Chapter 11
Logan
I was a big liar sometimes. In just one week, I lied to my best friend twice.
Once when I pretended not to recognize Charlotte the moment I laid eyes on his phone screen. The second when I said I only remembered the time I slept with her when I saw her in our place.
Bald-faced lie.
First because there was the piggy bank episode, not long ago, and second because nobody forgets a face like that, especially the wickedness in those light eyes when she knelt to blow me.
I spent several days thinking about her after that weekend, but right afterward Charlie got back with Jonathan and I chose to let it go. We were freshmen and I didn't want to stir up trouble so soon with my teammates.
So I quickly moved on to other mouths and other hookups, and I really did shove all of it to the back of my mind, until Ethan said he was interested in her. And then I lied because I didn't know how much Charlie remembered, or whether she wanted more people to know about the episode.
It was good for avoiding an awkward vibe, but after finding out she'd told Ethan everything without a problem, and that their thing was casual, I got... Curious.
And I decided I wanted to talk to her again, which is why I was now crossing campus on my way to the math and sciences building.
In my defense, I really did need help with the statistics assignment. It's likely some time researching online would solve the problem, but why would I do that when I could show up at the tutoring room, ask Charlotte McCarthy for help, and have a little fun on top of it?
Come to think of it, maybe on top of being a liar, I was also a huge backstabber, planning to hit on my friend's fling... But was it really a low move if they were only having fun?
I just wanted to get to know her a little more... For now. But if she gave me an opening to prove whether her kiss was as good as I remembered, I wouldn't be the one to waste the opportunity.
Damn, maybe I really was a scoundrel. But now I was already in the hallway leading to the tutoring rooms and there was no backing out.
I could try to behave.
Maybe.
I run a hand through my hair, fixing a bit of the damage the wind always did, and walk into the room full of round tables, uncomfortable wooden chairs, and just one person. The very ex-blonde I wanted to see.
I smile at the way her eyebrows go up the moment she lays eyes on me.
"Good morning, Miss McCarthy," I greet, coming closer, unhurried.
"Morning, Hayes," she gives back with just a slight tremor in her voice and her cheeks a little flushed.
I set my backpack on her table before even pulling out a chair and sitting across from her.
"And you're here to..." She leaves the question hanging, and my smile widens.
"Get help with Professor Whitman's assignment, of course," I say, and I catch her scrunching her nose for a second, then quickly returning to the neutral expression she must have trained for being a teacher's assistant.
"Sure, how can I help?" she offers, and I let a little smile slip out. I grab my computer from my backpack and boot it up quickly. She pulls out a notebook and takes some time choosing a colored pen from the big collection I see in her case. I use that little window to study her more closely.
Even though I already found her beautiful with the natural blonde hair from before, I have to admit the pink shade had looked really good on her, seemed to bring out the blue eyes and the soft pale skin.
The rosy cheeks, like the tip of her nose, made her really cute, but it was the full lips wearing just some kind of gloss that crowned it all.
Beautiful as fuck.
No wonder Ethan had decided to break his own rules for her. But it highlighted the scale of Jonathan's stupidity for letting her slip away.
Charlie finally settles on a pen and lifts her eyes, catching me staring at her. I'm not embarrassed, on the contrary, I widen the smile and watch her blush a bit more, then clear her throat.
"Let's go, tell me what you've done so far."
"I started collecting the data and..." I start to explain, but she cuts me off.
"Which data set did you pick?"
"The Royals players' performance: rushes, receptions, and passes over the season," I explain, and she nods in understanding.
"Great that it's a context you know well, it makes things easier."
"That's what I thought too. Except then the actual calculations phase started and I got totally lost," I confess, turning the computer screen so she can see my spreadsheet.
"You've already done the means, great. I'm guessing the trouble started when you got to standard deviation," she guesses, and I run a hand over my face, slightly embarrassed.
