“Then what?”
“Chemical Engineering.”
“Really.”
“Yep. Like I said, I love math. It’s just writing papers I have a hard time with. Words,ick.” I made a vomit face and gagging noise, and Macey giggled, her sweet sound ringing like Christmas carols in my ears.
“Don’t tell anybody,” she said, lowering her voice dramatically. “But I can’t do math for the life of me. If someone held a gun to my head and set a timer for me to do a basic math problem, I’d probably just die.”
“Hence why you’re an English tutor,” I said with a nod. “I guess that makes us the perfect pair then, doesn’t it?”
Macey’s laugh dulled a little at that, and I could almost see her internal struggle with keeping it professional or joking around with me. I loved when she opened up and didn’t want her to close back down. I was getting through what seemed to be the many layers of Macey Britton.
“What about you?” I asked before she could change the subject. “What’s your major?”
“What, you don’t know already?” Macey’s smile broadened again, and she reached one hand up to touch the braid that fell over her shoulder, fingering it unconsciously. A habit.
“I’m pretty sure I do,” I said. “But it would sound better coming from you. Pre-med, right?”
“Well, yes,” Macey said, and a small dimple appeared on her left cheek as her smile grew. “But you know that pre-med isn’t a major, right?”
“What?”
“Yeah.” She laughed, throwing her head back, andfuck,all I wanted to do was touch her.Feelher. I wanted to run my hands over her body and tease her like she teased me without even realizing it. I wanted to kiss her neck until she moaned for me, push her against the wall and fuck her until neither of us could stand or breathe.
Jesus Christ, Jayce, get a grip.
“Why are you laughing?” I asked, forcing my thoughts to wander back intosaferterritory.
“Pre-med isn’t a major,” she said again, that smile never wavering. “Biology is what I’m studying.”
I shook my head and leaned back again in the chair, folding my arms across my chest as I pondered this. “All these years,” I mused. “All these years, I always thought ‘pre-med’ was a major in itself.”
“It’s forgivable,” Macey said with a shrug. “You’re not the first.”
“Good.”
“Good,” she said, and now her serious face was back. “Now, let’s get to work before I get fired for not doing my job.”
“You’re a volunteer, aren’t you?”
“Yes, but it’s for my medical school application, so focus, Jayce.”
I didn’t want to, but it was time. Macey and I spent the next half hour going over my homework, working on the paper I hated to write. And even then, doing nothing but studying, seeing her there with her nose in a textbook and a permanent wrinkle of concentration etched across her forehead, I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
She was...everything.
“Okay, that’s all the time I have tonight,” Macey said after glancing at the clock on her phone. “You did well today. The paper is really looking good. With just a few more minor edits to some parts, you can turn it in next week, and we can move on to the next project.”
“Sure. Thanks. Sounds good.”
She stood to gather up her things and put them back in her school bag, and I watched her do this, not yet ready to bid her goodnight.
“Wait,” I said, pushing my laptop to the side. “I’m exhausted, you’re probably exhausted, and the night is still young. Would you like to go get some dinner at the Mexican place down the block?”
“Dinner? Now?” Macey said, glancing at her watch, and I was almost certain she would deny me right then and there. I expected it. She already had once, after all.
“Yes,” I confirmed, trying feebly to keep the confident bravo in my voice. “Dinner.”
