“Ugh,” I muttered under my breath, shaking my head as I lifted my wine glass to my lips. “Doesn’t he just exude prick energy?”
“That’s one word for it,” Angela muttered back. When she turned around to face me again, she clicked her tongue. “I know him. Liam Benson.”
“How the hell do you know him?”
“Last week, I ran into this girl crying in the common room, on the first floor of the dorm building, ya know?” She shook her head. “She was heartbroken over this guy who hooked up with her and then ignored her the next day. One guess who that guy was.”
I sighed. “Liam Benson.”
“Ding ding ding,” she said, winding her finger up above her head. “Don’t worry — I cheered her up. It took all night,” she added with a smirk. “But I didn’t mind.”
“How do you do that?” I asked on a laugh.
“What? Hook up with straight girls?”
I nodded.
Angela shrugged. “Every girl has an appreciation for beauty in other women. And sometimes, especially when we’re heartbroken over yet another man, we decide to give the other team a shot. I mean, I’ve always known I was attracted to women, but some girls don’t wake up to that fact until they’re older.”
“So you just flip a switch, huh?”
“Not always,” she said after a sip. “Sometimes they wake up the next morning and slip out of my room before the sun comes up and I never hear from them again. They scratch an itch and never look back. But sometimes…” She arched a brow with a wide grin. “Our team needs to order a new jersey, if you know what I mean.”
“Well, I guess I can’t blame her. If I was going to be hot for any woman, it would most certainly be you.”
“Sorry, roomie,” Angela said with a wink. “I don’t shit where I eat.”
“Gross.”
She waved her hand. “It’s an expression.”
We both chuckled, and then Angela grabbed our empty glasses and headed to the bar for a refill. At this point, we should have just bought a bottle, but at least this way we got to try different blends.
I watched Liam from my dark little corner, fighting the urge to roll my eyes as he put his arm around a beautiful girl I recognized from the Uffizi. He pulled her close and whispered something in her ear that made her laugh and shove him away, only to cuddle into his side a moment later. She started kissing his neck, and at that exact moment, he took off his sunglasses.
And he looked at me.
I should have been embarrassed. I should have torn my gaze away with flaming hot cheeks. But for some reason I couldn’t look away, not even when those dark eyes lit up with recognition of who I was.
I let out a long breath, wishing I had my wine glass so I could at least do something other than stare at him. But he didn’t seem annoyed. If anything, he seemed to enjoy being the subject of my attention.
I didn’t mind it, either.
Until the moment his gaze fell to my right hand.
I had it propped under my chin, not even thinking about it, since it was just me and Angela in the corner. But when he looked at it, that flush I thought I’d feel from him noticing me staring at him finally found me, and I hastily shoved my hand under the table where he couldn’t see it anymore.
His eyes met mine, then, and he frowned, brows bending together to form a thick line between them.
In the next instant, the girl on his arm slid her manicured nails back behind his neck and turned his face until he was looking at her again.
I closed my eyes on an exhale that burned my lungs, shaking my head before I opened them again and looked for Angela. She was still at the bar, our wine glasses full now, but she was caught up in conversation with the bartender.
A beautiful Italian woman who seemed to lean just as much over the bar as Angela, a curious smile on her face.
I know where this is going.
Grabbing my purse off the table, I slid out of the booth and tucked my hair behind one ear, stopping by the bar long enough to tell Angela I was going to head out.
“But I just got this for you!” she complained, motioning to one of the full wine glasses.
I smiled, tapping the bar as my eyes found the bartender’s. “I think you two can handle it.”
The bartender smiled at me first and then Angela, and my roommate gave me a knowing grin before she leaned in and kissed my cheek and told me to be careful walking home.
My hair fell in front of my face as I turned, but I didn’t tuck it behind my ear this time.