Page 48 of Tempting the Player
Hendrick laughs in my ear. “I don’t have a favorite movie either. Gotta go. Good luck on your French test.”
“Wait,” I whisper as my professor begins to hand out the test in the front of the room. “Favorite color?”
He doesn’t answer right away, and I assume he’s not going to. He’s such a stickler. But just as a test paper is handed back to me, his voice is back in my ear. “Green.”
* * *
“Well, I don’t feel great about how that went,” I say as I leave my French class.
“You probably did better than you think,” Hendrick says. I look for him, but of course I don’t see him anywhere.
“Je ne pense pas,” I say in a wobbly French accent then translate it for him in English. “I don’t think so.”
“Je suis désolé,” he replies in an equally terrible accent.I’m sorry.
“You know French?”
“Not really. A few phrases. I took it in high school.”
I scroll through my school email. I have two new ones. One from the professor of my next class announcing it’s canceled because he’s home sick.
“Change of plans,” I tell Hendrick. “Piano is canceled today, so I’m gonna head to University Hall for a pick-me-up. Want to join me?”
“I’ll be around,” he says.
“You could just sit with me. Not really that big of a deal.”
He goes quiet again and I click on the next email from an E. Rex Sean. I have no idea who the hell that is, but I rarely get spam in my school email.
Go back to Cali if you know what’s good for you.
I suck in a breath.
One line, no signature. I read it again and again.
Go back to Cali if you know what’s good for you.
The email was sent from a Gmail address, same as his name. E. Rex Sean. Who the hell is that and why does he want me to leave?
“Jane?” Hendrick’s voice breaks through the anxious white noise blaring in my ears. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I lock my phone and look up.
“You stopped walking.”
“Just reading some emails.” I don’t know if the shakiness in my voice is audible to him, but he doesn’t press and I don’t tell him. Not yet. I need a second to digest this. Who is E. Rex Sean? I walk into University Hall. “Did you decide to have coffee with me?”
“Already had coffee this morning.”
“So?”
“I only drink one cup a day. I try not to have a lot of caffeine or sugar.”
“Because?”
“I don’t know.”
I roll my eyes, of course he doesn’t. “Do you do anything in excess?”
