Jo
DANIEL CORRIGAN IS a natural-born charmer. He doesn't hesitate to smile at an unamusing joke and doesn't restrain himself from bedazzling you with his wits and welcoming brown eyes.
He's also pretty forgetful or in his words 'not good with names' and tends to talk about himself a lot. He also doesn't stop calling me Juliet and I don't bother correcting him anymore. Right now, he's telling me about how he got the position of newspaper president and how he managed to charm his way to it as usual. It's an interesting story but I'm a bit time conscious especially since he offered to drive me to the library for my session with Flynn. He'd exchanged numbers with me after school yesterday and offered to give me a ride to the library but I'm guessing it was because he really wanted to finish his story.
His car smells like pineapples and dental floss. It's a weird combination but I'm certain I perceived a used dental floss when he opened the door for me to get in. He's also insanely organized. Every inch of his car is arranged, every book stacked at the corner of the backseat and every bag placed in front of each other on the floor of the car, including mine. Apart from the odd smell that seems to breathe in and out whenever a soft breeze blows in from the wound down window, I'm pretty sure I can see an almost blinding glow of the dashboard and the glass.
"So, are you and Flynn a thing?"
My head jerks to the side immediately I hear his question and I shake my head slowly. Flynn and I have only pretended to be a thing once and that was when Craig was following me around and I don't think Craig would spread an information about Flynn dating a girl he's currently after. Plus, Flynn wasn't at school today and I'm still surprised the collar of my shirt hadn't burnt from Semia's heated glare in History today. Still, I don't think she'd tell anyone especially since she wanted him to herself.
"No," I tell him and lean back on the seat. "We're not even friends. I only tutor him and we're members of the same club."
He nods understandingly and I squint my eyes at his hair when he's not looking. His blonde hair seems to have little bits of highlights in them. "Oh that's good. I just wanted to know what I was getting myself into."
I hesitate to give him a response because the gears are turning in my head. Is that supposed to mean he's interested in me? I mean, anyone could give a girl a ride somewhere. I don't know what's going on but I try not to overthink it even if the tips of my ears are already hot. Maybe things are finally falling into place.
He turns to me again. "Debate club, right? That's cool. I didn't even know we had a debate club."
"Yeah," I laugh awkwardly. I guess Flynn's publicity stunt didn't do jack shit. "We're just a small group."
"Figures," he swerves and the library comes into view. "Anyway," he smiles. "You should show me some of your writing next time we meet. Maybe over coffee or something."
I straighten in my seat and turn to him. "Really?"
"Sure, why not?" He shrugs and presses his foot on the brakes. "I love seeing new stuff. New ideas, new styles of writing. A nice coffee together would be good too," he pauses and then places his hands on the steering wheel. "Except you're busy."
Internally, I'm nervous as hell because the only person who's really seen my writing is grandma and Flynn snooping around my stuff. It's like someone has offered me an opportunity on a platter of gold. I've always wanted a work of mine to appear in the school paper and the school paper president, a cute one at that, is offering to see mine over coffee. It's as thrilling as it is nerve wracking.
"I could text you when I'm free," I say and grab my bag from the very meticulous position it was kept before looking at him again.
His mega-watt smile is back. "That'd be good. Take care, Jules."
It's a bit hard not to roll my eyes when he's even given me a nickname. I wave him goodbye and step out of the car before heading towards the front door of the library.
As I bound up the stairs, I'm surprised to see the librarian, Mrs Anthony, wide awake today. She's running a dark red lipstick over her chapped lips and she even gives me a little wave when she sees me. Whatever she must be preparing must be good enough for her not to send me her usual nasty glare.
Flynn is seated right where we usually sit, at the table next to the window. His arms are folded on the table and his head is resting on them, face down. I look at the time on my wristwatch and curse under my breath.
Crap. I'm late and he's usually never on time.
I stride faster to the table and take a seat right in front of him, clearing my throat as I do so.
"Sorry, I'm late."
He lifts his head from the table and his eyes aren't bloodshot or tired as I'd expected them to be. That means he wasn't sleeping. "That's new."
When his head is away from the table, I notice an opened blank page of a sketchbook but he closes it and places it in his bag before I have the chance to look further. He brings out his copy of Wuthering Heights and a journal while I do the same.
"You weren't at school today," I say as I look at him. "Any reason for your random disappearances?"
He sends a wanton grin my way. "Were you worried sick about me today?"
I frown at him. If there's anyone sick here, it's probably him. His usual bright green eyes appear slightly pale and there are stress lines on his forehead.
"Are you sick?"
"No. Are you?"
"Do I look sick?"
"Do I look sick?"
"If you didn't look sick, I wouldn't have asked if you were sick."
He fiddles with his pen and sighs. "Why are we so fond of using the same words multiple times when talking?" He holds his head dramatically. "I can't keep up."
"And that," I say, taking out an A4 paper and slapping it down in front of him. "Is why you got that out of ten in your essay."
He scrutinizes the paper and his brows are lifted high. "You printed it."
"I did."
He reads through it again and points an accusing finger on the paper. He shoots me a glare. "A three?!"
I nod calmly. "That's right. What were you expecting to get?"
He shakes his head and folds his arms. "I don't know? A four? Maybe four and a half?"
