Down to Business (Business Series) (5 page)

“Sorry. This won’t be a common occurrence. The hot water is out at the dorms, so Tyler told me that I could use yours.” He explained and combed his hand over his smooth jet-black hair.

He had nice hair. It looked so soft and silky, like a seal pelt… a baby seal pelt. I clenched my hand as I felt the urge to pet him.

“Figures that would happen, first day of class and the hot water goes out.” I said with forced laugh, unable to resist another peek at his abdomen that had a perfect V disappearing below the waist of his jeans.

“Yeah really,” he agreed. “Well, uh, I’m done in here if you need to use it,” he said, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder toward the bathroom.

“Oh, yeah, thanks. I better get in there, my class starts in less than an hour.”

“Mine too,” he said stepping out of my way. “It was nice to meet you, Autumn.”

“You too,” I squeaked out, sneaking a peek at his perfect butt as he headed to the living room.  I didn’t usually swoon over guys, but this guy was definitely swoon-worthy. I almost died when he unexpectedly turned and caught me checking him out. I hurried into the bathroom and stepped right into the little wet puddle he left behind from the shower.

I closed the door and sighed in relief. I felt slightly light headed as I swiped my palm over the foggy mirror and inhaled the moist air mixed with his masculine soapy scent. A vision of his perfect chest invaded my mind and my heart started to pound again.

What the hell?

I didn’t even know this guy and if he was one of Tyler’s friends, I wasn’t interested in getting to know him. I needed to get a grip. My reflection finally came into view in the mirror and I gasped. My hair looked horrendous.  It was seriously the worst bed head I ever had. My hair was sticking up every which way and I was sure I could have played a starring role in an insane asylum movie. I slapped a hand over my eyes and groaned in embarrassment. I wondered what Vinny must have thought of me. Smothered in humiliation, I tore my clothes off and turned on the shower. Just as I was getting ready to step under the steaming water, a soft knock erupted on the bathroom door. I froze and looked over my shoulder.

“Yeah?”

“Hey,” Vinny called through the door. “Sorry to bother you, but I left my shampoo on the bathroom counter. Could you get it for me?”

“Sure!” I stepped out of the tub so fast that I nearly fell flat on my face. I snatched a towel and wrapped it around myself before I grabbed the shampoo bottle off the counter. It looked expensive and the overwhelming need to smell it came over me. Giving in to my unknown psycho-stalker tendencies, I uncapped the shampoo to take a whiff. It smelled crisp, clean, and wonderful…just like him.

“It’s the white bottle with the black writing,” he called through the door, probably wondering what was taking so long.

I clawed at my lion’s mane before I pulled open the door and placed it into his hand. His sexy abdomen was covered by a black t-shirt, but that did nothing to stop my stomach from cinching when I looked at him.

“Thanks,” he offered with a smile.

A sensation close to panic came over me and my heart started its stupid pounding again. “No problem.”

“Have a good first day,” he said passing the shampoo back and forth between his hands.

“Yeah you too, bye!” I answered, closing the door with an abrupt slam.

Did I really just slam the door in his face? I did.

Groaning, I slapped myself in the forehead repeatedly and leaned back against the door. I waited to hear his footsteps depart before I got into the shower. I felt bad about closing the door in his face, but it was better than having to deal with the humiliation I would bring upon myself if I kept talking to him.

Thankfully, the steaming hot shower cleansed me of all the sudden bizarre hormonal excitement I felt. By the time I dried off, my heart moved on from pounding over sexy abs to what I was going to wear for my first day. I had exactly twenty-five minutes to get dressed and get to class. Rushing into my room, I tugged on a pair of faded boot cut jeans, a white camisole, and a short-sleeved blue plaid button up shirt over it. I did all I could do for my hair, which meant pulling it back into a ponytail and taming it with a ton of hair spray.

After a quick inventory of everything in my backpack, I was confident I had everything I needed. I zipped it up and threw it over my shoulder. I left my room to find Lindy at the table finishing a bowl of cereal and Tyler in the kitchen, making himself a toaster pastry.

“I’m ready. I have ten minutes. Please, drive fast.”

Lindy looked over at Tyler. “Are you ready, Baby?”

