An hour later, I’m in the middle of reading through a seminar description, my glasses perched on the end of my nose, when Luke wakes up.
“Hey,” he says, his voice rumbling with sleep. Then a smile pulls the corner of his mouth up, making him look adorable and edible. Apparently, I have turned into a cannibal.
“Have I told you I like those glasses on you? Very distinguished.”
I push them higher on my face and blink at him.
“What are you doing?” he asks, sitting up and leaning into my space. Why is he always so close? Does he not know the meaning of personal space?
He was most definitely raised by wolves.
“Research.”
He rests his head against my shoulder and yawns. “Tell me about it.”
I don’t know why I am even engaging him in this, but I go on to describe the different workshops I’m still debating on attending. He asks me questions that surprise me, and I wonder if he’s not more intelligent than he looks. I’ve always been told not to judge a book by its cover, but that’s exactly what I did, didn’t I? I should know better. I hate it when people do that to me.
“And these workshops are for…?”
“A conference I’ll be going to soon.”
“Nice,” Luke replies and then says. “Where is this thing taking place? Maybe I’ll come with.”
Don’t do it. Don’t say it….
“Colorado. Colorado Springs, to be exact,” I say much too clearly. I even enunciate each syllable.
“Oh, I fucking love Colorado. There are a shit ton of things to do there. I could make an itinerary of all the things the two of us can do.”
I just blink at him because he’s invited himself.On my trip. When I planned on going solo. Who is this guy? I never knew people like him existed in real life.
“…Plus, I want to climb the Manitou Incline, and that’s near the Springs. It’s on my bucket list.”
And I can’t do anything but ask, “What’s that?”
He shifts and meets my gaze, excitement in those hazel depths. “It’s like three thousand stairs up a mile-long incline.”
“Sounds like purgatory. People do this for fun?”
“Fuck yeah.”
“Well,” I say, pulling my glasses off and rubbing my fingers into my tired eyes. “I don’t even know if we’ll be associating with one another at that time, so let’s not make any hasty plans.”
Luke snorts. “Hasty plans? Dude, I like you. We’ll be friends for a long-ass time. You can’t get rid of me that easily.”
I don’t doubt that, but Luke will learn his lesson shortly. I don’t have friends. People and I don’t mesh well. But I don’t say any of that because Luke is standing up and stretching, his shirt riding up and revealing a flat, defined stomach. I can’t tear my eyes away. Something long-dormant inside of me sits up and takes notice. And it notices in graphic detail.
“Alright. I said I’d go when I woke up. Probably for the best. I have work tomorrow. Unless you want to watch the secondLethal Weapon.”
“I already watched it,” I reply. “While you were asleep, and snoring so loudly I had to turn the captions on to know what they were saying.”
Luke smiles widely at me. “Ah, see, told you you’d love it. Couldn’t tear your eyes away, huh? We could watch the third one instead. I’ve seen them like ten times, so I could totally do that.”
I glance down at my computer and seriously debate telling him to stay because he’s infected me like some kind of virus, but then common sense wins over, and I just shake my head. I cannot be entertaining this massive, odd man. I’m not delusional or naive. I’m not quite sure what he wants from me, but whatever it is, he can’t have it.
“No. Not today. I’m much too busy.”
Luke’s smile slips just a little, but then he shrugs like it’s no big deal. “Cool. No problem. I’ll see you later.”