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We hit the paved portion of the lane and started toward the tower. ‘How long do you think this will take?’ I asked.
‘Why? You got a hot date tonight?’
I barked out a short laugh. ‘Uh, no.’
One single dark brow arched up. ‘You sound like that’s an insane idea. That no one would go out on a Saturday night for a date.’
Dropping the piece of hair I was playing with, I forced a casual shrug. ‘I’m not dating anyone.’
‘So why the rush?’
Admitting that I was seriously uncomfortable being out here would be embarrassing and rude, so I said nothing.
‘Are you worried that I’ve brought you out here for my own nefarious plans?’
I came to a complete stop. Knots formed in my stomach. ‘What?’
Cam stopped and turned toward me. His grin slipped a notch. ‘Hey, Avery, I’m just joking. Seriously.’
Heat swamped my cheeks and the knots unraveled, replaced by a strong feeling of total lameness. ‘I know. I’m just …’
‘Jumpy?’ he supplied.
‘Yeah, that.’
He studied me a moment longer and then started walking again. ‘Come on. It’ll be dark soon.’
Trailing behind him, I pictured myself running straight into the old wooden fences and impaling myself on one of the pointy ends. God, I needed to get a grip. Not every guy was like Blaine. I knew that. Totally understood that. I wasn’t completely damaged by my affliction.
On the other side of the tower, near the plaques, two students from our astronomy class sat on the bench, notebooks in their laps. They waved at us and as we waved back, Cam headed a little farther down the wide parking lot and then veered off toward the grassy hill overlooking the dirt path of Bloody Lane.
Cam picked a spot and pulled out the flashlight before he sat down. I hovered a few steps back, listening to the low hum of the crickets. The ground had dried out from yesterday’s weather, but even if it were wet, it wouldn’t have stopped me from sitting down. I was just too keyed up.
‘Join me?’ Patting the spot beside him, he inclined his head. ‘Pretty please? I’m lonely all by myself over here.’
Biting down on my lip, I sat a few feet away from him and then busied myself with finding my astronomy notebook. As I pulled it out, I glanced over at him and our eyes locked. I couldn’t look away. Intense. That was the first word that came to mind. His stare was intense, like he was seeing right through me.
Clearing my throat, I fixed my attention on the notebook. Finally, Cam spoke. ‘What constellation are we supposed to be mapping?’
He held the flashlight while I skimmed through my notes. ‘Um, the Corona Borealis, I think.’
‘Ah, the northern crown.’
I glanced at him, brows raised. ‘You knew that off the top of your head?’
He laughed. ‘I might not take notes, but I do pay attention.’
I was pretty sure he slept through the vast majority of the class yesterday. I slid out the grid Professor Drage made for us and then the star map and found the Corona Borealis on it. ‘I really don’t understand how anyone sees shapes in the stars.’
‘Really?’ He scooted over and peered over my shoulder. ‘The shapes are pretty obvious.’
‘Not to me. I mean, it’s just a bunch of stars in the sky. You can probably see whatever you want to see.’
‘Look at the Borealis.’ He tapped his finger off the map. ‘It’s obviously a crown.’
I laughed. ‘It does not look like a crown. It looks like an irregular half circle.’
He shook his head. ‘Look. You can see it now easily. That’s a crown. Come on, see the seven stars.’
I craned my head back as I grabbed a pen from my bag. ‘I see the seven stars, but I also see about a hundred others peeking out. I also see the cookie monster.’
Cam burst into laughter. It was a nice sound, deep and rich. ‘You’re ridiculous.’
My lips pulled into a smile as I hovered my pen over the grid. I had no idea what latitude line to start at. I glanced up toward the Borealis and managed to draw a line where I thought I should, connecting two dots.
‘You know where the name comes from?’ When I shook my head, he reached over and took the pen from my hand. His fingers brushed mine, and I pulled my hand back, planting it in the lush grass. ‘It represents the crown given by the god Dionysus to Ariadne. When she married Bacchus, he placed her crown in the heavens in honor of their marriage.’
I stared at him. ‘Professor Drage didn’t teach that in class.’
‘I know.’
Leaning back, I studied him. ‘Then why do you know that?’
‘Why don’t you know that?’
I cocked my head to the side, brows raised.
‘Okay. Maybe most people wouldn’t know that off the top of their head.’ He twirled my pen between his fingers. ‘I actually took part of this class as a freshman, but had to drop it.’
‘Really?’
He nodded, but didn’t elaborate.
‘You’re, what, a junior?’
‘Yep. I ended up having to take a year off, which put me behind.’
I wanted to ask why but decided it was none of my business. ‘Why did you retake astronomy?’ I decided that was a safe topic. ‘Is it a part of your major?’
‘No. I just like the class and Professor Drage.’ He paused, flipping off the flashlight. ‘I’m studying recreation and sport. Would like to get into sport rehabilitation.’
‘Oh. Did you …’ I trailed off as the girl behind us broke out into a fit of giggles. Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes widened.
The two students from our class were definitely a couple or well on the way to becoming one. Their notebooks were forgotten on the bench. She was in his lap, their faces inches apart, and his hand was slipped under the hem of her skirt.
‘Now that is an interesting form of stargazing,’ Cam commented.
I was grateful for the darkening sky, because my face started to heat. I knew I should turn away, because watching them made me a total creeper, but I couldn’t. Not even when the girl’s hand threaded through the boy’s hair, pulling his head to hers, and they started really kissing and his hand was all the way up her skirt, to his forearm.
