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The smirk bloomed into a full one, and the patronising lilt to his voice made my fingers twitch with the familiar urge to wipe the smugness off his face.
“Exactly, who cares? Let them talk,” Mark said, shrugging and leaning in to steal a kiss from Pri.
I was relieved to see her almost as shocked as I was: eyes rounded, mouth parted, fork frozen halfway to her mouth. He took the opportunity to plunder the piece of waffle off it, grinning as if he’d got away with the heist of the century.
Unbidden, I glanced around the room, catching glares and curious double-takes in equal measure, half the attention of the dining hall on our little table.
My gaze dropped, and my fingers fiddled with the sleeves of my sweater as I kept eating, chewing mechanically and trying not to think of how this might come back to bite me in the ass.
“I’m surprised to see you two out like functional members of society,” Josh drawled, taking a bite of my breakfast and chewing slowly.
The theft drew a startled, indignant little huff out of me, and he spared me a sideways glance that said, “What? I’m helping,” and turned back to them.
Mark stiffened, then made a terrible joke to cover it up.
“Yeah, well…” Pri chirped, toying with her braid that needed no adjustment.
I felt Josh’s triumphant smirk and resisted rolling my eyes, though the warmth in my chest told me the change in topic had been for my benefit. His hand remained on my knee, a solid weight anchoring me where I might have floated or melted onto the floor.
Damn him.
“We should go do something. If I have to see this stupid campus any longer…” Mark whined, mock glaring back at our still slumbering classmates, at the windows and the snow-covered quad beyond.
I huffed a laugh into my mug of tea and said nothing.
Didn’t have the words for the warmth spreading like a flood behind my ribs.
“What are you thinking, babe?” Pri hummed, swirling her teaspoon absentmindedly, face turned towards him with a glow I’d never seen.
It suited her, and I found myself smiling like an idiot, chest tightening with a pang that might have been longing.
Their whispers brushed the shell of my ear, turning into static as a magnetic pull drew my eyes sideways to find Josh watching me with an expression of concern that liquefied my knees.
He arched in a little, brushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear.
“You okay?” he murmured, low enough Pri and Mark didn’t hear, caught up in each other as they were.
The world narrowed to his thumb, lingering against my cheek and setting it on fire, and to the rumble of his voice settling my nerves and kicking up fresh ones.
I nodded, and gave him a small, tentative smile.
A surge of hope swelled in my chest, as if his words had given it permission.
A decisive clap of hands reminded us we weren’t alone, and a split-second later, Mark let out a triumphant whoop.
“I know… Bowling!” he announced, with the air of someone who’d invented sliced bread. “Unless you’re… scared of a little competition?”
His brow arched, and his grin turned infuriating.
“Hmmph, you wish,” I shot back, spine stiffening at once.
“It’s like you’re asking to have your ass kicked. And so early in the day, too,” Josh drawled, sounding bored, but for the way he leaned closer to the table. “You must be a masochist.”
Mark only grinned wider and flicked a conspiratorial glance sideways at Pri, as if he’d got the exact reaction he wanted.
Chapter forty
Josh
