“Thank you,” I mumble and make myself a taco salad with the beef taco mixture. I’m not a chicken fan, but since the guys need to eat healthy, it was a compromise.
“That’s all you want?” Hutch asks incredulously.
“Yes. My stomach is smaller than yours.”
He eyeballs my plate and makes two hard shell tacos and places them on my plate. “You might get hungry later.”
Not likely, but I don’t argue with him. He’s being really nice and he and the boys paid for the groceries.
“I’m going upstairs now. Y’all enjoy the food and clean up before you leave. Hutch, I’ll see you and Collin in class tomorrow.”
I don’t have the mental fortitude to deal with him tonight. My head is pounding, I’m hungry, and I still have a paper to work on before I can go to bed.
He looks disappointed, but he doesn’t try to convince me to hang out down here or to let him hang out with me.
For which I’m grateful.
“This shit is good!” Collin is stuffing his face as I go by him toward the door that leads to the attic.
At least one of us is happy.
I wave at everybody and go back to my solitude.
CHAPTER 12
Hutch
Yesterday did not go as planned.I was going to go upstairs and eat dinner with her, but she made it clear she’d had enough and just wanted to escape. Jenny told me Daisy had a really bad headache and asked to keep the noise down. If I had known, I’d have gone to Taco Bell and brought back a load of tacos. Considering how she feels about takeout though, she might not have eaten it.
Her food was delicious. It tasted like we were in an actual Mexican restaurant. I don’t think there was anything left to put away, aside from the dirty dishes we cleaned. Collin hoarded the last of the chicken and the spicy ranch sauce, bringing it back to the house and daring anyone to touch his food.
I’m hoping she’s in class today and not passed out from a headache I helped make worse. I wish she would have told me. Sighing, I open the doors to the building and look around. Several of the girls giggle and wave. I ignore them completely and look for the only girl I want to see. She might be inside already. Coach kept us late and I’m barely here in time so I hurryinside. She’s sitting up front in her regular seat. She has no open seats around her and I let out a growl, forced to take my regular one. Collin almost plows me over while I glower at the dickheads on either side of her.
“Dude.”
“Sorry,” I mutter and sit down.
“Should we go muscle them out of the way?”
“She’d get up and move if we did.”
“Damn.”
The professor comes in and everyone settles down to take notes and try their best not to fall asleep. It is the longest hour ever, especially when she sneezes so hard, it basically shakes her entire body. The room is quiet and sleepy, so of course everyone hears and looks at her. She sinks deeper into her chair and I want to shout at them to mind their own fucking business.
Instead of wandering on out of the room and giving me a minute with Daisy, Collin follows me down to where she’s packing up her things.
“How you feeling, Red?” he asks before I can. I give him a baleful look and he only grins. Bastard.
She glances up and then back to what she’s doing. “Better, thank you.”
“I just came down to say your cooking was almost as good as myabuela’s. I haven’t eaten that good in a while.”
She stands, book bag in hand and smiles. “I’m glad. Nothing better than your grandma’s cooking.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” He winks. “You want a place to just cook, you come over to the hockey house and we’ll buy you whatever ingredients you want.”
“Shit, Ellio’s mother was in over the weekend and stocked the place with groceries. There’s anything you’d want to use there now.”
