Reclaiming the Sand(47)

“No way, I’m going to be the one making the laws, darlin’.” I snorted and looked pointedly at her baldhead.

“I can’t remember the last time I saw a female senator without hair and a tattoo up the side of her neck,” I observed.

Kara rolled her eyes. “Whatever. You’ll see. You’ll be voting for me soon enough.”

“You’d better have one hell of a platform if you expect my vote,” I said, looking back at my textbook, hoping to get back to my work. I had to meet my advisor soon.

“Legalization of marijuana and lowered drinking age for all!” she said, pounding her fist on the table.

I chuckled. “Well you’ll definitely get the pot head vote,” I muttered.

Our conversation dwindled after that, both of us getting back to our assignments. But it was cool having her sit there. She’d make random comments about her reading and I’d tell her to shut up. We had established a workable dynamic.

I looked up about halfway through writing my essay, my pencil poised over my paper. There was Flynn. He came into the library and spoke briefly with the young girl at the circulation desk.

He was dressed in his usual uniform of khakis and button down shirt. It didn’t matter how hot it was, he never wore short sleeves.

The girl was smiling at him and batting her eyelashes. Clearly for her, Flynn’s awkwardness didn’t overshadow his good looks. I felt a strange twisting in my gut as I watched her flip her hair and giggle. And even though Flynn wasn’t looking directly at her, I saw the soft curve of his smile. He seemed to like whatever she was saying to him.

“Earth to Ellie!” Kara called out, snapping her fingers in front of my face. I scowled at her, annoyed to have been caught staring.

She looked over her shoulder and gave me a coy grin. “Drooling over the hottie artist I see.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” I growled, pulling my eyes away from Flynn who was now gathering up a pile of books and putting them in his book bag.

“Don’t be defensive, then. You’re staring at that dude like you want to cut him up and eat him for dinner,” she purred and I clenched my fists in my lap so I wouldn’t smack her in the face.

“That’s a wonderful visual there, Kara. Thanks for that.” I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that I only had fifteen minutes until I needed to be at my advisor’s office. I started to pack up my books and shove them into my ancient bag.

Ever mindful of Flynn’s location in the library.

“I’ve seen him around campus. He keeps to himself. But I’ve heard he’s an amazing artist,” Kara was saying but I barely heard her. I was too busy trying to escape without Flynn noticing me.

“Yeah,” I said, distracted.

“He’s definitely a cutie but he seems a little weird. But I do like me an oddball,” she teased and I felt myself snapping back at her.

“He’s not an oddball!” I said much louder than I intended.

Fuck. I had the attention of everyone in a three-table radius. Including Flynn. He lifted his hand in a wave and I waved back before I could stop myself.

Kara’s mouth was hanging slightly open, her face flushed red. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I wasn’t trying to be an *,” she said, her feelings clearly hurt.

Flynn was standing at the circulation desk. The girl was still talking to him but it was obvious he was ignoring her. I got the impression he was waiting for me. So much for avoiding him.

I looked back at Kara and did the only thing I knew to do when I was feeling uncomfortable. I lashed out.

“Well stop being one then,” I bit out, putting my book bag on my shoulder and walked off. So much for our burgeoning friendship. Something told me she wouldn’t be so keen to say hi the next time we saw each other.

And my thawing heart didn’t feel particularly good about that.

“Hi, Flynn,” I said, knowing there was no way out of the library without him seeing me. And hiding wasn’t my thing anyway.

“I haven’t seen you lately,” he said, getting straight the point like he always did. The flirty librarian noticed she was being ignored and finally stopped her incessant talking.

“Flynn, don’t forget the rest of your books,” she said, interrupting. I thought about growling territorially, but I wasn’t quite sure where these unreasonable feelings were coming from.

Flynn didn’t bother to look at her; he simply scooped the books off the counter and carefully placed them in his bag.

“I can’t wait for your workshop next week! I’m coming with a friend of mine. We love your work,” she continued.

Flynn nodded and then turned back to me, cutting her off. I couldn’t help but laugh at his rudeness, which I totally appreciated.

Librarian girl’s mouth hung open for a second in shock at his blatant dismissal and then slunk off as quickly as she was able to.

“You have a workshop next week?” I asked.

Flynn nodded, walking ahead of me to leave the library. He didn’t hold the door open, instead letting it fly back and knock me in the face.

“Thanks,” I muttered, rubbing my nose.

“You’re welcome,” he said, my sarcasm lost on him as always.

“One of my conditions for using the art studio rent free is I have to provide workshops twice a semester. I have one next week. It’s on sculpting with unusual mediums. I’m using scrap metal,” he said as I hurried to keep up with his long strides.