Chapter 7: Chapter Seven

RILEY

For the following two days, Tristan and I were so strictly business that it was starting to get on my nerves.

Our conversations were limited to math, and nothing else.

He’d pick me up from the library, I’d tutor him, and then he’d drop me off at home. It felt like I was teaching a robot, and it was making it hard for me to concentrate.

“Okay, enough is enough! Why have you been such a jerk these past few days?” I finally blurted out in the middle of a lesson one evening.

He looked at me, surprised. “Awww, are you missing our playful back-and-forths?” He smirked, leaning back in his chair. I pressed my lips together.

Honestly, I kind of was.

“More like irritating back-and-forths. Seriously, ~I’m~ the one who should be mad at ~you~,” I exploded.

Tristan raised his eyebrows. “Why are you mad at me?” he asked, sounding serious.

Shit! I couldn’t tell him that his rude comment from two days ago had hurt me. He probably didn’t even remember it. He kept looking at me, waiting for an answer.

~Come on, Riley, say something!~

“I… You… umm… how did you know where I live?” I asked, completely changing the subject.

He gave me a strange look. “Are you mad because I know where you live?” he asked, sounding incredulous.

I shrugged. “It’s an invasion of my privacy.”

“Okay, if you really want to know, I’ve seen you walking home from school a few times,” he mumbled, scratching the back of his head and avoiding my eyes.

I looked at him suspiciously.

“I’m not stalking you or anything. Jesus, I have better things to do,” he added after a moment.

I nodded, not saying anything. “Right.” I tucked my hair behind my ears and focused on the notebook in front of me.

“God, you are so confusing.” He stood up, running a hand through his hair, and started pacing around his room.

“Me? You’re the one who gets mad for no reason,” I shot back, standing up from my chair.

He was breathing hard. “I’m mad because you still have that ad in the school newspaper!”

“Why the fuck does that bother you so much?” I asked, not understanding why he was so angry.

He moved closer to me, and I stumbled back in surprise, but he caught me by my waist with his strong arms.

“Because,” he looked deep into my eyes and swallowed hard, “I don’t like to share, Adams,” he whispered, his gaze dropping to my lips.

I forgot how to breathe. My skin was on fire where he was touching me, and my heart was pounding.

~Fuck, I wasn’t expecting that.~

“Breathe,” he smirked, releasing me quickly. I pushed my hair back from my face, trying to process what had just happened.

“Wh-why is that?” I asked in a whisper, feeling the air around us thick with sexual tension.

“I don’t want you focusing on any other student. I need good grades and I’m paying you to tutor me exclusively,” he shrugged, trying to sound casual.

“I don’t think we ever agreed to exclusivity,” I said, raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms over my chest.

“We’re agreeing to it now.”

That shut me up. For some reason, I was excited by the idea that he didn’t want to share me with anyone else, even if it was in a completely non-romantic context.

~What is wrong with me?~

~Ugh!~

“Ummm... don’t touch me like that again, jerk,” I said, trying to change the subject. I pulled down my hoodie.

“Or what? Are you going to hit me?” He smirked, stepping closer again.

I didn’t understand why he was acting this way, and more importantly, I didn’t understand why my body was reacting to it.

This was a side of him I’d never seen before, and it intrigued me. I couldn’t look away from his intense gaze; it sent shivers down my spine.

~I can’t do this. Not with him.~

~Push him away, Riley.~

My mind was screaming at me, but my body wasn’t listening as I kept backing up until I hit the wall behind me.

“I will hit you, Tristan,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.

He chuckled. “I’d like to see you try,” he said, his voice low and intense. My mind went blank.

~What’s gotten into him?~

“I’m not going to be intimidated by you, if that’s what you’re trying to do,” I said, looking him straight in the eyes.

He blinked twice before stepping back and letting out a big breath.

“Take down the ad. I’m serious,” he said, and then he quickly left the room.

I sat back down and took a few deep breaths. I had no idea how to make sense of his behavior.

“Ready to go?” I heard his deep voice from behind me and nearly jumped out of my seat. That’s when I noticed it was already past nine o’clock.

“Yeah, sure.” I cleared my throat and gathered my things to leave.

The ride home was quiet again, and I kept replaying the events of the evening in my head. Suddenly, I realized it was Friday night.

“What about tomorrow?” I asked, breaking the silence.

He looked at me, confused.

“It’s Saturday and we didn’t talk about weekends,” I explained.

“Ah, yes! When are you free?”

“In the morning and afternoon until five. I have plans in the evening,” I said. I had that stupid party to go to because of Lucy.

He looked me up and down for a moment before saying, “How about two o’clock?”

“Sounds good,” I mumbled, looking out the window.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked after a while, catching me off guard.

“What do you mean?”

“Tutoring? Why do you need the money?”

He was about to respond, but I cut him off.

“And don’t even think about saying ‘curiosity killed the cat’,” he blurted out before I could get a word in.

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I was totally going to say that.” I let out a sigh and glanced his way, only to find him staring at me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I questioned.

“Like what?” He cleared his throat, finally breaking his gaze from me.

“Like you’re shocked I can actually laugh. Like I’m some sort of alien,” I said, a bit too quickly. He chuckled softly, biting his lip.

~Damn, that’s sexy.~

“That’s one interpretation, Adams,” he responded, pulling up to my house. He extended his hand to me.

This was the first time we’d really talked, a conversation that didn’t end in a heated argument or one of us storming off.

I reached out to shake his hand, but he pulled back, giving me a knowing look.

“Alright, I’ll take down the ad.” I rolled my eyes and he smirked, finally shaking my hand.

I know it’s a cliché, but I swear I felt sparks when our hands met.

Or maybe it was just my virgin self getting overly excited about the smallest bit of human contact?

“Night, Adams,” Tristan said.

“Good night. Jerk!” I grinned, stepping out of his car with my backpack slung casually over my shoulder. I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face as I walked towards my house.

“Why are you blushing?” my dad asked the moment I stepped inside.

I froze. I turned to see him lounging on the couch, his eyebrows wiggling suggestively.

“I’m not blushing, dad,” I shot back, then bolted upstairs, his laughter echoing behind me.

~Shit! Am I actually blushing?~

If I was, I was in serious trouble because…

Tristan Harris was ~definitely~ not the kind of guy I should be blushing over.