his skin tastes like…
Stop ! I command myself. These are not the thoughts to be having. Least of all right now. I put all I’ve got into following the professor’s words.
Finally, class ends. All around me, the other students start packing their things.
I glance to the side. Spencer is still sitting there, watching me. Waiting.
“ What ?” I ask.
“Nothing.” A small smile plays on his lips.
“I know you’re not in this class,” I tell him.
“That’s not true.”
“Oh yeah? Then how come you haven’t taken a single note the whole time you were here?”
Spencer tilts his head. “I thought you were doing that for us?”
“Oh no,” I say, closing my computer. “These notes are for my eyes only.”
He laughs. “I’m kidding.” He taps his head. “Truth is, I don’t need to take notes. I’ve got a photographic memory.”
I roll my eyes. “Come on.”
“I swear.” He stops a girl passing in the row behind us. “Hey, Stephanie. Tell her how smart I am.”
The girl stops, eyes Spencer up and down. She gives me a disgusted look. “He’s brilliant,” she says flatly. “A brilliant asshole .”
She sniffs and stalks away.
I can’t hold in my laughter.
“That kind of backfired on you,” I say.
Spencer grins and points to my lips. “Ahh, there, see ? I knew I could get a smile out of you!”
I try to force my lips into a straight line. Damn him, does nothing throw him off? “Do you really have a photographic memory?”
“Nah. That’d be pretty cool, though. Or terrible. I can’t decide.”
“What do you mean?”
“Can you imagine never forgetting a thing you see?” Spencer grimaces. “No matter how much you want to? And even the most mundane things would get stuck up there. Ever read the back of a shampoo bottle? Imagine having all those words floating around in your head all the time. You’d go crazy.”
“I don’t think it’d be that bad.” I smile.
“Hah! Another smile! If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you’re starting to like me.”
“Don’t get too full of yourself,” I warn.
“You’re right.” He winks. “Better quit while I’m ahead. You coming this Friday?”
“Where?”
“Where?” His face scrunches up. “Where do you think? Sigma Pi’s party. I missed you last week.”
“I didn’t think you’d notice.”
He shakes his head. “I notice everything that has to do with you .” He reaches out as if to touch me, but stops himself short. “So. Are you coming?”
“No.”
“What? Come on. At least say you’ll think about it.”
“If I do, will you leave me alone?”
“That depends. Do you trust me?”
“Hah!” I snort. “No.”
“Then what does it matter what I say?” he laughs and hops over the row of seats in front of us. There is a group of guys waiting at the door. “Think about it!” he calls out over his shoulder before joining his friends.
***
“So, what’s the story with Spencer?” I ask Katy innocently over lunch.
She gives a coy smile. “Finally interested?”
“No,” I say. “More like… curious.”
“What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know, just… What can you tell me? How do you know him?”
“I met him last year,” Katy explains. “He hooked up with my roommate.”
“Doesn’t that gross you out?”
“Not really. I know what I want. She got pissed off, though.” Katy lowers her voice. “Our fight was part of the reason I left for a year.”
“Over Spencer?”
She shrugs. “Among other things.”
“So then, is he like you? Was he a freshman last year, too?”
Katy laughs. “No! He’s been an upperclassman for like six years. He was recruited by the baseball coach but quit playing his first year.”
“Why’s he been here for so long?”
“Don’t know. He never says much about himself. At least, not to me.” She pauses. “Why the sudden interest?”
“He invited me to another party.”
Katy beams. “And this time, you have to go. You