Page 104 of Fostering Chemistry
Diego and Cody both looked sharply at me, and I quickly clarified. “We changed there before his grandparents’ anniversary party.” I didn’t want them to think we had gone there for a quickie or something.
“Anyway, we can study there as well as here, and it’s a nice place. I thought maybe we could spend a few days up there. The four of us,” Aaron said. “Might be nice to get away from the house.”
“And the roles we have to play at the house,” Diego said.
“Aren’t you going to celebrate Thanksgiving with your family?” I asked Aaron. As far as I knew, he was the only one of us who had family left to celebrate the holiday with. Sara was still in the rehab center.
“There’ll be so many people at my grandparent’s’ home they won’t miss me,” he said. “Or we could all go together. They like meeting my friends.”
None of us looked too pleased at that thought, especially Cody. As for me, I already knew the expectations his family seemed to have about the two of us, and I wasn’t thrilled to reopen the rumors. But I didn’t say so. “I’d like to spend the holiday with you all.”
Cody smiled. “Team Mia takes a field trip.”
“If everyone wants to,” Aaron added.
I thought the holdout was going to be Diego, but he was direct. “I’m in if you’re sure you want to stay with the three of us.”
“Yes,” I said. I looked each of them in the eye. “I am.”
30
CODY
“Hi.”Mia sounded slightly shy on Monday after chem class when she found me. Or I found her. We kind of met in the middle between our rows, actually. For the first time, it felt natural and almost… easy. Even though dealing with other people rarely felt that way for me.
“Hey.” For a moment, I’d almost said ‘hey gorgeous,’ but I didn’t say things like that. That was more of an Aaron thing to do.
We talked about nothing in particular on the way to the music building. I got the sense that she wasn’t ready to talk about our date on Saturday. Or, more accurately, her date with three men. I wasn’t entirely sure what to make of that, so it was no surprise if she didn’t either.
But I wasn’t opposed to it. Hopefully she wasn’t either.
I held the door open for her as we entered the building. Then I frowned as she passed me. Not at her—she looked as beautiful as usual—but at myself. I didn’t hold doors open for women… mainly because I hardly ever walked and talked with them.
As always, the surrounding sounds soothed me. A men’s choir was practicing in the small recital hall. A small woman with a huge tuba case hurried past. Two students were using an app to try to figure out if they had perfect pitch. Spoiler alert—if they needed an app to help them find out, they didn’t.
This was one of the few places where I actually felt like I belonged. And it felt even better when Mia settled on the piano bench next to me up in the practice room. We weren’t sitting close to me as I would’ve liked, since I needed my arms free to play, but my legs were spread perhaps a bit more than necessary, and our knees touched.
I pulled some sheet music out of my bag and set it in front of us, but I didn’t need it for the piece I wanted to play. As I placed my fingers on the keys, Mia nudged me with her knee. “Do I get to play a note this time?”
I grinned, remembering when she’d done that. I’d have to find some more music that would work for that kind of thing. “Next time,” I promised. “For now, you get a private concert.”
“That works.” Her eyes gleamed as she glanced over at me. But then her gaze dropped to my hands, and she looked eager for me to start. The urge to play something flashier and show off hit, but I stuck with the Bach I’d chosen.
Then I began. Mia watched as my hands flew along the keyboard. It made me think of the recital I’d participated in when I was in tenth grade, and how I was the only kid who didn’t have family or friends in the audience.
If Mia had been my friend back then, she would’ve come. She was my friend now, that’s what mattered.
Except I didn’t want to be only friends with her.
“That was amazing,” she gushed, as the last chord filled the little practice room. “But I’d still like to play a note, just one. You can have all the rest of them. How many are there?”
“Eighty-eight. I promise next time I’ll have something suitable for audience participation.”
She nodded but was still pouting in a way that was fucking adorable. Which wasn’t a word I ever used or thought, but at the moment, it suited her. But then again, so did other words like sexy, beautiful, and tempting as fuck.
A woman like that deserved more than to sit by and watch. So maybe there was a way I could make her feel involved in the music.
I turned toward her, and my breath hitched when I saw how close her face was. I hadn’t expected those soft lips to be so close to mine. Not that I objected to it.
