“What are you thinking about?” Rhett asked me softly.
“I’m thinking that this is an all too serious moment, right now.”
“So what do you want to do?” He batted his eyelashes at me and I laughed. I’d never seen a guy that was so cocky and self-assured. Only my Rhett would think he could bat his eyelashes and get sex.
“Isn’t that something girls are meant to do?” I said and then giggled.
“Huh?”
“Bat their eyelashes when they want sex.” I teased him. “And just in case you got the wrong idea, no we’re not about to have sex.”
“Why not?” He pouted.
“Because I have homework and we need to tidy up.”
“Well, we don’t have to tidy up...” His voice trailed off and I wanted to burst out laughing. Rhett was in such denial about the mess in the apartment. He was constantly blaming me for being a slob, but most of the mess was his. He was under the mistaken impression that he was some sort of clean freak because his place back home had always been clean, but that had only been because he had a maid that tidied up behind him.
“Excuse me Rhett Madison?”
“It’s your clothes everywhere.” He shrugged and gave me a look.
“Rhett, my clothes are everywhere because you pull them off of me, because you want to have sex everywhere.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Do you really think I’m disrobing and changing in the kitchen?”
“Your bra was on top of the fridge the other day.”
“Because you came behind me when I was cooking.” My voice rose and I laughed. “You’re in some serious denial. You know that right, Rhett?”
“Who me?” He shook his head. “I think not.” His lips turned up in a grin and he paused. “Well, now that you come to explain it a bit, I guess I can see some of your points.”
“Uh huh.”
“I just thought you’d be a bit tidier Clementine O’Hara.” He flashed his teeth. “Considering you’re a young Southern lady, I thought you’d know how to keep house a bit better.”
“What?” My jaw dropped open at his words. “Are you joking right now?”
“Bad time to joke?” He winked at me and I wrinkled my nose at him.
“Rhett, go and do something. I need to study.” I looked at my watch and sighed. “Holden is coming over tonight.”
“Hole who?” He froze and his eyes became alert.
“Holden, my assignment partner.” I said slowly and looked away. “I told you about him, remember?”
“Noooo,” he drawled. “I’ve never heard about him before in my life.”
“You most probably weren’t paying attention to me.”
“I don’t remember you mentioning him.” He shook his head.
“Remember I told you, his brother went to school with David Berkeley.”
“Who the fuck is David now?” He frowned at me. “Another guy you want to study with?”
“Rhett?” I sighed. “David Berkeley, my favorite singer, remember?”
“Hmmm.” He shrugged and looked sheepish. “Oh yeah.”
“So Holden is coming over tonight so we can work on our assignment, so I need to get ready.”
“Get ready?” He raised an eyebrow and his jaw dropped. “Did you put a facemask on to get your skin all glowy for him?”
“Rhett.” I shook my head. “Don’t be an idiot. I meant get ready for our discussion, not dressing up.”
“Am I going to have to let this guy know what’s up?”
“No, we’re just friends.” I sighed and blushed. I didn’t tell Rhett that Holden was hot, really hot. And smart. I knew Rhett wouldn’t appreciate hearing about that. Even though he knew I loved him. Even though he knew he was my world. It was funny, I never would have thought that even gorgeous guys could be insecure, but they were as insecure as the rest of us. It still amazed me that Rhett and I were dating and that we’d gone from best friends to boyfriend and girlfriend with very few hiccups. Not that I wasn’t worried of course. A part of me was scared that everything would go down badly and I’d lose my best friend and my boyfriend. A part of me was scared that someone like Rhett couldn’t change. I mean, how many players went from multiple women to one girl? Not many, I was sure. And Rhett was gorgeous, so all he had to do was go out to have women hitting on him. It was hard dating someone with such good looks and charisma. Though I trusted him. I had to trust him.
“Are you mad at me?” Rhett sighed as he studied my face and I just gazed at him.
“No, I just get worried sometimes.”
“Worried about what?” He asked softly.
“If we made a mistake.” I looked down. “I don’t want to lose you Rhett.”
“All good things one day begin. If I knew the words I’d sing, I’d sing it loud so we could hear. We have only this one chance. Let’s take it my dear. Let’s taste it my dear.” Rhett sang softly at me and I smiled.
“I love that you don’t know David Berkeley’s name, but you know his songs. I love Back To Blue.”
“Of course I know his songs; you play them all the time.” He grabbed my hands. “But it’s true, Clemmie. We only have one life, we only have one chance. We couldn’t just walk away from what we have without giving it a shot.”