Page 7 of Holly Jolly Rebel

“Right.” I stepped aside to give him room to walk by.

He didn’t take it. Instead he just stood there, waiting for who knew what.

“Can I help you?” I asked after a few uncomfortable seconds.

“You okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

Piercing blue eyes, well,piercedthrough me. The heated gaze was tempered a second later by a tug at the corner of his sensual mouth. He found me amusing, apparently.

“How’s college?”

My shock at him posing a personal question meant I didn’t answer. Instead, I stared, waiting for clarification, which he was forced to give.

“Your dad was pretty excited that you were coming home for Christmas.”

“I think he’s more excited I’m attending his alma mater.”

“That, too.” An eyebrow lift, now, like we were sharing an inside joke about the man, the legend, Theo Kershaw. That kind of intimacy warmed me through, leading my hamster wheel brain to inappropriate places. Was I so desperate for connection?

In truth, I did not need the complication of secretly lusting after someone on my dad’s team. Not that a guy like Lars Nyquist would even notice me that way.

The silence had gone on a little too long, so I shrugged again. At this rate, I should be majoring in it. “Well, nice talking to?—”

“What’s going on, Adeline?”

That halted my progress, not just the question, sort of personal for our non-relationship, but his use of my name. There was something familiar about how it sounded on his lips. A touch raspy and clearly all in my imagination.

“Noth—nothing. Why do you ask?”

He thumbed over his shoulder to the direction he’d just come from. “I might have fibbed. I wasn’t on my phone the entire time.”

“Meaning you?—”

“Overheard some of your conversation. Is someone giving you a hard time at school?” It came out gruff.

I opened my mouth. Gusted a sigh.

“Why would you think that?”

Lars moved in closer and leaned against the wall outside Harper and Remy’s kitchen.

“You said you’re having trouble making friends. That people are being mean to you.”

The way he said it, as if it mattered to him.

“That came out wrong. It’s more that I don’t really fit in.”I’m the problem.

“In what way?”

Another shrug. I really needed to quit that. “Freshman life is all about the frats and the parties and letting loose after living with your parents for eighteen years. Not that my parents have sheltered me. They’ve always encouraged me to get out there, try new things, figure out stuff for myself, and I want to be that person but …”

I lost the thread as he edged closer. He picked it up. “But you’re not sure what that person looks like yet?”

I smiled, a touch embarrassed yet inching toward comfortable. Toward confidence or sharing one.

“I’m not really a ‘try new things’ kind of person. I like reading and staying indoors and … hot chocolate with marshmallows. I know that sounds super boring but going away to college is more stimulation than I think I need.”

---