Page 60 of Promising You
“Do you want to share?” The guy I don’t recognize holds his lab book out opened to page 10.
“Sure. Thanks.” I scoot my desk closer to his.
“No problem.” He smiles before returning his eyes to the book.
I glance at him quick. He’s really cute, bordering on hot. His wavy, dark brown hair matches his intensely deep brown eyes and I noticed a dimple in his cheek when he smiled.
He must be new. If this guy was here last semester, I definitely would’ve remembered him.
“The lab experiment you’ll be doing later today is listed on page 10,” the professor says. “Review the instructions before you get to lab and make sure you get there early to pick up your supplies, which are listed on page 12. And if you don’t have a partner yet, find one before you arrive.” He returns to the board and starts writing again.
Partner? Who already has a partner? Class just started. I see the people in front of me whispering to each other. So we’re picking partners right now? Shit! Now I’m going to be paired up with whoever’s left. I’m going to get another loser like I had in biology lab.
“Do you have a partner?” new guy asks, leaning over so close I can smell the minty gum he’s chewing.
I back away slightly. “No. I don’t.”
He’s clearly hinting he wants to be partners, but I don’t even know this guy. What if we don’t get along? I don’t want to be stuck with him all semester. I scan the room. Everyone is facing forward again as if they all now have partners.
“Would you mind being my partner?” new guy asks. “I promise I’ll always do my share of the work.” He smiles again, showing off his perfect white teeth and that seriously cute dimple.
“That already makes you better than my last lab partner, so, yeah, we can be partners.”
“I’m Carson, by the way.” He holds his hand out.
“I’m Jade.” I shake his hand, which is very large. He’s a big guy. Wide shoulders and chest. Muscular forearms. He definitely works out.
The professor is speaking again. “Now turn to page 8 in your textbooks and we’ll begin.”
After class, Carson follows me into the hallway. “Do you want me to get the lab supplies?”
“Sure, if you don’t mind. And I’ll definitely be on time for lab. I’m usually not late to class like that. In fact, that’s probably the first time I’ve ever been late to class. I’m usually early.”
“Me too. Except today I got there way too early. I wanted to make sure I went to the right room. I’m new here, in case you didn’t know that already.”
“Did you transfer from somewhere?”
“Um, no. I had some family issues last fall, so I couldn’t start until this semester.”
He seems uncomfortable, so I don’t ask him about the “family issues.” I skip to the basic questions that I’m sure he’s already been asked a hundred times.
“Are you from Connecticut?”
“No. Illinois.”
I smile. “A Midwest boy, huh? Finally. Someone else from the middle of the country. I used to be the only one here.”
“You’re from the Midwest?”
“Des Moines, Iowa.”
“Oh yeah? My grandma lives in Des Moines. We go there all the time to visit her.”
“How did you end up at Moorhurst?”
“My dad found this college a few years back when he was out here for a conference. He liked the area and did some research on the school and suggested I check it out. We came for a visit and I liked it. But now that I’m here I’m feeling a little out of place. So nobody else at this school is from the Midwest?”
“Just me. Everyone else is from the coasts, mostly the East Coast.”
