An Endless Serenade

Chapter Fifteen

She tilted her head, confused. "You're not married?"

"No," I sighed. "Remember? Paul's a family friend and I live with him because he's closer."

"Oh." She seemed let down.

"What now?"

"I just thought you'd have some fun secret romance going on."

I paused, thinking about it for a moment. Romance? Between Paul and myself? Then I realized I was thinking about it, and shoved any of those thoughts into the back of my mind. I lived with him. And while he technically wasn't a teacher, I was still a student. And had whatever I had with Kyle... but Paul definitely was handsome, so I could see where Aspen was coming from. "No, we don't," I finally said.

A hint of a smile appeared on her face. "Someone sounds disappointed."

"What? No!"

"What? Yes!" she mimicked, her facial expression brightening ten-fold. "Now it's completely clear why you have no interest in Kyle! You totally have a crush on Mr. Russet!"

My mouth opened to protest, but at that moment, the man in question himself came upon us. Speak of the devil.

"Oops... did you hear that?" Aspen asked him.

"No." The grin on his face said otherwise. "It's unwise to go around spreading rumors, Ms. DeVous."

My face flamed and I glared at Aspen, who was laughing sheepishly, tossing her hair over her shoulder. "Oh, you know me... quite the joker."

"Indeed," Paul agreed, not even bothering to hide the fact he was still grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Paul, I told Aspen I live with you," I said flatly, annoyed by his glee at my embarrassment.

Paul nodded, seeming nonplussed. "Sure, just make sure no one other than her and Elliot know."

"Elliot knew before me?" Aspen asked curiously. I thought she'd sound offended, but she didn't. "Well, I bet you guys are better friends. We haven't hung out in awhile."

My face fell at her words. It was true. I'd only been hanging out with Kyle, Elliot, and Paul. Where was my girl time? "We'll hang out this weekend!"

"Yeah?"

"Definitely. You should come over..." I glanced at Paul quickly and he nodded. "Yeah. Friday night."

She grinned. "Okay! I've always wondered where Paul lives."

"You're not going to flirt with him all night, right?" I question warily. I wouldn't put it past her. She was definitely one of the flirtiest people I knew.

"Of course not!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh."

"Friday then?" Paul double-checked. "You'll probably have to order pizza or something."

"What's Friday?"

For the second time in the span of an hour, I jumped, twirling around to come face-to-face with Kyle. Or more like, face-to-chest. "Oh," I mumbled, taking a step back.

"I'm hanging out with Allie," Aspen responded quickly. "Mr. Russet was just telling us to order pizza because there's a sale that day."