35
“Istill can’t believe it went that well,” Seth said.
It had been days since he’d confessed to his friends, and Seth was still hit with moments of disbelief. We were in the middle of studying for his exam when he’d lowered his e-reader to stare into nothing, his gaze unfocused.
“Of course it went well,” I told him. “They’re your friends and they care about you.”
“It sucks I’m going to miss that audition,” he said. “It would have been fun to show off in front of the judges. But I guess if I can’t be there, there’s no one better than August to fill my place.”
“If you’re going to miss the audition to take your exam, you better make it worth it and get back to studying,” I said. “Have you even finished the books yet?”
“I’m on the last one.”
Seth no longer had to hide his reading from his friends, so he’d been able to power through most of the series relatively quick. The band had turned out to be more supportive than I’d expected, always making sure he used his breaks for reading and not for, as they put it, fucking around.
Seth bemoaned their interest in his studies and complained that he should have kept the whole thing to himself. Still, whenever he talked about Cerise thrusting his e-reader into his hand, or Nathan quizzing him on a plot point — it turned out the guitarist was a fan of the books, too — Seth couldn’t keep the smile from his face.
“There’s a lot of them just running around in the woods in this book, isn’t there?” he continued. “I hope they cut those scenes short for the movie.”
I laughed and snuggled into Seth’s side where we sat next to each other on my sofa. We probably should have taken our study sessions to the library where we were less likely to get distracted, but neither of us wanted to give up the few minutes of alone time we had together.
We’d actually been able to score more quality time than usual recently. Since August was the one practicing for the audition with the band, it let Seth off the hook, for that portion at least, and gave him more study time.
“When you’re done, I’ll quiz you,” I told him. “I found some sample exam questions on the hero’s journey in literature.”
“You really are a great tutor,” he said.
“So I’ve been told,” I said. “The others at the youth center keep saying how well I’m doing.”
“You ever think about continuing to volunteer there for real?” Seth asked. “You’re so great with those kids.”
Seth’s question brought me up short. I sat up from where I’d been curled up on the sofa and planted my feet on the floor.
“Actually…” I began.
I hadn’t planned on mentioning anything, not until I was sure all the paperwork had gone through. I wanted to make sure all the details were squared away before I told anyone. But it was the perfect time to bring it up.
“I’ve made a decision about something,” I told Seth.
His brow furrowed as he sat up straight, too.
“This sounds serious,” he said.
“It’s nothing bad. In fact, I think it’s really good. It might even be the best thing that’s ever happened to me. Aside from you, of course,” I added.
“Good to know I’m still number one in your heart,” he said with a smug tilt of his chin.
“I don’t know, Harry Potter comes pretty close,” I teased.
“I’m more than willing to fight off some pipsqueak boy wizard to win your affections — I don’t care if he wears glasses.” Seth darted forward to plant a kiss on my lips. “Now tell me about this important decision you’ve made.”
I twisted my hands together, wondering where to start, how to explain my reasoning.
“When Everly and I got into that fight over you, she said something interesting,” I began. “She said that I was always the calm one, the steady one. That whenever she was stressed or upset, she would come to me and I’d help make her feel better.”
“You do that for me, too,” he said.
“So I got to thinking. I’ve been helping those kids at the youth center with their schoolwork. Some of the older ones are reaching that age where their English homework starts to get really hard. They’re already learning how to write essays and short stories. One of the kids showed me the A she got after I helped her. Her tiny face was all lit up. I remembered how stressed she’d looked before. Seeing her so happy made me feel happy, too.”
