“Come on, Mickey, you got this,” Viv says, encouraging me like she always does. Objectively speaking, everybody needs a Viv. She’s that person I know I can always count on, the one who’s rooting for me no matter what, so I dig deep into my brain and scrounge around for the answer like it’s loose change hidden deep within the crevices of my couch cushions.
“Adrenaline,” I say, because even though I don’t remember learning this stuff in class, that feels like the right answer.
“That’s one!” Viv’s beaming at me and clapping like I’ve just won a championship title. I want to elicit that same response when I answer the second half of the question, but it’s going to be tough. I got the first part right either by pure luck or as a result of mindlessly scrolling through social media every day and picking up random facts.
Viv is looking at me expectantly, though, like she thinks the word is on the tip of my tongue.The idea of disappointing her guts me, so even though I ‘ve got no freaking clue what the other hormone is, I’ve got to at least give it a try. My mind is blanking, so I focus on the steady rhythm of the jump rope. It’s supposed to help with my focus, which doesn’t make sense when you first think about it, but it really does work. If I can keep my brain busy with something like jumping rope or bouncing a ball or messing with a fidget, it kind of drowns out all the noise so I can think clearly.
Those distraction techniques work okay most of the time, but the jump rope ain’t working for shit right now.
“I’m dying of suspense here, Mick,” she says, tugging at the roots of her long hair for effect. That fucking hair. It drives me insane. The strands are shades of brown and gold all woven together and pulled up into a loose ponytail. The only thing that’s missing is the bow, though she could probably dig one up if there was some cheer emergency. I know Viv’s not technically a cheerleader anymore, since her season ended with the squad’sfinal competition in January, but like any athlete, she’s got that dog in her. In this case, the dog is a shih-tzu with a hair bow, a diamond-studded collar, and enough attitude to take down an entire hockey team.
Wait. Where was I going with all that? Oh, yeah. The bow. I wonder if she’s got one in her bag? Maybe she could untie it and use it to bind my wrists? Then we could have some real fun instead of attempting to study for this quiz. I’ll just cram right before I take it, like I have every other assessment in my college career. Works like a charm every time.
“Hello? I’m dying of suspense over here,” Viv says, waving her hands. “What’s the other hormone that the adrenal glands release in response to stress?”
“THC,” I blurt.
There’s a long stretch of silence where my dumbass response reverberates around the room.
“THC?! The chemical that’s the active ingredient in marijuana, but is most definitelynota hormone your body produces?Errrrr,” Viv says, imitating the sound of a game show buzzer. “You need to hit the books, Red, or else this test is going to tank your grade. Actually, I should get some work done, too. This stats class is kicking my ass.” She shakes her hips and even though she’s halfway across the room, I swear I can feel the warmth of her body wrapped up in mine.
We messed around this morning before Viv had to hop in the shower and get to class and I had to drag my ass to morning skate, so you’d think I’d be a raging, jump-roping pile of lust, but you’d be wrong. I keep replaying those moments in my head, the way it felt to wake up with Viv in my arms, knowing it wasn’t the end of a really good dream, but the start of a great fucking day. There’s never a time—awake or asleep—that I don’t want Viv, that I don’t need her, that I don’t crave her.
“Mickey.”
I blink and look down to see Viv standing in front of me, five feet of pure sass and attitude, and I fucking love it.
She’s holding her hand out expectantly, but I have no clue why, considering I’ve been standing here daydreaming about the feel of her skin pressed against mine.
“Do you need something?” I ask. “Maybe a snack? I might have a protein bar in my backpack, but it’s probably crushed into tiny pieces by now.”
“I don’t need a pulverized energy bar, but thanks,” she says with a laugh. “But I do need that jump rope. Hand it over.”
“Whoa, you can’t take that,” I say, clutching it to my chest like it’s a teddy bear and I’m a kid going to sleepaway camp for the first time. “It’s my emotional support jump rope. It keeps me focused.”
“Really?” Viv asks, raising an eyebrow and placing her hand on her hip, clearly not believing a word I’m saying. “Because I don't see a notebook or textbook or laptop anywhere near you, and I know you aren’t going over notes in your head based on our little review session. So, this is what we're gonna do?—”
“I like it when you’re bossy,” I tell her, unable to hide the grin that spreads across my face. “You’re like a firecracker. Tiny as hell, but powerful enough to knock me on my ass in the best way possible.”
Viv’s smile matches mine. “I’m about to go all drill sergeant on that very bitable ass of yours, Bran Mikalski.”
“Please do, Viv McDonald,” I say, brushing my thumb across her bottom lip. I’m about two seconds away from picking her up and tossing her on my bed. Or the couch. Or laying her out on the floor. Hell, I’ll happily wrap her legs around my waist so she can cling to me like a damn koala. I settle for bending down and trailing kisses along the column of her neck. Viv melts against me, her hands gripping my shoulders for purchase. Tilting my head, I angle my face so that my lips are brushing against hers. Ihear her intake of breath and I have a feeling our study session is about to be over. Or at least paused.
But just as I lean forward, Viv takes a step back. The frown she’s wearing is fucking adorable. “I know what you’re up to, Mickey, and it’s not going to work. No kissing, at least for now. Kissing me is a reward you haven’t earned yet, Red. I’m setting a timer for thirty minutes. Now, grab your laptop and get to work. In half an hour, we’re going to review again, and if you ace the quiz, then you can kiss me.”
“I can kiss you, huh?” I ask, letting my lips hover just an inch of two from hers.
“Yep,” she says, brushing her lips lightly against mine. “Anywhere I want.”
“Holy fuckballs,” I mutter. “How am I supposed to study now?”
“Easy,” Viv says, sauntering back to the couch. “Now you’ve got motivation.”
Motivation…okay. More like the desire to smack my head off a wall because it will be less painful than waiting a full thirty minutes to get my mouth on the woman who is not my girlfriend, but who’s so much more than a friend.
Viv settles into the couch and cracks open her laptop, so I guess she really was serious about this whole studying thing. Fine, I can play along. Who knows, I might even get an A if I look at the material a few days in advance. I tap a few keys to log in to my own computer, but the screen stays blank. What the hell? I check to see if the charger is plugged in, and that’s when I remember that I lost the charger. Dammit. I bet Leo has one that I can borrow, but now is not the time to ask. It’s not that he’d mind the interruption. He’s pretty chill about me popping over at odd hours to borrow things like neckties and lecture notes. But I’ve been half-hard since Viv was plastered against me and talking about the places I could kiss her next. My mentalcountdown tells me I have twenty-seven minutes left until we can ditch the books and get to the good stuff, so there’s no way I’m walking over to Leo’s room with my dick catching print on my basketball shorts. With my luck, a bunch of our teammates would be there playing video games and they’d want me to join in.
I look in Viv’s direction to see if she’s also counting down the seconds until sexy naked time, but she’s actually working.
