“Sure,” she says, taking the final bite of her muffin.
Sure?
Really? It was that easy?
“Really?” I ask.
“Yeah.” She shrugs. “It’ll be nice to have someone to study with.”
I lean back in my chair, nodding. “All right, then. We’re officially study buddies. Put it there, partner,” I say, extending my hand to her across the table.
She lets out a small laugh, her hand fitting in mine once more to give me a firm handshake.
Twelve
Bet
“Have a good weekend, class,” Professor Hobb dismisses us.
“Ready to get this wild Friday night started?” I ask Olivia, slinging on my backpack.
“I don’t know. You think you can handle it?” she teases.
“Try me, Finch.” I smirk.
A blush blossoms on her cheeks. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ve had much wilder nights.”
“That may be true,” I muse. I place my hand on her desk, leaning in to be eye level with her, inches away from her face. “So I guess I’m down for anything,” I say, giving her a wink, my voice low and playful.
Her cheeks turn red and she pulls her gaze away from mine, quickly stuffing the rest of her belongings into her backpack. I can’t help but chuckle, pulling away and leaning back against my desk to give her some space.
“Ready?” I ask as soon as she’s finished packing her things.
She nods, still clearly bashful after my forward flirting.
We walk out of the language arts building and into the late summer heat. Olivia’s dressed in her usual T-shirt and jeans combo. Today her shirt is as yellow as the sun, and I have to admit, yellow looks good on her. The color really complements her hair and eyes.
“What?” I hear her ask, her voice shy, and I realize she’s looking at me.
Damn. She must have caught me staring.
“Yellow’s your color,” I admit honestly, causing her to blush once more. “I know powder blue is your favorite color, but yellow looks really good on you.”
Her brows furrow and she briefly stops in her tracks. “How do you know that’s my favorite color?” she asks, doing that adorable little head tilt thing.
“It’s kind of obvious, Finch. Your backpack, your room, just little things.”
Her head jerks back in surprise, an emotion washing over her face that I can’t quite decipher. After a moment, a smile tugs at her lips and she bows her head to hide it from me, brushing past me to lead us to the library.
We jog up the building’s stairs, and I make sure to grab the door for her. The place is fairly empty, given it’s a Friday and pretty much everyone wants to get the hell out of here after their classes are over. Normally that would be me, but Olivia suggested we have our first study session, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her no. She’s already accommodating me enough, working around my crazy football schedule.
She leads us to a back table, walking confidently, like she’s been here a million times before. I’ve only been here once,maybetwice my whole college career.
She takes a seat across from me and pulls out her books. “Do you want to start with the lab material first or lecture?”
“Lab is fine,” I say, hoping I can remember some of the material from Wednesday so I don’t look like a complete moron.
“Okay,” she says, grabbing her lab manual and flipping the pages to this week’s lesson. “I’ll let you study the figures for a few minutes and then quiz you on them.”