Wow.
Cam poked me in the arm with my pen, drawing my attention. He looked … curious. ‘What?’ I said.
‘Nothing. It’s just that …’ He seemed to choose his next words wisely. ‘You’re watching them like … you’ve never seen a couple do that before.’
‘I am?’
He nodded. ‘So unless you were raised in a convent, I imagine you’ve been in a lap a time or two, right?’
‘No, I haven’t!’ I winced, because I practically yelled that. ‘I mean, I haven’t been in a guy’s lap.’
‘What about a girl’s lap?’
‘What? No!’
A slow grin spread across his face. ‘I was joking, Avery.’
I gritted my teeth. ‘I know, it’s just that …’
‘What?’ He poked me again. ‘You what?’
My mouth opened and the worse kind of verbal vomit happened. ‘I’ve never been in a relationship.’ The moment those words came out of my mouth I wanted to kick myself in the boob. Who admitted that to a virtual stranger? Clenching the edges of my notebook, I peeked up at Cam. He was staring at me like I’d just claimed to be the Virgin Mary. My cheeks burned. ‘What? It’s not a big deal.’
He blinked and gave his head a little shake as he turned back to the sky. ‘You’ve never been in a relationship?’
‘No.’ I shifted, uncomfortable to the max, like I’d laid my soul bare.
‘Nothing?’
‘That’s what no means.’
Cam’s mouth opened and then closed. ‘How old are you?’
I rolled my eyes as I wiggled. ‘I’m nineteen.’
‘And you haven’t been in a single relationship?’ he asked again.
‘No.’ The paper was starting to crumple under my fingers. ‘My parents … they were strict.’ Such a lie, but it sounded believable. ‘I mean, really strict.’
‘I can tell.’ Cam tapped my pen off his notepad. ‘So have you gone on a date or anything?’
Sighing, I cast my eyes to my paper. ‘I thought we were supposed to be mapping stars?’
‘We are.’
‘No, we’re not. All I have is a scribbly line and you have nothing.’
‘That scribbly line is between the Delta and Gamma.’ He leaned over, connecting two of the dots. ‘Here is the Theta and this is the Alpha—brightest star. See, we are halfway done.’
I frowned as I glanced up, tracing the pattern of the stars in the sky. Hell, he was getting it right. Then he leaned in again, his shoulder pressing into mine as he drew a perfect line to another dot on the map. I bit down on my lip as he continued to finish the map without looking up once or at the star map. I was acutely aware of how warm his arm felt even through the two layers of clothing. The warmth from the contact spread up my shoulder and across my chest, kicking my pulse up.
He turned his head toward me. ‘Now we’re done mapping stars.’
I sucked in a sharp breath. Our faces were inches apart, and he was way too close. My gaze fell to his lips. They were curved up on one side and that dimple started to appear in his left cheek. His lips started moving, but I didn’t hear a word he was saying. I wanted to move away, but I … I didn’t want to. Confusion swept through my body as I struggled not to shy away … and not to move closer. It was like being caught between two opposing magnets.
Maybe I should stop staring at his lips.
Sounded like a good plan, because staring at a guy’s lips was kind of creepy, so I forced my gaze up. Oh boy, wrong move, because now I was staring into those panty-dropping eyes, as Jacob had referred to them earlier when he texted. And Jacob had been right. I bet there was a legion of discarded panties in the wake of wherever Cam went. It should be illegal for a boy to have lashes as thick as his. Even in the darkness, his eyes were the shade of denim. The somewhat tolerable warmth turned into near unbearable heat as it sped through my veins.
I squirmed again, unable to remember feeling like this in a long time. At least not since the Halloween party. Maybe before. Definitely before. There was just something about Cam that sort of made me forget everything except what was happening that very moment. Sounded normal. I liked it, for the most part.
‘Are you listening to me?’
I blinked slowly. ‘Huh? Yes! Yes. Totally.’
His grin turned knowing, and I wanted to crawl under a prickly bush. ‘Yeah … so, you haven’t been on a date?’
‘What?’
Cam chuckled softly. ‘You really haven’t been listening to me at all. You’ve been too busy staring at me.’
‘I have not!’ My entire face burned with that little fib, and I hastily focused on where the couple had been. They were gone now.
He nudged my shoulder. ‘Yes, you have.’
I screwed up my face. ‘You are so beyond the acceptable level of arrogance.’
‘Arrogant? I’m just stating the truth.’ Cam tossed his notebook on the ground and leaned back on his elbows, eyeing me through his lowered lashes. That damn, insufferable lopsided grin was on his face. ‘There’s nothing wrong with staring at me. I like it.’
My mouth dropped open. How in the world was I supposed to respond to that? ‘I wasn’t staring at you. Not really. I sort of … dazed out. That’s how thrilling talking to you is.’
‘Everything about me is thrilling,’ he replied.
‘About as thrilling as watching your tortoise cross a road.’
‘Uh-huh. Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.’
‘Keep calling me sweetheart and you’re going to be limping.’
Cam’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, listen to you.’
‘Whatever.’
‘We should do it.’
My mind went straight to where it shouldn’t have gone, and my skin started to prickle. ‘Do what? Go home? I’m all about going home, like, right now.’
‘Go on a date.’
