“Shouldn’t be too hard. I think Summer’s got the hots for Stark.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her. “Not that I can blame you,” he laughed sipping his coffee.
“I told you already, you won’t know if that’s the case. See, pretty boy,” she leaned forward, eyes intent, “I know your kind. Arrogant, good-looking, and smug with it. You think you just have to crook a finger and anything you want will drop at your feet. You don’t know what it’s like to struggle for … ” she flailed a hand, looking for a word, “just friends. The number of times a guy like you tried to butter me up, just so he could make me look like a fool for his friends, or to cheat off my work … it’s stupid. So maybe I do ‘have the hots’ for you.” She blinked, mouth compressing around the things she wanted to say, then sat back. “You’re going to have to work for this one.”
“You really need to work on being able to tell when someone is joking,” Tony said wide eyed after listening to Summer’s monologue. “Sometimes people like saying things without being attacked by a lecture.”
“And if you aren’t told that your ‘joke’ has hurt someone, how are you supposed to change?” She looked away, trying to hide the rising tears. “I knew you were joking. I always know. I can’t help but know. But it’s — that’s not a joke to me, okay?”