Intro
Weston
I tuned out the angry girl next to me. She’d been making a fuss about the air vents since we sat down. I’d just pulled an all-nighter thanks to my latest job and my eyes could barely stay open. I was on the brink of zoning out for the entirety of my class when a calm voice offered to switch seats with my current desk partner.
When she sat next to me, I should have kept my head down. Maybe if I did, I would have been able to forget her. She would have been like all the other students, background noise. She was tall, soft around the middle and wore braids that fell down her back.
You have work now. Your job, I reminded myself as she unloaded her bag.
“Sorry,” she murmured as she settled into the seat. Her chair bumped the leg of the table, disturbing my carton of water. She smiled shyly at me and apologized again before facing forward for the lecture. There was puffiness under her eyes, but the smile was genuine.
She’d been crying and tried to cover it up it seemed
See that smile, yeah, definitely too good for you.
I unlocked my phone, opening a text thread I’d been eyeing all morning. My next job offer taunted me. It was a reminder that the normalcy of a relationship would always be out of reach as long as I had shit to do and there would always be shit to do and trouble to get into. I seemed to be a magnet for trouble and to reveal that to someone I liked… it would end a relationship before it even started.
Forget her,the rational side of me begged.
But I couldn’t. She cleared her throat and said, “here,” when the professor called for attendance.
“Covee?” our professor asked with a raised eyebrow. “Did I pronounce that right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Covee confirmed with a bright smile.
I ran my fingers through my hair.Covee? Cute. Maybe if I got to know her, she’d let me call her Cove. I practically laughed at the thought. Ridiculous. I was sitting here, imagining a relationship. Imagining was as close as I would get though, so I indulged for a few minutes.
I imagined saying ‘hello,’ and her responding with that bright smile. I imagined asking her if she was always nice enough to switch seats with strangers and she’d probably shrugged. I imagined asking to take her to dinner and she would have probablysaid no or said yes,my brain argued with me. My phone buzzed. Another request. Perfect timing, I needed a reminder. Cove would want more than I had to offer.
For the next couple of weeks, we sat in silence, no nods, no glances, no greetings because it was best for me that way. It would have continued to work for me if she hadn’t been so goddamn sweet. When she spoke up in class, when she offered to help others study, when she gave critiques on horrible projects, she was always kind. Nearly every class, there was puffiness under her eyes.
I wanted more time with her than just an hour and a half for two days each week. I wanted to see her smile outside of class. I wanted to give her some kindness for a change. And I wanted to ask her who was making her cry so I could deal with them.
“Weston,” Professor Ida called one day after class dismissal. Everyone filed out while I stood and waited.
“I’m partnering people for the next assignment,” she explained while eyeing me over her thin framed glasses. “I know your training gets in the way of class sometimes.”
“Yeah, sorry about that.” There was nothing I could do about football practice. Unfortunately, practice and work came first. Class often fell through the cracks.
“No need to apologize.” She pushed her glasses up. “I know the hardships of student athletes. I played volleyball on scholarship when the dinosaurs roamed.”
I chuckled and nodded, grateful for her understanding.
“Which is why I’m going to offer you the chance to work on this one on your own,” she continued. “The student I have youpaired with has perfect attendance. So, it could help your final grade however, I understand scheduling time outside of class can be challenging.”
I raised my brow. “Who’s the student?”
“Covee Bailey,” she read while scanning her list. “She sits next to you.”
Say you’ll work on your own.
“Scheduling won’t be a problem,” I promised. “I’ll make it a priority.”
Professor Ida’s eyes widened. “Really? Well, then, wonderful. That makes my day easier. No more rearranging names. Would you be open to scheduling a meeting during my office hours too? I usually discuss the assignment with both partners.”
Another opportunity to back out. “Sure, works for me.”
She beamed and started typing. I exhaled steadily. This was probably a mistake, but I couldn’t ignore Covee anymore, sitting next to her without saying more than a few words made my heart pound in anticipation. For weeks, I kept my words on the tip of my tongue because starting a conversation with her would leave me wanting more. Everything from her soft voice to intelligent critics drew me in. I wanted to know what was beyond her smile. I had questions and even jokes I thought she might have appreciated if I could muster up enough courage to share them with her.
