“Your dad and my mom?”
“Yeah.” He flopped back against the seat. “I hate them for what they did to me. To my mom.”
Jules didn’t talk about his mother, not around me at least.
She’d passed away about six months after the big affair had been revealed. All Mom had told me was she’d been sick for a while, and it hadn’t been entirely unexpected.
“Yeah. I hate them too. And my dad. All of them can go fuck themselves.”
“If they’d done that, then none of us would be in this mess.”
I chuckled and shot him a sidelong look.
He was smiling at me, his blue eyes shining.
He was beautiful. Goddamn beautiful, and my chest tightened. I quickly looked back at the road.
“You want to grab coffee?” I asked, changing the subject and trying to distract myself.
“I’m kinda running low on cash.” He blushed, looking at his hands.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it.”
He peered at me through his lashes, a little smile tilting his perfect lips.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.” I swallowed hard and signaled to change lanes so I could pull into the Starbucks up ahead. “What do you want?”
“Just a regular coffee is fine.”
“Is that really what you want?”
“Um…”
“I thought so.” I drove around back, and got in the line for the drive-thru. “Order whatever. Seriously.”
“Can I get an iced latte?”
“Sure. Which flavor?”
“Vanilla.”
When it was my turn at the speaker, I placed our orders, then joined the line to pay and get our drinks.
As we waited, Jules and I chatted about random stuff, and I was struck again by how easy conversation with him was.
There were pauses and silences, but they weren’t strained or awkward. They were comfortable.
“When’s your last class today?” I pulled up in front of the building he’d directed me to.
“I get out at four.”
“I’m done at three. Want me to stick around and drive you home?”
“Really?”
“Sure. I have to finish a paper, and I need to go to the library anyway.”