The toaster clicks up and her attention swings back to her breakfast. But by the way she tries to flush her body to the counter, I know she can sense me getting closer.
I get much closer than I need to and slip my bowl into the dishwasher. Her elbow grazes the skin under my ribs as I straighten again. She moves farther down the short counter, pulling her breakfast onto a plate. But when I lean back against the edge of the counter and cross my arms over my chest, her gaze trails over my biceps for a few seconds too long.
"See something you like?" I ask her, feigning offense.
"What's your stupid theory?" she asks again, taking a bite of one of the Pop-Tarts.
She's deceptively nonchalant, standing there in her pajamas, just a few feet away from me. I'm surprised she hasn't rushed to sit at the table just to put more distance between us, but if I had to guess I'd bet she's trying to show me she's not intimidated by me.
"Doesn't matter, you proved me right."
She raises an eyebrow and I stare at her for a moment, pretending to decide whether or not to let her in on the secret.
"Just tell me," she says, wiping crumbs from her lips. Her full lips are the color of pale plums, making me wonder if they taste as delicious as they look.
"Okay." I lean forward a bit. "I heard you weren't into guys. And I just didn't think that was true."
"I--wait, what?" Her eyes widen a notch. "Who said that?" But she doesn't give me a chance to respond because it's obvious whom I'd hear that from. "Ava told you I'm a lesbian?"
"She said you weren't into guys, so yeah, that's what I understood. Are you? A lesbian?"
"No." She's frowning. I'm not sure if it's at the question or at the fact that Ava told me something that wasn't true about her.
"I figured you weren't," I say. "You've been practically holding your breath this whole time. And I haven't even showed you anything interesting."
She scoffs. I don't think I've ever heard someone make a sound that adorable. Like a little train about to take off from the station. The sound is exaggerated and defensive. Because she knows I'm right.
"And how'd you know I'd react to you being shirtless?"
"I didn't know. But you obviously did."
"Put your shirt back on, Giles," she says. "That's the dumbest lesbian test I've ever heard of. And, really, your nipples...they offend me."
I grin. "Oh yeah? Your nipples offended me more when they were pointing right at me earlier. Those things could take out someone's eye."
"Shut up. I wasn't shirtless and that wasn't on purpose. And for the record, if I walked around the house without a shirt, it would be considered inappropriate. A major double standard if you ask me."
"If you walked around the house without a shirt on, it would be considered extremely hot. And very much encouraged." I place a hand over my chest. "I, for one, don't think it's inappropriate. In fact, Ava and I both want you to feel as comfortable as possible."
Julia's entire face is smiling even while her lips remain straight. She's trying so hard to pretend she doesn't find me amusing.
"Please," she says, brushing crumbs from the counter beside her into her palm. "I'd be wiping you off the floor."
"I don't doubt it."
She doesn't look at me when I say it, but she goes a little still at my words. It's strange, I haven't moved an inch, but she feels closer to me than before.
"I heard you transferred down for the spring quarter," I say. "Why not wait for fall, instead?"
It's hectic to transfer between the winter and spring quarter, with just a few days between them. I get the feeling she was in a rush to move. And I want to know why.
She looks down to where her pointer finger taps on the empty plate on the counter beside her. "I needed a change," she says, simply.
"Why?"
She looks up and I expect her to snap and tell me it's none of my business. Instead, she asks, "Did you really get cheated on?"
I nod. "Caught my girlfriend screwing my best friend on our couch. I nearly threw him out of the third-story window."
That's pretty much the whole story in a nutshell.
Julia's mouth hangs open a little. "Are you okay?"
I pull my brows together at her question. It's not that I don't understand it; I just don't expect it from her.
She hesitates at my reaction before adding, "I mean, you're not about to go jump off a bridge or something, are you?"
A beat.
"Don't worry about me," I give her an easy smile, "I always land on my feet."
There's something unspoken that hangs in the brief silence that follows. Something that implicitly tells me she was fishing to find common ground. That someone betrayed her, too. Someone she trusted.
But the moment passes and she slips her dish into the sink and heads off to the bathroom. A few minutes later, at the sound of the shower running, I edge down to her side of the hall and chance a peek into her room. There, over her windows, are white curtains hanging on at an awkward angle. She installed the curtain rod, unapologetically crooked.
I chuckle quietly to myself.
Chapter Six
Giles
THE LAST OF MY FINAL exams was exactly eight hours ago, at two thirty in the afternoon. I've got a huge platter of tacos in front of me and I've spied more than a handful of pretty girls out tonight. One in particular keeps looking my way from the next table over.
Tacos, beer, and girls. I should be in heaven. Yet, I'm sitting here, barely listening to my friend Luke's story. I'm staring at my mug of beer, my mood sinking every minute. I know the drink's not to blame. It's the thoughts that manage to come nearly every night. Thoughts of Claire and what she did and how I never saw it coming. The anger that was fueling my escapades is now starting to dull at the edges. What I'm left with isn't something I can use. What I'm left with is something that's harder to ignore.
I'll admit I don't do breakups well. The night it happened I went out and found myself a leggy blonde with a sassy little mouth. I screwed her like I was mad at her. Mean. Hard. Relentless. She loved every minute and I felt a hell of a lot better after. But, yeah, it would've been a smarter idea if I had picked someone who wasn't friends with Ava. Took the girl nearly a week to stop texting and calling me, despite my responses dwindling down to radio silence by day three. There's nothing wrong with her and in different circumstances, I might even be inclined to see her again. The problem is, I can tell she wants more and I'm in no way interested in willingly trapping myself in a cage again.
That first night helped me to remember how good it feels to enjoy a good time and not worry about what the girl does when I'm not around. I like the options, the ability to keep things simple.