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door.
     
    Following my gaze, he asked, “So you want to ride with me to get lunch then?”
     
    Tom had made it a point to steer clear of me. So the question was so odd, I frown up at him.
     
    “I’ll tell you why I’m here on the way,” he added, to sweeten the deal. I nodded at him thinking he was my best option to get away from things. Plus my curiosity was peaked, wondering why he was at my school in the first place.
     
    Off campus lunch was strictly forbidden. But most everyone did it on occasion. And today I was in the mood to break the rules to gain my freedom from the situation in the lunch room. He peered again at the roses in my hand on our way out a side entrance closest to the cafeteria. “What are those for?” he asked.
     
    Offhandedly, I said, “Val-O-Grams,” sighing so he could hear my disgust.
     
    He grinned. “Who’re they from?” he asked.
     
    Rather than answer him, I shrugged.
     
    He shook his head then said, “I knew you were trouble.”
     
    “Your perspicacity knows no bounds,” I said haughtily, while rolling my eyes.
     
     
     
    We walked up to a car with the familiar intertwined circles that were the Audi symbol centered and the letters TT to the side on the back. It was a sporty looking car in silver. I had to admire it. He popped the locks then opened the door for me. “Where should we eat?” he asked.
     
    Ducking into the car, I wasn’t really hungry because Nina had killed my appetite, so I said, “It doesn’t matter.”
     
    “Taco Bell fine then?” he inquired.
     
    “Sure. I’m surprised since, you know, I’m trouble and all.  Why would you want to be seen with me,” I said smartly, eyeing him with a grin as he closed his door. Free of the cafeteria and all the prying eyes, I was starting not to feel so angry.
     
    He started the car and said, “Trust me, if I hadn’t already heard that you and surfer boy weren’t together anymore, I’d steer clear of you.”
     
    “Surfer boy,” I said, “Funny.” I drew out the last word. But inside I laughed because it was true.
     
    His comment about my relationship status wasn’t lost on me. I was struck that he’d heard about my breakup. Did that mean I was the topic of conversation all the way back in New York? Boy, that was just wonderful and not in a good way if true.
     
    “Why would you stay away from me?” I rebutted. “Clearly, you’re not interested in me. Why does it matter who I’m dating?” I added sweetly, raising my eyebrows at him to give him a hard time. I may have been flirting a bit in how I said it, but at the same time I wasn’t. He’d set himself right up for that question.
     
    “You are a trouble magnet and I have enough of that on my own,” he replied.
     
    Quick on my feet I said, “You’ve said that like a zillion times before, but that still doesn’t answer my question. Why are you curious about my dating status?” I flashed him my pearly whites. I wasn’t going to make this easy for him.
     
    “I don’t know,” he said honestly. His words didn’t come fast and he almost struggled visibly to say them. “There is something about you. Maybe it’s that ‘ I need to be rescued’ look you always seem to have. But I’m not interested in dating you no matter how lovely you are.”
     
    He thought I was lovely. Nobody’s ever called me lovely. “I can’t believe you said something nice about me for once,” I said triumphantly, glossing over the rest of what he said. I sat back in my seat gratified I’d made him squirm. I did, however, speculate about the damsel in distress look he said I had.
     
    “I try,” he said with a chuckle.
     
    In the drive-through line, I ended up ordering a soft taco that he paid for. It was only a dollar, so I didn’t let it bother me, he wouldn’t let me pay. “So tell me, why were you in my school?” I asked, with a hand covering my mouth after I took a bite of my taco.
     
    He nearly had his burrito almost to his lips when I