Bad for You (Sea Breeze #7)(22)

I felt like I was watching an episode of Dawson’s Creek, listening to this. “He seemed like he was unaware of any other female in the world,” I said honestly. That good-looking blond guy had spent the majority of his time staring at Amanda while holding her close to his side.

“I noticed that. Little Hardy must have managed to tame the beast,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m gonna get a Coke. You want anything?”

I wanted a sweet tea, but I wasn’t sure they had that here. “Um, sure. A Coke will do,” I replied.

He nodded and stood up. “Be right back.”

Linc hadn’t gotten far when someone moved back his chair. It was Trisha. She sat down on it. “Hello again,” she said.

“Hi.” I wasn’t sure why she was at my table. Then I took a quick glance back at the stage and noticed Green announcing that they were taking a break and would be back in fifteen minutes.

“I don’t have much time before he gets down here,” she mumbled.

Who? Krit? Would he be mad that she was talking to me?

“Anyway, Green told me you were new in town, and I wanted to invite you to lunch one day.”

Green told Trisha about me. Not Krit. My stomach knotted up. I managed to nod. “That sounds nice.”

She beamed at me, and I felt even more insecure. Why would someone like her want to spend anytime with me? And did I want to take the chance that she would see the true awkward me the way Krit had? Trisha would drop me just like Krit did. Green was still friendly, but he wasn’t asking me to hang out with him either.

“Perfect. What day is best for you?”

“Tuesday. I get out of my last class at eleven, and I don’t have to be at work until one thirty.”

Trisha grinned then glanced up and scrunched her nose. Even that looked good on her. “Here he comes,” she said.

I turned to see Krit walking our way. His eyes were locked on me, and he was smiling that dimpled smile that meant he really was happy. Good. He had meant what he’d said in the text message.

“You came,” he said to me while ignoring the table beside me, the one full of his sister’s friends.

“You asked,” I replied, unable to keep the silly smile off my face at seeing him again after two weeks without his visits. I had missed him.

“I thought you had a date.”

I had told him I was out with a friend. I hadn’t said date. I started to reply, when I was cut off.

“She does,” Linc said as he set my Coke on the table and slid it over in front of me. “I’m Linc, her date,” he said to Krit in his ever-polite tone of voice. “You must be Krit, the neighbor.”

Krit’s happy smile was gone. In its place was an annoyed frown I had seen before. “Her friend,” he corrected Linc.

Linc seemed unaffected by Krit’s clipped tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. She hadn’t mentioned you before tonight,” Linc responded.

What? Did he really just say that? I swung my eyes to Linc and noticed the sudden change in his demeanor. He wasn’t calm, cool, and collected. He was tense, and the smile on his face was fake.

Krit’s hand moved from the back of my chair to rest on my back. “How did you like the set?” he asked me as if Linc hadn’t just been rude.

“I loved it. You sounded amazing. I had no idea you could sing so well.” I was gushing. I knew it, but I couldn’t seem to help it. There was a reason why women threw themselves at Krit. He was like a magnet, and it was hard to pull away from him. When he got close, you just wanted to get closer.

Krit lowered his head until his mouth was at my ear. “I’ve missed you,” he said softly.

I hadn’t gone anywhere. I wanted to point that out, but then Trisha was watching us with undisguised interest, and Linc had given up the nice-guy smile. I was here with Linc, and I had to remember that.

I picked up my Coke and smiled at Linc. His frown eased some. “We’re glad we came. It’s a great way to end the evening.”

Trisha ducked her head and covered her mouth, but her eyes were dancing with laughter. She then composed herself. “Come on, Krit, you’re ignoring everyone else. Let these two enjoy their date. You can talk to Blythe later,” Trisha said, standing up. To me, she said, “Tuesday at eleven fifteen, meet me at the Pickle Shack. It’s less than a mile from the college, so you should find it easily.” She reached for her brother’s arm, tugging him away from me. “Come on,” she said in a stern whisper, and led Krit to her table.

Krit didn’t say good-bye to me, but then, Trisha might have caused a scene if he had. I tried to block out the laughter behind me and not listen to what they were all saying. I could hear the dreadlocks guy saying something about being shot down, and I winced, wondering if he was talking to Krit. They misunderstood the situation. I didn’t want to hear Krit correct them. That would just have been embarrassing.

Couldn’t they look at me and tell I wasn’t Krit’s type? He was completely out of my league. Glancing over at Linc, I realized he was too. Yet there he sat.

“I didn’t realize you were so tight with the lead singer of Jackdown,” Linc said, then took a slow sip of his soda while studying me.

I shrugged. “He lives above me and when I first moved in, we did talk a lot and stuff, but then he just kind of stopped coming by. I haven’t even seen him in a couple of weeks.” I wasn’t going to tell him about our dinners together, the ones that had stopped with no explanation.