Effortless (Thoughtless, #2)(27)

The University of Washington. Located on the other side of Lake Union from the heart of downtown Seattle, it was a massive campus, more like a small city. Several of the local businesses surrounding it survived solely on the influx of college kids coming into and out of this school every year.

I’d gotten to know this area pretty well after my time here. I wasn’t really that nervous about knowing where everything was, although my ethics class was in a building that I’d never had to go into last year, it was more walking into a room full of strangers that tangled my nerves. I was not a big fan of being the focus of people’s attention. Which made walking beside Kellan both a blessing and a curse.

It was a blessing, one, because I loved having him around, but mainly because when he was beside me, people tended to look at him. He just had that aura. The face, the hair, the body, the swagger—everything about him made you take notice. And for girls, the notice was usually a long one.

It was a curse because, now that we were together, he was a fountain of affection. Our light hand holds last year were arms around each other’s waists now. As he laughed along to some comment my parents had 75



made last week about him needing to earn a real living, since being in a band was not a viable career for the man their daughter was dating, a lot of eyes flicked from him to settle on me. Much like at the bar, I got the feeling that I was being judged as I walked along, judged if I was worthy to belong to the rock-god. And because Kellan was right about my general lack of confidence, I couldn’t help but think that I came up short in their eyes.

Lifting my chin, I forced it from my mind. What did it matter if a bunch of random people didn’t think I was worthy of Kellan? Kellan did, and really, what other opinion did I need?

Laughing along with him, I nearly ran right into a small swarm stopped in the hallway.

Kellan pulled me back right before I collided with a man that seemed about seven feet tall. He hovered over Kellan, who was at least a couple of inches over six feet. The dark-haired boy had a huge smile on his face as he pointed at Kellan.

“Hey, aren’t you that guy? The singer of that band? The D-Bags?” Kellan’s face relaxed from a cautious expression into a natural smile, and I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d thought the guy was going to start a fight with him. There was a time when Kellan didn’t care too much about other people’s relationships. “Kellan, yeah….I’m a D-Bag.” He laughed a little after his comment, amused by his own band’s name.

I shook my head at him, but the man and his small group of similarly tall friends crowded around, eager to talk to the semi-famous man they’d stumbled upon. Reaching out, the imposing fan grabbed Kellan’s hand and shook it. “You were great at Bumbershoot, man!” Then the group started in on the compliments and questions.

They went on and on until I was afraid I was going to be late if we stayed any longer. Kellan answered all of their questions, and said polite thanks to all of their praises, then expertly released himself from the conversation, waving goodbye as he turned us to walk around the group. By the time he’d successfully disengaged himself, Kellan had been invited to at least three different parties.





76


Shaking my head as we approached my classroom, I laughed. Looking over at me, he bumped my shoulder with his. “What?” Tilting my head, I gave him a crooked grin. “Look at you, finally getting some male fans.”

Laughing as he opened the door for me, he shook his head. “We’ve always had male fans, Kiera.” Raising an eyebrow, he added, “You just choose to fixate on the female ones.”

Brushing past his body as I walked by him, I paused and leaned into his face. “Well, that’s because they fixate on you,” I whispered, letting my mouth almost touch his.

Biting his lip, I heard him groan a little. “Look at you…becoming a se-ductress,” he whispered.

I blushed and immediately stepped away from him.

I heard his laughter behind me, but didn’t turn to look. Soft lips greeted my cheek as his hands rested on my hips. “Have fun,” he whispered in my ear.

I wanted to sigh and lean into him again, but female giggling reminded me that I wasn’t alone with him in his bedroom. No, I was in front of a classroom, sort of being inappropriate with my boyfriend. Oh well, at least he’d managed to not make me nervous about my entrance.

With my cheeks flaming red from the embarrassment of our private moment being watched, I gave him a soft peck and told him that I would. Then I made a beeline to a seat in the middle, away from the chuckling women watching my man’s backside as he waved and left the room.

After a rousing debate on the influence of sexism in early feminist literature, I was feeling right as rain with school again. I knew that would happen. Once I was settled, things were always fine. It was just the process of getting there that frazzled my nerves. After lit was my ethics class. Now that I was comfortable, I was looking forward to this one, 77



although, I had a feeling I’d be doing a lot a soul searching in it. Ethics and I had crossed paths recently, and I’m not sure that I fell on the right side of the morality line. No, no I’m pretty sure I’d failed miserably. Kellan and I both. Maybe I could do a paper about it? It would probably be cathartic.

Walking into the brick-and-mortar building, just as much a piece of art as a functional structure, my eyes swung across someone I hadn’t seen in a while, someone I really wasn’t all that interested in seeing again.