11. Ella
11
***Ella***
M y throat still hurt the next day when I walked through the library, looking for a private place to study. Despite it being a Saturday, there were enough people spread out that I ended up on the third floor where the private study rooms were. Each of them had half glass walls but they were so frosted that it was impossible to see if anyone was in the room unless you walked in. The first two I tried were full and I was getting fed up with all of the studious people working on the weekend, despite being one of them.
I quietly knocked and opened the third door, feeling like I was on a bad game show, just to find the surprise behind the door was not one I wanted. It was the equivalent of a year’s worth of jello being delivered to your door in one go.
Vaughn sat at the table, facing me. He sighed when he saw me and dropped his pencil. Leaning back in his chair, he tilted his head to stare at me. “Living with me isn’t enough? Now you’re following me to the library?”
“Forget it. I’ll just go back to the house to study.”
“Stay, Ella. I’m just fucking with you.” He pulled his notebooks closer to his side of the table and gestured for me to sit down. “Just try not to be annoying and we won’t have any issues.”
I hesitated in the doorway. “Are you going to try not to be annoying?”
He smirked. “Just close the door and get your books out, nerd.”
I found myself doing what he said and frowned. Once we were enclosed in the small room together, I thought I’d made a mistake. I couldn’t exist in the same room as Vaughn without wanting to strangle him. I wasn’t going to get anything done. My stubborn refusal to let Vaughn think he got to me was the only thing keeping me there.
“You sound like shit, by the way.” He twirled his pencil around his fingers and then tucked it behind his ear. “Do a lot of screaming lately?”
My mouth popped open in shock. “Excuse me?”
“At the game, Ella. Jesus.” He pulled his notebook closer and shook his head. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”
I almost would’ve preferred he thought I was screaming for other reasons than admit that I’d loved my first football game. I opened my American Politics book and grabbed a highlighter. “What game?”
He snorted. “You think I didn’t see you and your friend screaming and cheering on the sidelines? You didn’t exactly blend in with the rest of the team, Ella Rae. It’s okay. You can admit that you loved watching us.”
Cutting him a stern look, I chose to ignore him. Thankfully, he didn’t fight it. I was able to make it through my weekly reading material for class before his presence drew me out of my zone.
His energy had shifted into something darker since I came in and he looked frustrated as he stared down at a section of notes. I watched as he dropped his pencil on the table and reached up to rub his eyes. His jaw was clenched but when he noticed me staring at him, he relaxed his face and smirked at me. I could tell it wasn’t real, though.
Against my better judgment, I decided to offer help. “Stuck on something?”
His mouth pinched and his eyebrows drew together in a deep frown. “It’s fine.”
Sighing, I stood up. “You look constipated right now and your energy is cramping up the room. Just tell me what you’re stuck on. It helps to have someone else look at a problem you can’t solve sometimes. What class is this?”
He made a grumpy sound as I pulled out the chair next to him and sat down. Staring at me, he took a few seconds to tell me. “Statistics. I need it to graduate but I put it off for so long. I haven’t had to do math since the first semester of freshman year.”
I smiled as a flash of memory came back. “I don’t remember you loving math back in the day, either.”
“I’ll figure it out, Ella. Go back to your side.”
I picked up his notebook and looked over his notes while he scowled at me. “I took a stats class last year. Let me help.”
He raised his hand to his mouth and started to bite one of his nails before he stopped himself. Growling out his frustration, he ran his hands through his hair and nodded. “Fine.”
Putting his book down between us, I leaned in and smiled what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “What’s your assignment this week?”
He begrudgingly shrugged and then sighed. “I’m making up last week’s work. With football, it can-”
“Relax, Vaughn. I’m not going to judge you. Not in here, anyway. This is a safe space.” I looked up at him and we both laughed. “You know what I mean. You don’t need to explain yourself to me. Let’s just get it done. Okay?”
He studied my face until I felt it go warm. Leaning towards the book, I looked away from him and dismissed his lingering stare.
“Okay.” Vaughn cracked his knuckles and grabbed his pencil. “The sooner this is over, the sooner I can get out of here. Libraries are for nerds.”
Rolling my eyes at him, I had him pull up his syllabus and then I dove into working through what he did and didn’t understand. It was tricky because I could feel him grow defensive with each thing he didn’t understand. I’d worked as a tutor through high school, though, and I did my best to work around his discomfort like I was still getting paid for it. We worked together, heads down, until finally he sat back with a laugh.
I grinned at him. “You got it?”
He nodded and grinned back at me. “You made it make sense. Are you going to be a teacher when you grow up?”
“Nope. When I grow up, I’m going to be a lawyer.” I looked down at his notebook and shrugged. “I had it all planned out. Graduate from Penn, get into law school, and go on to save the world. And then I lost my mind and followed Billy here.”
Vaughn was quiet for a few seconds and then cleared his throat. “You’re smart, Ella. You’ll get what you want.”
I lifted my head and met his warm gaze. He was being nice and we were having a normal interaction. It was so unexpected that I wasn’t sure what to do with myself. We’d moved closer together while working and neither of us had moved back into our own space. I watched as his eyes flicked down to my lips and rabid butterflies erupted in my stomach. My eyes dropped to his mouth and I stopped breathing. He was so close. If I tilted my head back, he could-
A knock on the door scared me and broke whatever kind of moment we’d been having. I sucked in oxygen and stood up just as a guy opened the door to our little room.
“Sorry. I was just-”
I hurried around to my side of the table and gathered my things. “I was just leaving, actually.”
“Same. Take the room, man.” Vaughn grabbed his stuff and shoved it roughly into his backpack before following me out. He was silent until we were standing in front of the library with several feet of space between us. “Thanks for helping, Cinderella.”
Acting like nothing had happened, because nothing had, I rolled my eyes. “Don’t call me Cinderella.”
“Sure thing, Cinderella.” He backed away and lifted a hand in a wave.
I gasped as an idea came to me, though. “Wait! I have an idea.”
He looked cautious as he moved closer again. “I’m not sure I want to know.”
“Shut up, Vaughn.” Just like that, we were back to normal. “I’m sick of cleaning your beard hair out of your sink. I want to change the deal. You let Fisher bring back his maids and I’ll shift my services to making sure you pass statistics.”
He glanced up at the library and I hoped he wasn’t thinking about what I wasn’t thinking about. “I’m going to need concrete plans before I agree to it. I’m not going to let you out of our deal just for you to flake on me.”
“Get a life, Vaughn. I’m not going to flake on you. We live in the same house. I wouldn’t get very far if you wanted to find me.” I added a sweet smile at the end. “What I meant to say is I’ll tutor you once a week. We can meet wherever you want.”
“Two times a week.” He saw my surprise and shrugged. “You saw how much I struggled, Ella. We meet here, two times a week. Third floor. I’m free on Wednesday nights and some Saturdays. Sundays work on the weeks Saturdays don’t..”
I bit my lip and considered my options. It had been my idea. Anything would be better than doing their dishes, surely. “Fine. Two times a week. And you agree that I’m no longer cleaning up after you?”
He sighed. “Cinderella can retire for now.”
Scowling at him, I slowly backed away. “I’m leaving now. I feel like I sold my soul to the devil and I need to go enjoy my last few days as a free woman.”
“Grow up, Ella. I’m a joy.”