Needing to Love You (Houston's Finest #2)
Page 22
He shrugged again, a habit she found oddly endearing on someone so bulky. “You were sitting alone and it’s my first day here. I figured it was a better idea to sit with a loner than try to sit at some cliquey table somewhere else.”
“Why do you assume I’m a loner?”
He made a show of looking around the empty table before looking at her and raising his eyebrows.
“Fair enough.” She acknowledged his unspoken reply and dug into her salad.
“What kind of high schooler brings a salad for lunch anyways?”
Becky scoffed. “The kind who has to fit into constricting formalwear every weekend.”
“Every weekend? What, do you go to every school dance in the state? One per weekend?”
She laughed mid-bite, a piece of lettuce flying out of her mouth in an exceptionally un-ladylike fashion. “No. Nothing like that. My dad is a politician, so I have to go to his fundraisers and campaign events.”
“Fancy.”
“Hardly.”
Becky glanced at his meal and noticed that he’d already managed to eat one of his lunches. This kid was quick — she always tried to make her salad last. If she ate slowly it tended to feel like a bigger meal. Maybe she could trick her stomach into believing it too.
“So how long do I have to sit here before you decide to tell me your name?”
“Oh, I’m Becky.”
Finishing off the last bite of his sandwich, he pulled the Tupperware of cookies towards him and popped the lid. The delicious scents of vanilla and cinnamon hit her nose and it was an effort not to drool. Reese must’ve noticed the covetous way she eyed his cookies, because he took a cookie for himself and held the plastic container out for her.
“No thank you. I don’t, um, like sweets.”
What I really mean is if that container of deliciousness comes any closer to me I’ll devour every single cookie inside of it without pausing for breath.
Unfortunately for her, weekly weigh-in was tomorrow morning so she couldn’t afford to eat any sugar today. She occasionally snuck in a McFlurry on Tuesdays after school, but a Monday was not the day to splurge.
“Right. I’ve heard that about teenagers, you know. We as a group don’t tend to like sweets or junk food. Is there even dressing on that salad you’re trying to pass off as a meal?”
“It has oil and vinegar on it.”
“Oh yum, I bet that’s almost as delicious as ranch.”
She couldn’t seem to help the smile that spread across her face. She hadn’t had something to laugh about in months, maybe longer. Becky was already dreading the bell that would ring in a few minutes to announce the end of lunch. It was Reese’s first day so he didn’t have friends yet, but she was sure he’d be sitting with a group tomorrow. The football team would probably snap him up in a hurry with those muscles.
Before the bell came, however, Reese collected his trash, piling it on his tray. He pulled the last remaining cookie from his Tupperware and placed it on a napkin before standing up and slinging his tattered black backpack over his shoulder and picking up his now trash filled tray.
“It was nice to meet you, Becky. I hate to dine and dash but if I don’t leave now I’ll never find my next class in time. This place is a maze.” He slid the napkin holding his last cookie to her side of the table. “Help a guy out and eat that last cookie? My mom gets offended if I don’t finish off what she makes me.”
He didn’t wait for her response, instead throwing his trash away and leaving the cafeteria. She checked the time on her phone and discovered that she only had a few minutes remaining to finish her tiny ass lunch. She downed the rest of her salad and looked at the cookie, still sitting where Reese had left it.
Stop looking at me like that. I can’t eat you.
Despite her request, the cookie continued to call her name. Giving in to its persuasion, she took a bite and nearly moaned. Snickerdoodles had always been her favorite kind of cookie.
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