Page 23 of Under His Protection
“Fine.” I keep my eyes on my food, hoping he’ll get the hint and leave. This guy is seriously lacking in the emotional intelligence department.
In this huge cafeteria, why does he have to sit nearme? Can’t he take a hint? I’m not interested.
“Your food looks good,” he says. “I had a big breakfast this morning, so I’m not hungry.” When I don’t reply, he says, “Would you like to go over our lab instructions for this afternoon?”
“I’ve already done that lab. I know what to do.”
“Oh. Okay.” He just sits there. One minute he’s typing on his laptop, and the next he’s watching me eat. “So, how long have you and what’s his name been together?”
“His name is Philip.” I’m eating as fast as I can so I can get out of here.
“Okay then. How long have you andPhilipbeen together?”
“For over a year,” I say.
Officially, Philip and I have been dating for about three months. But we met over a year ago, and from the moment we met there was an undeniable connection between us. Even if we couldn’t be alone together, emotionally we were already dating.
“He’s older than you are.”
“A little bit.”
“What does he do for a living?”
“He’s in security.”
“Like a security guard?”
“Not exactly. He’s in electronic surveillance.”
“Did he go to college?”
I nod, even though it’s none of Mark’s business. “He has a degree in computer science.”
“Huh.” Mark turns his attention back to his laptop for a moment. Eventually, he says, “You’re young, Haley. You should keep your options open. Don’t just settle for the first guy you meet. There’s a wide pool of guys for you to choose from. Guys with really bright futures.”
I hate hearing him disparage Philip. Mark knows absolutely nothing about him.
I can’t eat another bite, so I stand. “I’ve got to run now. I’ll see you in class.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later.”
I find a quiet place to sit outside and review my chem lab notes for today’s experiments. When I get to class, Mark is already there, seated at our table. Ms. Davis is passing out the report templates we’ll use to document our experiments and write our conclusions.
“Your completed report is due Friday,” she says to the class. “Work as a team. Participation is a large percentage of your grade.”
I focus on the assignment and discourage chit-chat with Mark.
When the class is over, he follows me out into the hallway. “How about we go grab a private study room at the library to work on our report? It’s due in two days, so we don’t have a lot of time.”
I really want to say no, but he’s got a point. We’ll have to meet up sometime either today or tomorrow to get it done on time. I might as well get this over with. “All right.”
He looks surprised. “Awesome. Let’s go.”
We walk across the central courtyard to the library and find an available study room. There’s just a table with four chairs in here. It’s hardly bigger than a closet. We take our seats and spread out our notes and report template on the table. It’s notgoing to take long to complete the lab report, but it needs to be done right.
It’s a short report, so we’re done in about an hour.
Mark leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
