Silence creeps back in for a brief moment.
“Mind if I play music?” Serena asks quietly, her hand already on the radio dials.
“Go ahead.”
Nonsense by Sabrina Carpenter starts to play softly in the background. Serena taps her fingers and hums along to the side as the song carries on. I feel drawn to her in a way that’s so damn hard to resist and I catch myself questioning the pact I made.
I park outside of Serena’s house, bringing the car to a full stop. We both get out at the same time and I grab her things out from the back. I hand her things to her, but my impulsiveness has me walking beside her as we walk up to the front door.
“You don’t have to walk me in,” Serena says softly.
I chuckle and flash a toothy smile. “My mom would kill me if I let a girl walk up to her door alone. Just let me do it, sunshine.” I say and she only nods. “Will you make it to school tomorrow? Do you need a ride?”
“I’ll be okay, I can just ask Jared to take me until the car thing gets figured out.” Serena reaches down in her bag for her keys.
I wait until she unlocks her door before taking a step back. “I’ll see you Wednesday at the library?”
“Yeah, Wednesday.”
Serena steps inside but before she can close the door, she turns around to face me with a shy smile.
“Thanks for the ride, Tyler.”
“Anytime, sunshine.”
Serena’s face flushes and I see her lips twitch for a second. I feel a flutter in my chest. Serena disappears inside her home, leaving me breathless at a simple goodbye.
I head back to my car and sigh as I close the door. My hands grip the steering wheel tightly, and I lean my head against the seat. The realization hits me like a ton of bricks–maybe I’m deeper than I thought.
I’m screwed.
Chapter 14
Tyler
My next tutoring session with Serena couldn’t come any faster.
I haven’t seen her since the impromptu car ride home. I didn’t see her on campus yesterday since we don’t share any classes. Maybe Beckham’s right, maybe I am gettingsmittenby Serena. At the same time, I don’t think I’m ready to admit that to myself or speak it into existence.
There’s something about her that I can’t exactly pinpoint why I’m drawn to her. Then I remember I couldn’t have her. For starters, I made a pact that I wouldn’t get with another girl. She’s also Jared’s sister. There has to be some kind of bro-code to not crush on your friend’s sister.
“Hey, I got you something.” Serena appears at our study table, placing a Thai green tea and straw in front of me. “I wasn’t sure how I could repay you for driving me home, so I got you this.”
“Thanks.” I accept her gift and unwrap the straw. “How’d you get this?”
Serena sits down across from me, setting her bag down on the tabletop. “I snuck out during lunch.”
My heart thumps louder and harder that I’m afraid it’s going to jump out of my chest and into her hands. Serena breaking rulesfor meis not what I expect from her, but I like it and I’m not complaining.
“Everything okay?”
I stab the straw into the lid a little too fast and hard that a few droplets escape from the cup and onto the table. “Shit.”
“Oh here, use this.” She pulls a wet wipe from her bag.
“Thanks.” I reach for it just as she does, our hands meet in the middle, an accidental touch that sends a jolt through me.
I need to cool it.