Why did he have to come with us? Why couldn’t Lindy borrow his car and take me?

“Let me just finish cooking this…” Tyler pointed to the toaster. “It’ll take two seconds.”

She looked back at me helplessly. “Just two more seconds.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ll be waiting downstairs.”

“Okay, we’ll be down in a second. I just need to put on my shoes…” she pushed away from the table and jogged toward her bedroom.

I casted an annoyed look toward Tyler before stepping out into the brisk morning air. Once I reached the car, I checked the time on my phone. It was already 8:45, which meant I had fifteen minutes to get my butt to Business Management 101. I sighed and sent Lindy a text:

HURRY UP!!!!

Less than a minute later, Lindy stepped out of the apartment followed by Tyler who was munching on his toaster pastry. She grabbed him by the sleeve of his shirt, and practically dragged him down the stairs with her. She knew how much I hated to be late.

Once they reached the parking lot, she jogged up to the passenger door, breathing hard. “Sorry…”

As soon as I heard the car unlock, I yanked open the rear passenger door and got in.

Tyler reached into his armrest compartment and removed a pack of gum, taking a piece for himself, then offered some to Lindy and me. I declined, but Lindy snagged a piece. He chomped on his gum like a cow and lazily plugged in his iPod, searching through it for what song he wanted. I swore I was going to implode if he didn’t start driving.

“Ty, we have to go! Autumn is going to be late!” Lindy warned before I could speak up.

“Oh yeah, right. Sorry.” he said as if he just remembered why we were in the car in the first place.

He reversed out of the spot without looking and we nearly hit a passing car. The victim of the near accident laid on the horn and sped off.

“Shit! I didn’t even see that guy! What an asshole.”

Yeah...what an asshole.

We finally pulled up to Adelphi and I had five minutes to get to class. I sprung out of the car and jogged across the wet lawn, the heavy books in my backpack bouncing off my spine. I was glad I walked the campus beforehand or I would have never found my classroom. By the time I reached the door, my lungs burned and I was panting as if I had run a marathon. Maybe I needed to take Lindy up on that gym invite.

I entered the classroom as gracefully as I could to get the least amount of stares possible. It looked like most of the seats were full, besides a few desks near the back. My professor was a balding man, I guessed to be in his mid-sixties. He dressed conservatively in a green tweed coat with a cream-colored button down shirt and brown pants. 

I made my way to one of the vacant desks in the back, trying not to make eye contact with anyone.

Plating my butt down in my chair, I spotted the large black and white clock over the board that read 9:00AM. I sighed in relief. I made it on time.

Once I was settled, I felt brave enough to look at my brethren. I could spot the other freshman by the nervous glances they made back at me. But not all of them were fresh meat. Toward the front of the room, there was a mix of guys and girls talking and laughing low enough to not be disruptive. My breath caught as I recognized one of the guys—it was Vinny.

Oh no! He had this class too?

I hoped I was seeing things until he confirmed my suspicion when he turned and looked right at me. My breath caught unexpectedly as his light brown eyes narrowed as if he was trying to place me. My cheeks burned and I forced a smile, bringing my hand above the desk to give him a discreet wave.

His eyes widened and he smiled. It was not a ‘hey baby’ smile, it was more like ‘Oh God, it is that freak I met this morning’ kind of smile.

“Okay everyone, please take your seats.” The professor called out, saving me from more humiliation.

Vinny said goodbye to his friends and headed down my row.

Oh no, he was going to talk to me.

My heart did a jump-start. I held my breath as he approached and everything moved in slow motion. He paused at my desk and gave me a friendly smile. “Hey Autumn, I didn’t know you had this class too.”

I nodded, unable to find my voice over the sound of my heart thundering in my ears.

“I barely recognized you,” he said, sounding amused.

I bet.

I forced a smile and blushed so hard my ears burned.

The professor cleared his throat. “Take your seats, please.”

He stepped past me and the desk behind mine shifted.

Oh no. He sat down behind me. This wasn’t happening!

The scent of his cologne filled my senses and confirmed it was indeed happening.

I covered my face with my hand and groaned inwardly.

Great. Why did he have to choose
that
seat? There were other seats!

