Read Online Winter Jacket by Eliza Lentzski - Free Book Online Page A

warm.  If I didn't get away soon, pretty soon I would be the one sweating.
    She continued standing in the doorway. She hadn't really ever fully come inside the office this whole time.  She just stayed there, hovering and twisting her folder into a tight coil. "I'm on my way to the cafeteria, too.  I could walk with you?"
    “Oh, actually I’m meeting up with a friend for lunch off-campus.  It’s kind of our end-of-the-semester tradition.” I cast my eyes back to my workbag and continued putting things inside it for something to do. By now I'd run out of papers and library books and had moved on to office supplies. 
    “Oh, well, have a nice summer , Professor Graft.  And thank you.  I really liked your class.”
    When I looked back to the doorway to return the nicety, she was gone.  I exhaled deeply, partly in relief, partly in disappointment.
     
    +++++
     
    Half an hour later I was at a quaint little restaurant a few blocks from campus. They were known for their sandwiches, homemade soups, and specialty sodas.  When I entered and let my eyes adjust to the dim lights, I spotted Nikole sitting by herself at a table near the front of the restaurant.  I waved at the hostess to let her know I didn’t need to be seated.
    Nikole looked up from her laminated lunch menu when I sat down at the empty seat across from her. "You made it. I was starting to think I was getting stood up."
    "Sorry." I pulled my sunglasses free of my hair and set them on the table by my water glass. "Hunter showed up at the very last minute and we talked a little bit."
    Nikole's eyebrows rose on her unlined forehead. "Oh really?" She set her menu down. "And what did you talk about?"
    "Nothing really. She picked up her paper." I grabbed an extra menu and scanned down the list of sandwiches. "She asked what I was doing the rest of the day."
    "And you said?"
    "Getting lunch." Maybe I would splurge and get the chicken salad and cranberry on whole wheat even though it probably had just as many calories as a fast food burger.
    "Does Troian have as much trouble prying details from you or are you just being difficult for me?" Nikole huffed.
    I set my menu back down on the table. "I honestly don't have much to tell you. I could hardly look at her without blushing."
    My friend arched an eyebrow. "Was she showing off a lot of skin or something?"
    I shook my head. I honestly couldn't recall much about her outfit. I remembered the bead of sweat that trickled down her clavicle. I remembered the deep v-cut of her t-shirt and the slight swell of her breasts beneath the top, but I couldn't even remember the color of her shirt. Pink? Green? Orange?  Had she been wearing shorts or jeans or a skirt?
    "It wasn't a long conversation," I shrugged, not wanting to turn every interaction with Hunter into a dramatic event. "I said I was going to lunch, and she offered to walk with me.  I told her I wasn't going to the cafeteria, and she left."
    Nikole's eyes shut and she shook her head. “I can’t believe you.”
    “What?” I asked, feeling mildly self-conscious.  “What did I do?”
    "Oh, Bookworm ," she said with a disappointed sigh. "She asked you out, and you blew her off."
    I nearly choked on my complimentary tap water. "She did not! I did not!"
    “You’re just lucky Troian isn’t here for this.  She’d be so disappointed in you.  The Great Elle Graft is oblivious again to women’s advances.”
    I felt a heat creep onto my cheeks. “You’re wrong.  She wasn’t asking me out.”
    Nikole smirked, recognizing my embarrassment. "Let's think about this." She started to tick off on her fingers. "Imagine the two of you walk over to the cafeteria together. Once you’re there she asks if you'd like some lunch company so neither of you has to eat by yourself.  The two of you make casual conversation as you go down the lines with your blue plastic trays. You get to the cashier and you offer to pay for her meal because you're generous that way. She protests