Page 64 of Wicked Pickle

Maybe Jenna’s right. We got zapped by the Leaky Skull neon and all went wild.

Okay, Marietta and I went wild.

Jenna leans in while the professor puts up a QR code to download the syllabus. “You’re going to spill later.”

Class is interminably long. I thankfully absorbed enough ofThe Origins of Totalitarianismto talk about it with at least a smidge of intelligence.

When we’re released, Jenna won’t leave my side. “Where are you meeting him?”

I don’t want to admit to what I’m about to do, so I play dumb. “You mean Diesel?”

“Of course, I do!” She examines my outfit. “Why are you wearing a skirt?”

Damn it. She’s figuring this out.

“We haven’t decided where we’re meeting.” Which is technically true since we haven’t chosen a classroom. But I don’t want to admit that it’s here on campus.

Of course, I’m immediately exposed when we step out into the Florida sunshine to spot Diesel leaning on his motorcycle right outside the door.

Jenna stops cold. “He’shere?”

“Yeah. He’s going to give me a ride on his bike.”

Diesel holds his helmet under his arm. “Ladies.”

“Diesel.” Jenna tilts her head to squint at him. “You taking Symphony somewhere?”

He turns to hook his helmet on the back of his seat. “I’m definitely taking her.”

Oh, God. Diesel is too much.

I push Jenna forward. “She was just going. See you Wednesday unless you want a study session.”

She takes a few steps before turning around. “I’m texting you later. I’m going to want all the deets.” She pauses. “On class, of course.” Then she laughs.

Diesel looks cool and confident in his dark jeans, boots, and leather vest over a black T-shirt. He’s caught the eye of literally every female coming out of the building, even my seventy-year-old prof from last semester.

He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head to make the layers fall back into place. His skull chain rattles. Everyone within a hundred yards is rapt.

He watches Jenna go. “You bachelorettes really do hang out together everywhere.”

I don’t know what to say to that, or what to say at all. I’m not well versed on hot guy hookups out in public. Or at all. I don’t think a single man I dated in undergrad commanded the attention of the entire population like this one does.

It’s intimidating.

He looks up at the brick building. “This the place?”

“Yeah.”

“You spend a lot of time here?”

“Yes. Graduate classes tend to be clustered in the primary building of the major.”

Diesel takes it all in. “I never considered college.”

“You could still do it.”

He shrugs. “I like my trial by fire, not theory.” He reaches for my hand. “You ready to sully the sanctity of this institution of higher learning?”

---