The Heartbreakers by Pamela Wells

Jamin.”
    She snorted and glanced over at him. “They do not.”
    He groaned. “All right, so they don’t. But it’d be cool if they did.”
    A smile crossed her face but she quickly squashed it. “I’ll call you Ben, if I need to call you.”
    â€œI suppose you’ll be calling me a lot when you fall head over heels in love with me. Yeah,” he slouched more and slung his arm over the back of the chair, “the ladies really like me,so I hear. I can’t blame them. What with my wit and stunning good looks.”
    Coming from anyone else, Alexia probably would have groaned and ignored the guy, but Ben’s facial expressions and sarcastic tone of voice said he was just trying to make her laugh. It worked.
    He straightened in the chair. “See, I knew there was a smile in there somewhere. Though I think it’s unfair that you’re laughing at me. You don’t think I’m good-looking? Or witty?”
    She smiled again. She just couldn’t help herself. “Well, you’re…ah…”
    â€œJust say it,” he teased. “I’m like the next Brad Pitt. I know, I know.” He held his hands up as if stopping her from fawning. “I get that a lot.”
    Alexia scrunched up her nose.
    â€œNo?” Ben asked. “Not Pitt?”
    â€œMore like…mmm…Jensen Ackles.”
    â€œYeah? Jensen?” He checked out his reflection in the librarian’s office windows. “I never thought of that.”
    The library door opened and the librarian, Mrs. Halloway, hurried in, a coffee mug in one hand, a stack of books in the other. “Oh, sorry I’m late,” she said, rushing past Alexia and into her office. She unloaded her things on her desk, grabbed a file folder, and came back out. “Ben,” she said, looking over her glasses, “don’t you have somewhere to be?”
    â€œRight. I forgot.”
    â€œMmhmm.” To Alexia she said, “Give me two more minutes, dear, and I’ll get you started. I have to make a phone call.” She headed into her office.
    â€œI guess that’s my cue to go,” Ben said.
    Alexia stood. “I thought you were another library assistant.” She tried to keep the disappointment out of her voice. “Aren’t you going to get in trouble now for being late?”
    â€œNah. I’m a computer lab assistant this hour—this is my second semester doing it—and Ms. Fairweather has the hots for me, no lie.”
    Alexia laughed since the computer lab teacher was older than her mother and smelled like mothballs.
    â€œAnd,” Ben continued, “she’s as blind as an armadillo. She’s probably talking to the closet door right now, thinking it’s me.”
    Frowning, Alexia said, “Armadillo?”
    â€œYeah, they don’t have very good eyesight. See, hang out with me a little more and you’re bound to pick up facts about important things.”
    â€œSuch as animal sight?”
    He smiled. “Right. Now, if you’re ever running from an armadillo, you know to hide instead of run. He won’t see you.”
    Alexia followed him from behind the counter to the computer lab door in the library. “I hate to think of how tragically my life could have ended if I hadn’t talked to you just now.”
    â€œI can see the headline now, ‘Death by Armadillo.’ Tragic, yes.”
    â€œBenjamin,” Mrs. Halloway said, “off to class now before Ms. Fairweather marks you absent.”
    â€œI’m going.” He tipped his head toward Alexia. “Later.”
    â€œBye.”
    He opened the door to the computer lab and went inside. Alexia moved to the narrow, rectangular window on the door and watched him walk up to Ms. Fairweather. She readjustedher glasses as she peered at him, then smiled and nodded. It seemed he was off the hook for being tardy. He left her desk and walked out of