I pinch my nose and narrow my eyes at him. "I told you to send me a sample of what is supposed to be an 850 worded essay and what did I get?"
He frowns like I'm not making sense. "A sample?"
"A sample is not three lines of repeated words. Did I forget to mention you also inserted two curse words in there?"
He leans back on his seat and raises the paper to his face. I dig into my bag and bring out a juice box I'd purchased earlier today before puncturing the hole with the plastic straw.
I lean back on my own seat and cross my legs as I sip. "That's right. Think about what you've done."
I take the straw out of my mouth and a bead of juice rolls down my lip. I dart my tongue out and swipe it off immediately and when I look back up, Flynn quickly looks away.
"I'm done thinking," he declares and drops the paper on the table.
"And what did you learn?"
He leans forward on the table and clasps his fingers together before meeting my gaze. "That you need to do better."
I scoff and roll my shoulders back. "I need toâ how have you even not been failing English in the previous years?"
"I've not exactly been acing them either. That's why you're in the picture but apparently you failed to deliver," he finishes and boldly snatches my juice box from the table. He places his mouth on the straw and sucks the little that is left in one go without breaking his gaze. Once the box is empty, he tosses it into the basket without even looking at it and it lands right in the middle. His brow is arched too is if asking me what I'll do about it.
He's back to being infuriating as hell. Not only is he blaming me for scoring a three despite all of my efforts, he just snatched what was left of my juice and devoured it in one go.
I breathe gently through my nose and lift my chin. If he's trying to make me mad, I'll try not to let him succeed. "You're lucky Miss Anderson extended the deadline of submission till the end of the semester so you still have a bit more time to produce a better essay."
He's smiling mischievously as he rests his elbow on the table and places his chin on it. "Or you could write both of ours and I'll pay you triple of what I'm paying you now."
I'm oddly peeved as his words register and despite the fact that I easily jump into any situation that is legal and generates money for me to chase my dreams, I shake my head in the negative and lean closer to him until our elbows almost touch.
"Sorry but no. You can't bribe people to do whatever you want just because you have money. You can't just get anything you want just because you're rich. We'll do this the usual way."
He's not smiling anymore but he's not frowning either. Instead he's just unreadable and his eyes have gone back to that intense green I'm used to. There's something going on in his mind and it's reflecting wildly in his eyes but then he blinks and it's gone. He shrugs and drops his hand on the table and then a small grin takes over.
"Your loss Juliet." And just like that, he's back.
I roll my eyes and uncross my legs. He's placing his books into his bags immediately after that and I sigh inwardly when I realize the session is over and we didn't get anything done. Partly because I was late and well, because we wouldn't stop bickering around.
"I'll send you an email tonight. Go through it."
"Yes ma'am." It becomes a bit awkward after that. He gets to his feet at the same time that I do and I go first without looking at him. He's right behind me as I bound down the stairs and with every step I make, he makes a resounding one. I feel his gaze burning through my skin and I suddenly forget how to walk, feeling overly conscious about even the smallest thing.
I loose my footing at the second to the last step but I don't crash to the ground like I'm supposed to. Flynn's hand wraps around my elbow in a tight grip and he pulls me back towards him in one fluid motion until my back is flushed against his front.
My heart picks up its pace and his hot breath caresses my neck when he lowers his mouth to speak into my ear. His lips skim my earlobe. His voice drops about an octave lower. "Are you, by any chance, sleepwalking?"
"Iâ" I don't finish because Semia's standing right at the front of the library door and watching us like a movie. My guess is that it's horror or maybe tragedy because her jaw is slack and her lips are parted.
Flynn's eyes move from my neck to her face and he squeezes my elbow before running his hands down my forearms. "Hey Semia. Didn't you see there."
I smile half-heartedly at her as Flynn walks us down the stairs.
"Oh yeah, um," she stutters and rubs her hands together before putting on a tight smile. "I left something at the table and I came to get it back."
"Right," I say and she turns to me. "I should apologize for last time."
She shakes her head but her eyes are icy. "No need. Flynn explained everything. I'm sorry if I tried to, you know, intrude."
"You weren't intruding," Flynn says before wrapping a hand around my shoulder and pulling me closer. "Anyway, we should get going. See you at school?" He raises a brow and she shrugs.
"Sure." Her smile doesn't reach her eyes.
I wave at her and the Flynn steers us away from her before exiting the library.
A chilly breeze raises goosebumps on my skin as we step onto the sidewalk.
"Now, I should win an Oscar," Flynn says. His arm is still around my shoulder and my skin is tingling.
"She's gone now, Oscar Isaac. Arm's length."
He takes his hand off my shoulder and opens the car door for me. "Get in. I'll drop you at the bookstore."
I narrow my eyes at him. "You're not a gentleman."
"I know. She might be looking," he holds the door wider and grins, dimples and all. "Besides, I can be a gentleman if I want to but I can't help it if you're attracted to cavemen."
I roll my eyes and slide into the car. He closes the door and rounds the hood before climbing in. I throw my head back on the headrest and close my eyes when he reverses but they jerk open immediately when I lurch forward without warning.
I slowly turn my head to him and he shrugs as he looks back at me. His eyes aren't visible anymore because they're shielded by sunglasses.
"That always happens when you're around," he says before launching into the street.
"I wonder why." I grit.
He smiles. "Me too."