My butt had fallen asleep in the chair at Marshall’s Books. When Wyatt had told me no Lucy’s today, I had been excited to spend it studying for finals. Most of them were Monday through Wednesday of the next week, but advanced placement finals were sooner and my AP Calc one was this Wednesday.
“Need a refill?” I asked. I needed any reason to stand and shake out my limbs. This chair was uncomfortable after so long sitting still.
Wyatt’s hair shifted as he glanced up. “Nah, I’m good.”
“Okay.”
I grabbed my cup and walked over to the boy behind the counter. Sage wasn’t working tonight, and she didn’t want to be trapped here any longer than she was already mandated, so I couldn’t convince her to study with us.
“Can I have a caramel latte?”
The boy nodded and placed my mug on the counter, before preparing the ingredients and then dumping it in. I handed him my debit card, then took my receipt and hot cup of coffee back to the table.
I stood, gingerly sipping it. The heat raced down my throat, warming me from the inside out. It may have been an almost summer day outside, but inside Marshall’s I was freezing.
Wyatt smirked. “Are you going to sit?”
“In a minute. My butt seriously hurts.”
He chuckled. “Have to stretch.”
I made a scrunched face. “I was thinking peruse the shelves for a minute or two.”
“That works too.”
I walked a few steps when I realized he stood too. My brow arched. “Whatcha doing?”
“Following along?” He spread out one arm in front of him, telling me to lead on.
I groaned. “You want to see what I read, don’t you?”
“I must admit, I am curious.”
I laughed. “Well, prepare to be underwhelmed. I’m sure it is exactly what you think I would read.”
“And what do I think you’d read?”
I crossed my right arm over my chest and rested my left arm on top. “Romance.”
“And do you?”
“Of course, but in lots of genres. YA romance, adult romance, fantasy romance. But also epic fantasy, magic, dragons, honestly anything that has a good cover and catches me in the blurb.”
“Then I’m not underwhelmed at all.”
I rolled my eyes but kept moving as I sipped my drink. A few shelves over, there was a table inspired by books popular on social media. I eyed the covers and titles, picking them up only when I was caught by the cover long enough to want more.
Wyatt floated around the shelves, running his hand over the spines, as he circled around me. I felt his gaze on me more than I caught him doing it.
When the feeling in my butt returned and I didn’t feel so stiff anymore, I floated back to our table and stuff, then added the books I saw to my Goodreads TBR. Later I’d buy them when I had finished the stack in my room. But that was for summer and after finals, I had too much to do right now than read endlessly, because once I started, I had a hard time putting books down.
Wyatt joined me momentarily after I sat.
“Have you finished making flashcards for economics?” I asked.
“Somewhat. I don’t usually use them, but for all the vocabulary this class has, I thought it was best to do something.”
“That’s a good strategy.”
He leaned closer. “How’s your studying coming?”
“It feels slow. Everything at once, my brain feels crowded. I’ll be happy when it’s over.”
“Won’t we all.”
“Have you gotten grades on all the papers you turned in?”
“Yep. All A’s.”
I smiled. “Wyatt that’s amazing. Seriously.”
He averted his gaze. “Thanks.”
“I have to ask … how did you get in such a big hole? You turned this around so quickly. I have never had someone I had to tutor do that before.”
He blushed. “It wasn’t much.”
“That’s not true. You wrote those papers. I may have focused you and made a list of tasks, but you did the work. You spent the time. I’m enormously proud of you for that.”
“I guess I just needed a little push.”
“But how didn’t you have that before? Little ol’ me couldn’t have changed you that much. Not in two weeks.”
“You just did. And I’m really grateful, Marley. If I had been going to college, you certainly would have helped push me in a better direction.”
Now my cheeks reddened. Did he mean that? I still didn’t know how someone had shifted so drastically in such a short time period, but if I had really done that, then I was a better tutor than I realized.
He tapped a few flashcards on the table. “There’s something I wanted to say to you.”
“Sure.”
“I haven’t forgotten about the kiss or what you said, but I wanted you to know there’s no judgment from me. For whatever reason you haven’t kissed anyone, that’s only your business. I just wish I hadn’t been so presumptuous. It feels like I stole it.”
“I wouldn’t say stole. Honestly, Wyatt, I’m fine.”
“You’re sure?”
“One hundred percent. A girl could have had worse first kisses.”
The one side of his mouth tugged up, widening his smile. “So, you’re saying it was good then?”
My eyes widened as I was positive my cheeks reddened deeper and deeper. “I’m saying I don’t regret it.”
“Okay.” His gaze lingered, before it ultimately shifted back to the books in front of us.
Which was good for me. I needed to calm my emotions and at least discussing it put it out in the open. Now we could move past it, and I could focus solely on finals.
But the gnawing curiosity of what he thought about the kiss wouldn’t go away, even after I wrote it on my paper then scribbled it out trying to ignore the thought.
I cleared my throat and fidgeted in my chair.
Without glancing up once, he asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Who says there is?”
“You are usually still while studying or have been for a while, but you’re wiggling in that chair more than an earthquake shakes a house.”
“Well, I was just curious.”
At this he did meet my gaze. “About?”
“Um.”
He arched a brow.
“Well, obviously, you have … I mean it wasn’t …”
Wyatt chuckled. “What are you trying to say?”
My cheeks inflamed and I covered my face with my hands. “What did you think of the kiss?” I sharply inhaled hoping his answer was positive, but also not believing I had even asked that question.
When he didn’t respond I snuck a peek.
Wyatt had leaned against the back of his chair and smirked. Clearly, he was enjoying my pain and agony from his silence.
“Well?”
He leaned forward slowly, drawing out the moment. “I’m saying I don’t regret it.”
I stifled my smile as he parroted back my same response. It hadn’t been a no, so at least that was a step in the right direction, but did he really believe that or was he being nice about it?
“Is that so?”
He shrugged then winked at me.
And even though I needed to focus on my finals, the majority of my thoughts were trying to decipher whether he believed that or not.