Page 32 of Why Not Now?

Derek shakes his head. “You can’t blame your teacher for you not studying.”

Lacey sighs. “I know. I just hate math so much.” She closes her book, tracing her fingers over the cover. “My friend Jess changed the M on the cover of her book to D-E so instead of math, it says death.”

Derek laughs. “I wish I’d thought of that. Have to say, I didn’t like math much in high school either. You know how you keep thinking,when am I ever going to use this shit in the real world?”

“Yeah. Do you?”

“Not really,” he says. “Not most of it. But you still gotta pass your math tests.”

“I wish I could come with you guys. I’d rather be doing pretty much anything than studying.”

I swallow hard at Lacey’s wistful tone. I can’t give in. Making her study is the right thing in this situation.

“Pass your math test and I’ll take you out with us,” Derek says.

“Really?”

I clear my throat and move into the dining room where they’re seated. “No. Not really. We don’t bribe for good behaviour.”

Derek turns to me with that smile that makes me think I’ll do just about anything he says. “I prefer to think of it as positive reinforcement.” He stands and turns back to Lacey with that smile and a wink. “Show me that A, Ace.”

He leads me out the front door.

“You can’t come in here and offer to take my sister out if she gets an A on her math test. That’s not how the world works.”

Derek holds up his hands. “I didn’t say I would take her out if she got an A. I told her to pass the test. I’m taking you out. There’s no reason she can’t come as well if she’s free and has all her studying done. You guys deserve a little more fun in your lives, I think.”

“We have enough fun.”

“Do you?” He opens the passenger door of his car for me, and I glare up at him.

“Yes.” I slide in and he closes the door, then gets into the driver’s seat.

He passes me his phone, unlocked, the music app loaded. “Choose a song. We’ve got enough time for two before we get there.”

I look down at the phone in my hand. If we were going to listen to music when we were together, he’d always let me choose. I’d get to put on whatever I wanted. As a Swifty, that meant Derek had to listen to way more Taylor Swift than he probably liked. He never complained.

“Get where?” I ask, considering a couple songs. “We’re leaving late. Will that be a problem?”

“No problem. And it’s a surprise.”

I scroll through the app, noting the playlist names and a few of the album covers associated with them. “You have a workout and a cool down playlist.”

He shoots me a quick glance. “You don’t have to choose one of my playlists. Put on whatever you want.”

I select a song I know we both like, and it comes on loud enough to rattle the glass.

“Shit. Sorry,” Derek says, turning the volume down.

“Still listening to your music way too loud?”

“Always.” He grins at me before turning back to the road.

I set the phone down and turn to face him. “What’s the difference between workout and cool down?”

“Uh. One is for working out, the other is for cooling down?”

“You’re asking me?” I say with a laugh. “Aren’t these your carefully curated lists? I remember you liked to have a specific soundtrack for almost every situation. Except for when you let me choose the music.”

---