I sunk low in my chair and wished I had taken more time on my hair, since he would spend the next hour staring at the back of my head. I did my best to focus on the professor as he wrote his name on the board with squeaky chalk: Mr. Woodworth.

Mr. Woodworth began class with an introduction of himself. He informed us that he had been married for thirty-five years, had six children, fourteen grandchildren, and three coonhounds named after The Three Stooges.

Afterwards, he passed out the syllabus. When the syllabus stack got to me, I took one and passed them over my shoulder. My stomach involuntarily tightened as the gentle weight of Vinny’s grip took the papers from my hand.

I followed along as Mr. Woodworth went over the syllabus. I did my best to focus, but every time Vinny shifted in his seat or made any noise, I lost all concentration.

I had never felt this way before. Why was he getting to me?

Yeah, he was good looking, but I had seen tons of hot guys on TV and in magazines and never once experienced this kind of attraction. I assured myself he would do something I deemed repulsive and I would be over him instantly, or at least that’s what I hoped.

We finished the syllabus five minutes early and Mr. Woodworth let us leave. As I was putting my things in my bag, a guy walked over and stood right beside my desk so that I couldn’t get up.

“You going to the meet and greet kegger at Alpha Tau tonight?” the guy asked, looking down at Vinny.

“Depends.”

“It’s going to have eager hot freshmen chicks galore. What’s more important than that?”

“My uncle moved into a home last week and I told him I’d stop by.”

“Ah, okay. Well, you should at least stop by after. You know it’ll be going strong until 4AM.”

“Right, maybe I will. See you around, Jace.”

I glanced up at Jace, figuring he was done talking. “Excuse me.”

He looked down at me with a look of surprise on his face. “Oh, shit. Have I been blocking you in the whole time?”

“Yeah, you have…” I said with a hint of irritation.

He stepped aside to let me up.

“Sorry,” he offered but I pretended not to hear it.

I didn’t spare either of them a glance as I stood up and pulled my backpack over my shoulder. I headed for the door as fast as I could.

“Hey Autumn, wait up!” Vinny called out, causing my heart to do a somersault in my chest. I paused and turned to see him jogging towards me. He stepped around me to hold open the door. “Sorry about Jace. He’s been tackled too many times.”

I forced a smile and stepped past him through the doorway. “I could tell.”

“Do you have another class after this?”

“Yeah, social studies.” I said.

“Oh, I have microeconomics.”

“That doesn’t sound very fun.”

He laughed. “Yeah, I’m guessing it’s not.”

A sea of students migrated around us and he stepped closer to me to avoid getting run over. I swallowed hard and my heart started to pound again as I stared at his chest and thought of his just-out-of-the -shower sexiness.

“So, uh, are you going to the Alpha Tau party tonight?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“I wasn’t planning on it, why?”

“I thought maybe you might be going since Tyler is pushing to join.”

“Tyler and Lindy might be going, but I won’t be,” I said with a shake of my head. “Partying isn’t my thing.”

“Oh. Well that’s cool. I better get going. Good luck in your next class.” He said and tapped me on the shoulder.

“Yeah, you too. See you later.” I backed up, bumping right into someone going the other direction. I looked up to see him laugh and shake his head at me. My face burst into flames and I bowed my head, leaving the building with the other students.

What the hell is wrong with me? Get it together, Autumn.

As I walked, I wondered why he stopped to talk to me. Did he want me to go to the party? Was he trying to ask me to go so he could get me drunk and use me? There was no way he would want me. Why would he when there were swarms of easy girls that were much prettier. I figured he was taking pity on me because I was a freshman.

Social studies went at a snail’s pace. I found myself daydreaming about what would happen if I did go to the party, and I did run into Vinny. What if he actually got drunk enough and kissed me? I bet he was a great kisser. Just the thought of kissing him made me warm all over. I was a lot better at making out in my mind than I would be in actuality. After an hour of daydreaming about making out with Vinny and trying to listen to the social studies professor drone about the syllabus, I felt anxious and hungry. I was glad I gave myself a window between classes from 12-1 to get lunch. I didn’t have a way to leave campus, so I decided to check out the dining hall.