As I made my way back to the table, I couldn’t resist taking a quick look around, trying to find the source of my earlier feeling of being watched, and was literally stopped in my tracks.
I must’ve looked like a real ass just standing there in the middle of the room as if in a daze. But I couldn’t do anything about it as it felt as if something was holding me in place, like a force field almost.
It had to be him, the Cody person both Alexis and Jess had raved about. There was no way there were two like him on one campus; who could deal? I swallowed the spit that gathered in my mouth, ducked my head, and booked it to the table.
I wanted to point him out to Jess and ask if it was indeed him but didn’t want to draw any attention to myself. I’d already done that and more, it seems. I have no doubt he was just checking out the new girl.
From what Jess and Alexis had said, though he was greatly admired by most of the female student body, he seemed to have a very selective taste since they’d never seen him with anyone. Either that or he already had a girlfriend back home. In which case, he definitely shouldn’t be looking at me like that.
Or, even more worrying, he could just be very good at keeping his rendezvouses well hidden and had a number of broken-hearted conquests in his wake. None of that answered the question of why I felt flattered by his attention, fleeting though it may be.
CODY
Hmm! What have we here? I’d noticed her as soon as she walked into the room but hadn’t made much of it. Something about her had caught my attention in those first few seconds, I’m not sure what that something was, but I didn’t linger long enough to find out; I just went back to talking to the guys, ignoring her like I usually do when it comes to members of the opposite sex.
But then she got up from the table and headed across the room, and that something got me again. I didn’t say anything to the shits around me, I didn’t want, for some reason, to bring her to their attention, but I kept her in my sights while I did a quick surmise as I watched her cross the room.
If anyone was watching, they might notice the way I was almost transfixed by her, or maybe they’d think I was just gazing off into space. I know for a fact that anyone who knew me wouldn’t think that I was looking at her; that usually worked the other way around.
Not to be conceited, but I was usually the one at the end of such interest, something I’d grown so used to that it no longer registered. I still couldn’t tell you what the hell it was about her that captivated me; she didn’t look any different from all the others here who I’d taken to lumping into one for the sake of self-preservation.
But whatever that something was, it held me in its grip as my eyes followed her all the way to the lunch counter and even as she looked over the offerings, choosing a salad and a bowl of fruit it looked like before turning to head back to her friends.
I knew the second she felt my gaze, though she did a pretty good job of hiding it. It was the slight tension in her shoulders and the way she just stopped moving for a split second, though she played that one off as well.
I almost smiled when she turned her head, trying to use just her eyes and almost as if she were compelled, looked around the room until she found me. Our eyes collided for seconds but felt like minutes, very slow-moving minutes, and I took the hit to the gut.
It felt like someone had taken a folded fist and plowed it directly into my solar plexus, hard. But I didn’t give anything away, didn’t show any sign of what I was feeling. I held her gaze until she looked shyly away, making the smile I was trying to hold back spread gently across my face.
She must be new or had been hiding since school began because I was sure I’d never seen her before; I would’ve remembered. I can’t imagine that she would’ve packed less of a punch if I’d laid eyes on her before.
She must be the first female I’d paid any real attention to since coming here, which was saying a lot. I’ve been able to keep my shit locked for the better part of two and a half years because I came here knowing what I had to do. Sex and any kind of entanglement were one of the first things I’d crossed off my list.