Promise Read Online Free Page B

an open
desk.
    I retrieved my books from my bag when he
caught my eye and grinned. He nodded at the desk next to him and
winked. I stared at him, a dense fog filling my brain. When I shook
my head to clear it, he pushed his bottom lip out and gave me sad
eyes. A small giggle burst through my lips. Before my brain
registered that I moved, I was already back there.
    " What are you doing here?" I
whispered.
    "I told you, it sounded interesting, so I
picked up the class. Maybe I'll learn something." The smile he
flashed caused my heart to flip. He was good at making my heart do
gymnastics.
    "I'm sure it's not what you're thinking."
    "Do you really think I enrolled in a class
without knowing what it was? Give me a little credit, please," he
teased, holding up a syllabus.
    "Sorry. It just doesn't seem like the type of
thing you'd be interested in. I feel like it's a waste of time and I'm a woman."
    "Hmm…maybe I can make it interesting for
you."
    I lifted my eyebrows. What does that
mean? He smiled and nodded at the front of the room. The
instructor started class. I tried to focus on her, but my eyes
wanted to pull to my right. Sitting next to Tristan in class was
like driving down a highway parallel to a breathtaking landscape—I
knew I should keep my eyes straight forward, but they kept drifting
to the side to enjoy the view.
    I peered at him a couple times out of the
corner of my eye, not able to help myself. I thought I saw pain or
anger in his eyes and I wondered what he was thinking. The next
time I peeked, it was gone. He peered back at me, the gold flecks
sparkling. He pushed his notebook to the side of his desk, toward
me, with a note written in the margin.
    How many cats do you think she has?
    I suppressed a giggle. I'd wondered the same
thing about the teacher on the first day of class. I wrote on my
own notebook: 12?
    He flipped over to a blank sheet and his pen
dashed across the page. I started to think he was just taking notes
when he pushed the notebook toward me again. He'd drawn a cartoon
picture of the teacher with twelve cats surrounding her. I had to
cover my mouth with my hand to keep from laughing aloud. We
exchanged written jokes about her and the cats, adding things to
the cartoon drawing, throughout the remainder of class.
    "What are you up to between now and that team
meeting we have later?" he asked after class.
    I wrinkled my nose. "I have calculus in ten
minutes. Then I'll probably torture myself some more and try to get
homework done before our meeting."
    "Not a math geek, huh?"
    "Not even close." It was the only freshman
core class I hadn't tested out of. But that was more than he needed
to know.
    "Well, you have fun with that. See you later.
And thanks for making class interesting."
    I cocked an eyebrow. I should have been
thanking him. I had practically fallen out of my seat with silent
giggles.
    "Seriously. It's no fun writing notes to
myself. I don't play along nearly as well as you do." He grinned.
Then he did it again: he winked at me. My insides softened as I
gawked at him. I'm such a fool .
    "I'll see you later," I finally muttered when
my head cleared. I made a beeline for the door before I made a
bigger idiot of myself.
    After calculus, I grabbed a soda and a bag of
trail mix at the student union and headed for the seating area
where our team would be meeting. I had just spread out my calculus
text and notebook on the table when the familiar voice murmured
close behind me.
    "I've been waiting for you for a very long
time."
    It's like he keeps finding me…but why
would he want to? Not that it bothered me. It should have, but
it didn't. He made me feel…good. Despite the mind-nudge.
    "If that's the case, then I should turn you
in for stalking me," I replied drily as Tristan dropped his bag on
the table and took the seat next to me.
    "Hmm, let's consider this. You show up in my communications class, then in my women's studies
class that I decide to pick up and have no idea which one