, rather than shipping him off to private school. But…seriously? Had we learned nothing from the Mary Kay Letourneau’s of the world? Despite my best intentions, a mutinous giggle escaped my lips.
Sebastian heard my choked laugh and his eyes darted to mine as he entered the classroom and walked toward his friends with confident, self-assured strides. His lips lifted in a half-grin and he winked — yes,winked— at me, which only made it harder to control the escaping giggles. In hindsight, my mounting hysteria was probably a byproduct of the fact that Sebastian hadn’t ignored me, as I’d assumed he would, but had seemed friendly.
Heck, he’d smiled at me.Winkedat me.
A flurry of butterflies simultaneously burst from their cocoons inside my stomach, and I quickly slanted my face down toward my desk to hide the dopey grin spreading across my lips.
The smile quickly faded when I heard Nicole’s whisper echo across the room.
“Ohmigod,Amber! Sebastian totally bought you a coffee. He’s so gonna ask you out.”
Amber’s answering giggle was enough to instantly kill the swarm of butterflies. They dropped, mid-flight, to the bottom of my stomach where their once-beautiful papery wings were immediately incinerated by food-digesting acids.
“Oh my god,” Nicole whispered. “Oh… my…god.”
I didn’t look up. I didn’t want to see the look onAmber’s face when Sebastian handed her that freaking coffee. I hoped it was some gross flavor like crème brûlée or blueberry. It would serve her right.
My gaze downcast, I didn’t notice him until he’d come to a full stop next to my desk, his form hovering at the edge of my peripherals.
“Here,” he said quietly, sliding the foam coffee cup onto the corner of my desk. My wide, disbelieving eyes watched the cup’s movement, captivated by the sight of his strong calloused fingers gripped lightly around its circumference. “Figured you could use this to get through seven hundred Latin verb conjugations.”
He’d brought me coffee.
He’d somehow known I’d be yawning my way through final period — which meant maybe, just maybe, he’d paid me more attention in the past than I ever could’ve guessed.
I tipped my head back to meet his eyes, but he’d already moved beyond my chair. Frozen, I stared at the cup sitting in front of me and listened to the sound of Sebastian settling into the desk directly behind mine. A slow smile crept across my face and a furious blush spilled over my cheekbones. Shaking my head in disbelief, I accidentally locked eyes with Amber, who’d turned fully around in her desk to watch Sebastian’s surprise delivery. Her furious brown eyes were narrowed in a glare that threatened to burn a hole straight through me.
Jeeze, it was just a coffee. No need to give herself a coronary.
Laughing lightly, I winked at her — at which point her face turned a dangerous shade of red — before reaching forward and taking hold of my cup. Raising it to my lips, I took a sip of liquid heaven and sighed contentedly. I’d say one thing for the boy: he’d certainly found the way to this caffeine-junkie’s heart.
Turning my head so Sebastian could see my face only in profile, as I was far too nervous to make direct eye contact with him, I whispered a quiet, “Thank you,” over my shoulder.
“You’re welcome,” he whispered back.
I didn’t even bother attempting to listen to Ms. Ingraham’s lesson that day. My attentions were elsewhere.