Fairy Bad Day(29)

Emma rolled her eyes while trying not to notice how long his sooty lashes were or how they framed his chocolate eyes so perfectly. Or that he had been concerned enough about her to feel bad about the assignment. “I’m serious. My future’s on the line here. I’m trying to do the right thing.”

“I see, so you’re telling me that if I asked you to do anything, you would say yes?” he asked with interest, and Emma felt a reluctant smile sneak up to her mouth.

“Don’t push your luck,” she retorted as she gave him a light punch in the arm. Something she immediately regretted as it suddenly made her realize how close she was to him. And how hard his arm muscles were.

“Why not?” His voice was low and raspy and sent a delicious shudder racing through her. Emma bit the bottom of her lip as she studied the perfect sweep of his jaw, the way his eyelids were hanging heavy over his eyes. Then he tilted his head slightly and moved even closer to her, and it took all of Emma’s self-control not to gasp.

Was Curtis Green going to kiss her?

The blood started to pound at her temples and her hands felt clammy. He was going to kiss her. And more important, she was going to let him. His face drew closer to hers. They were going to cross the invisible boundary that had been lying between them and—

However, before she knew what was happening, a group of juniors came clamoring down the hallway, and the moment they saw her, they made a banging noise to let her know that her food court explosion hadn’t been forgotten yet. The minute they did so Curtis flinched, and instead of feeling his mouth on hers, she felt him gently lift his hands up to her neck and start to tug at her haphazardly knotted tie. She barely dared to breathe as his deft fingers tweaked it into submission.

“Sorry,” he said in an unsteady voice. “But your tie’s been driving me crazy. I hope you don’t mind?”

“Oh, right. My tie, th-thanks,” she croaked as she bit back her disappointment. How dare those juniors come along and ruin everything. Especially when she had wanted him to kiss her. She had wanted Curtis Green to kiss her. There, she had thought it. She had wanted to kiss her archenemy. Emma blinked at the knowledge, and then, before she could change her mind (or blush), she peered up him. “Y-you know, if you’re not doing anything after dinner, maybe we could go to the practice range. I heard they’ve got some new demons in. We could use the fight training as part of our assignment and then . . . ” She let the rest of the words hang, but instead of agreeing, Curtis took a deep breath and his face suddenly turned into a still mask.

“Actually, you know what?” He gave an awkward cough and studiously peered down at his leg cast. “Tonight isn’t so good for me. I have something going on. And speaking of which, I should probably go, but I will see you tomorrow night at the gate with our pass-outs.”

Then, without another word, he hurried off as fast as his crutches would allow him, and Emma felt a flush of embarrassment wash over her while something deep inside her stomach went plummeting to the ground. He didn’t want to kiss her at all. He really had just wanted to fix her tie. Oh, earth, please swallow her now.

“Oh my gosh.” Loni raced over with an excited expression on her face. “I was peeking around the corner... did he really just go to kiss you? That’s so romantic. If only those stupid juniors hadn’t come along and ruined it. So what happened? What did he say?”

Emma felt her face heat up all over again. “Well, he said he tried to help me with Kessler because we were friends. And then he sort of touched my hand and gave me a few of those hot, steamy looks. And I think there was some flirting, so I took your advice and asked if he wanted to go down to the practice range after dinner.”

“You did not,” Loni squealed in excitement. “I can’t believe you have a date. I mean, this is huge. Emma Jones is going on a date with Curtis Green! I wonder if Barney would give us a pass-out so we could take you shopping at the mall? Because nothing says ‘first date’ like a new outfit, and—”

“Um, Lon.” Emma coughed. “Before you get too carried away and start picking out names for Curtis’s and my children, I should probably tell you that he said no.”

Loni paused for a moment and blinked. “What? What do you mean he said no? Anyone can see he’s crazy about you. I bet you didn’t ask him the right way.”

“I asked him the right way,” Emma assured her as she filled her friend in on exactly what had happened. Then she shrugged to hide her disappointment. “Which means when he said he wanted to be friends, he really meant that he wanted to be friends.”

“Yes, but Sagittarius guys aren’t normally about the friendship, if you know what I’m saying,” Loni persisted in a stubborn voice that Emma was well acquainted with.

“Well, this is one,” Emma said drily.

“I refuse to believe that.” Loni shook her head. “The only reason he pretended to fix your tie—which, for the record, is a complete disgrace—is because those juniors came along. And as for not going to the practice range with you, did it ever occur to you that he was actually telling the truth? Maybe he really does have something else going on tonight.”

“Maybe,” Emma agreed in a diplomatic voice while trying not to think about the frozen expression that had crossed Curtis’s face as he had spoken to her. It had been dark. Like a shadow had fallen over him. And she didn’t care what Loni said, Emma knew that Curtis had ditched her for a reason. Unfortunately, she had the feeling that whatever it was, she wasn’t going to like it when she found out. And with that thought, she and Loni hurried to the library in silence while Emma tried to ignore the fact that, thanks to being brushed off by her archenemy, her life had just hit a new, all-time low.