I liked being good at everything I did, and I chose the Marketing program because I liked the subject and had a knack for most things.
It was relatively easy to balance with football, which had always been my real focus.
Math and sciences subjects in general, though, weren't one of those easy things. Those I always had to study twice as hard for.
"That's right," I finally answer, and Charlie flashes a little sideways smile.
"Okay, it's more manageable than it looks, I'll show you," she says, already grabbing the notebook and starting to break down what I needed to know, and I watched her go fully into teacher mode, which was kind of fascinating.
It takes maximum effort for me to pay attention to at least two-thirds of what Charlotte explains, instead of noticing every tiny detail about her.
Like the two little freckles on her right hand, or the different-colored stains on her left, definitely due to the fact that she's left-handed.
Long, slim fingers that had once been pulling the hair at my nape...
"Logan?" My friend's deep, familiar voice invades the room and pulls me out of the trance. Charlie and I turn our heads at the same time to see him walking into the room and coming over to us. "What are you doing here?"
I break into a big smile, just because I love provoking Ethan Clarke way too much.
"Studying, of course. Charlie's clearing up all my questions.
She's really good at what she does, isn't she?
" I use her nickname on purpose and I can almost see Ethan bite his tongue to keep from giving me a rude answer.
He lets out a "mm-hm" through his teeth at me before leaning over the girl and planting a kiss on her lips.
Now she blushes for real.
"Hi," he greets.
"H-hi," she stammers back. I hide a smile with my hand and watch Ethan drop into the chair next to Charlie, ending up across from me. "What did you come here to do?"
"I had some free time this morning and I knew you'd be here, so I came to keep you company, since you mentioned that a lot of the time no one shows up at the start of the semester," the player justifies. Charlotte blinks repeatedly, as if unsure what she should answer.
"Hmm... thanks. But I'm helping Hayes and..." She tries, but she's interrupted by my friend.
"I've got another subject I need to study too, I'll stay here with you two, if you don't mind," he decides, and the slight narrowing of the eyes he throws my way doesn't go unnoticed. I bite my lip to hold back a laugh.
Ethan... Ethan... Could this be jealousy? Over the girl you swore just this morning you were only seeing for the fun?
I bring a hand to Charlie's wrist, drawing her attention back to me, and I don't miss the slight pursing of lips Ethan lets show, or the girl's slight shiver under my skin. This is getting better and better.
I turn the laptop more in her direction and ask about the formula I set up to apply to the data, finally getting her full attention again.
Time seems to slip by more slowly than normal inside the room, alternating between Charlie teaching me things, me coming up with random topics to find out more about the girl, and Ethan striking up conversation with her every now and then too, keeping her attention from being only on me.
"Think you can finish from here?" Charlie asks at the end of the session, nodding toward the paper where she wrote a bunch of instructions for me. I nod quickly in agreement, but I don't even really need to answer, because Ethan takes the lead.
"Oh, he can. You practically drew him a picture," he needles, without even disguising the light anger in his voice. I swallow a laugh and make my best pitiful face.
"Yeah, I guess I had a lot more questions than I expected. Good thing I found Charlie here today." My answer makes him narrow his eyes, and Charlotte springs to her feet.
"Happy to help, but I have to go now, I've got class in twenty minutes and I still need to meet my cousin to go over a problem with her," she warns, hurriedly putting all her stuff into her backpack.
I stand too, just tucking the computer under my arm.
I run a hand across the teacher's assistant's back and plant a kiss on her rosy cheek before she can escape.
"Thanks. And have a good class. I'll definitely be showing up more often at this time," I assure her, and I watch her skin redden down to the top of her chest, unfortunately covered by the square-neck top she's wearing.
Ethan clears his throat, already on his feet, and shooting daggers at me with his eyes.
I break into my best smile in his direction. "See you at home, Tanny!"
I say my goodbyes and walk off whistling, sure my friend was going to strangle me later, but I was way too entertained to care.