Misadventures of a College Girl (Misadventures #9)(47)

Dimitri blushes. “Thank you.” He lays a sweet little kiss on Clarissa’s cheek.

I smile at Tyler. “Me, too.”

Tyler shoots me a truly lovely smile, letting me know he’s understood my message loud and clear.

“So what were the tallies on the joke-telling experiment in both locations?” Dimitri asks.

I peel my eyes off Tyler’s smiling face and give the group the tallies. “So it was actually relatively close when we did it downtown. That suggests humor and charity might be the great equalizer for people. But when we did it again on campus where everyone worships the ground Tyler walks on, his productivity shot up by almost four hundred percent. Oh, my God, it was a bloodbath.”

“Wow,” Clarissa says. “So does that mean celebrity status is the halo effect on steroids?”

“Definitely,” Dimitri says. “That’s why so many brands and charities use celebrities to sell products and raise money. We’re all lemmings.”

Tyler rubs his palms together and lets out an evil laugh. “Oh, man, one day soon I’m going to conquer the world!”

We all laugh at his exuberance.

“No doubt about it,” Dimitri says. “Based on today’s results, Tyler’s going to become the Michael Jordan of football.”

“Actually, not to be an egomaniac or anything, but Jordan’s only one of the four greatest Michaels of all time. I’m going to be the single greatest Tyler of all-time ever.”

“The four greatest Michaels?” Dimitri asks, laughing. “Who are the other three?”

Of course, I know the answer to this question. I’ve seen Tyler’s Four Greatest Michaels of All Time poster on his wall countless times. But I wouldn’t dream of stealing Tyler’s thunder.

“Jackson, Phelps, and Scott,” Tyler replies.

“Scott?” Clarissa asks. “Who’s Michael Scott?”

“It’s Steve Carell’s character on The Office,” Tyler says.

“Tyler’s obsessed with that show,” I explain. “And now he’s got me obsessed, too.”

“Zooey and I are on season three,” Tyler says proudly.

“It’s awesome. Pam and Jim are finally about to get together. I can feel it. I keep begging Tyler to let me skip ahead so I can see them get together, but he won’t let me.”

“Patience, eager beaver,” Tyler says, grabbing my hand. He addresses Dimitri and Clarissa. “The Office is but one of the great pleasures of life I’ve shown my little freshman these past few weeks.” He smiles suggestively.

“Tyler.” I blush crimson at his obvious sexual innuendo.

“What?” Tyler replies innocently. “The other great pleasure is fish tacos. What did you think I meant?”

Everyone laughs.

Clarissa beams a huge, knowing smile at me and pops out of her seat. “Hey, Zo. I’m going to the bathroom. Come with me.”

“Sure.”

And off we go.

The minute Clarissa and I are in the restroom together, she closes the door behind us and whips around, her face aglow. “Tyler’s in love with you.”

I gasp. “You think?”

“Oh, my God. It’s so freaking obvious. I knew you were falling for him, and frankly, I was kind of worried about you getting your little heart broken by him. But now that I’ve seen the two of you together—and especially the way he looks at you—there’s no doubt in my mind he’s fallen for you, too.”

My heart is clanging wildly. I wring my hands together, too overwhelmed to speak.

“Tyler hasn’t told you how he’s feeling about you?” Clarissa asks.

“He said he’s enjoying hanging out with me. And that he doesn’t like labels. But he hasn’t addressed the million-dollar question of what’s going to happen at the five-week mark. As far as I know, he’s still planning on us magically turning into friends right after we turn in our two midterm projects.”

Clarissa shakes her head emphatically. “That might have been what Tyler said at the beginning, but clearly, things have changed for him. He’s totally smitten.”

I take a deep breath, praying she’s right.

“Zooey, don’t leave this to chance. Just tell him how you feel.”

I shake my head.

“Yes. If Tyler’s not going to broach the subject, then you need to do it.”

I shake my head again.

“Yes. One of you needs to get the ball rolling. Clearly, your initial ‘arrangement’ has morphed into something different now. Anyone can see you two are totally into each other.”

“I can’t, Clarissa. When Tyler and I talked about his ‘syllabus’ at the beginning, he was abundantly clear about what he wants. If he’s feeling differently now, then he needs to be the one who says so first.”

“But, Zooey. It’s so obvious you’re both totally and completely smitten with each other.”

My heart leaps. God, I hope she’s right about that. “You’re just going to have trust me on this, Clarissa. I nudged him a little bit last week, and he didn’t take the bait. He practically begged me to drop it. So, now, I’m just going to keep my mouth shut and enjoy the ride.” I sigh. “The truth is I’m ninety-nine percent sure falling in love isn’t on Tyler’s syllabus. And telling him how I’m feeling—just so he can reject me and smash my heart into a million tiny pieces—most definitely isn’t on mine.”