QUOTE : You’re just pushing your food around, aren’t you? You’ve barely taken two bites. I thought you loved Lou’s Cornish hens.”<br />“I do. I’m sorry. All I can think about is that English project due this week.” I look over at Ryder with a faux scowl. “We’re already way behind--you’ve always got some excuse. We should probably work on it tonight.”<br />“Probably so,” Ryder says with an exasperated-sounding sigh.<br />“That’s the third project the two of you have been paired up on,” Mama says, shaking her head. “I hope you two can behave well enough to get your work done properly. No more arguing like the last time.”<br />We’d pretended to fight over a calculus project. Yes, a calculus <i>project.</i> Is there really any such thing?<br />“We’re trying really hard to behave,” I say, shooting Ryder a sidelong glance. “Right?”<br />His cheeks pinken deliciously at the innuendo. I love it when Ryder blushes. Totally adorable.<br />“Right,” he mumbles, his gaze fixed on his lap.<br />Laura Grace gives us both a pointed look. “You two better learn to get along, you hear? You’re going to be spending a lot of time together for the next four years.”<br /><i>Four years.</i> Just the two of us--away from our meddling mamas. I have to bite my lip to force back the smile that’s threatening to give us away.<br />“She’s right,” Mama says, nodding. “The only way I’m allowing Jemma to go to NYU is if she promises not to go off campus without Ryder to escort her.”<br /><i>Escort</i> me? What is it, the 1950s or something? Besides, I don’t think she realizes that NYU isn’t a traditional campus. There’s no fences or gates or anything like that. I guess she’ll find out when she comes to visit over Thanksgiving, but by then it’ll be too late. That’s what she gets for not looking over the application materials I gave her.<br />“Fine,” I say, trying to sound slightly annoyed. “I promise.”<br />Beneath the table, Ryder releases my hand and lays it open in my lap, palm up. And then I feel him tracing letters on my palm with his fingertip.<br />I. L. O. V. E. Y.O.U. <br />I can’t help myself--I shiver. I shiver a lot when Ryder’s around, it turns out. He seems to have that effect on me.