“Who said you were a nerd?”
“You did. In sixth grade. And seventh. Remember?”
“Hey. You just accepted my apology for that.”
“Right. I can forgive, Brett. I’m just not too quick to forget.”
“Wow, I had no idea I hurt you so bad. I really am sorry, Kath. Truly.”
He absently rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. Did he have any idea what he was doing to her? No boy had ever touched her before.
“You’re eighteen, right?” he said.
“Yeah. Last month.”
“Me, too.” He smiled. “I guess we’re twins.”
She rolled her eyes. “Something like that.”
“You want to get a soda or something? To thank you for your help today, you know.”
“No, thank you. I have homework to get to.”
He was still touching her face. “Come on. A soda’ll take fifteen minutes. We don’t even have to leave campus. I’ll get them out of the machine.”
“No.”
“Please?”
“Why do want to get me a soda so badly?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m just not quite ready to go home yet.”
“Go find one of your jock friends to hang out with. I’m sure they’re in the gym doing whatever you guys do.”
“What do you think we do in the gym?”
“I don’t know. Swat each other with wet towels in the locker room?”
“Hmm. I thought better of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re stereotyping me. I never did that to you.”
“You called me a nerd.”
“Correction. You called you a nerd. I believe my words were ‘who said you were a nerd?’”
She cocked her head. Damn if he wasn’t right. Did he really not consider her a nerd?
“Look, I never thought you were a nerd, Kath. And I never thought you were ugly all those years ago. I know I said some mean things. Like I said, I was a stupid punk. I’ve learned a lot since then. Learned a lot from you, actually.”
She huffed. “You haven’t given me a glance since then.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve noticed you a lot. Especially this year. You’ve grown up, Kath. You’ve grown into a very beautiful woman.”
An anvil dropped to her gut. He was playing her. She knew it. But why?