Page 18 of Study Buddies

She smiled, stretching lazily as if reluctant to let the moment end. Then she looked up at me. “You guys are really good at this. You should open a massage parlor.”

Don’t make a joke about happy endings, I told myself firmly. And for once, my mouth listened to my brain. “Glad you liked it,” I said.

Tori gave a sad little smile at my use of the past tense, and I could’ve kicked myself. She sat up, and I steadied her, brushing stray strands away from her face. It took a lot of effort to stop stroking her hair—who knew when or if I’d get to again.

Lucas squeezed her feet and then let go. Tori hugged her knees to her chest, but it was clear that her muscles were loose and relaxed. “Next time we have a study break—a stress relief break, that is—it’s my turn to give you guys a massage.” A smile played across her lips. “Probably best we do that here, not in the library basement, though.”

“Looking forward to next time,” I said softly. And from the look on Lucas’s face, he was too.

9

TORI

What wouldyou do if I sent you a dick pic?

I glanced at my phone screen, turned red, and then glared at Kyle, who was sitting across the table from me. We were in the quiet room at the union, and there were two girls sitting next to me, and a guy on his left side.

Our second session was going great.

Please don’t, I sent back. The beginning of our session, when I’d gone over the scope of the assignment with him, hadn’t gone well either. He seemed incapable of settling down and paying attention. So then I thought of my study group. Yeah, I wouldn’t be meeting them until later, but I thought that perhaps being around other students who were actually focused might inspire Kyle, so I found us a space inside the student union.

My phone buzzed again.

Why not? You might enjoy it.

Clearly, this wasn’t the way to get him to behave. But I sure didn’t know what was.

We’re here to work.

You’re here to work. I’m here because coach told me to be.

For a moment, I wondered if tearing my hair out was a reasonable response. I might have, if I hadn’t recalled how damn good Jayden’s hands in my hair had felt the night before. And damn, Lucas could give a mean foot rub. Who knew they had those talents?

But it was Kyle I needed to focus on, and his talents seemed to be goofing off and playing sports. Then I glanced back over his text about his coach.If I blew a whistle and yelled at you, would you listen to me?

I caught his grin as he typed a response.

That’s football, not baseball.

Just work on your outline for twenty more minutes. Then we’ll call it a day, okay?

Fine.I could almost hear his grumpy voice saying it.But since you’re done with your outline, I’ll send you a little something to keep you occupied.

Uh-oh. Surely he didn’t mean he was actually going to send a— My phone vibrated, and I panicked, slamming it screen-side down on the table.

Several people looked over at the noise, irritation on their faces.

“Sorry,” I murmured. When I dared look over at Kyle, he had his index finger over his lips, sternly shushing me, but there was a glint of amusement in his eyes.

He couldn’t have sent me a dick pic, had he? Not in the middle of all these people.

I turned my attention back to my textbook—for all of about fifteen seconds. The back of my phone case seemed to be calling to me. Telling me to take a quick glance.

And I could feel Kyle’s gaze on me, too, burning a hole into my skull. Finally, I looked up.

“I dare you,” he mouthed.

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. We weren’t in grade school. Dares didn’t mean anything anymore. But part of me really wanted to wipe that smug expression off his face. Maybe Ishouldlook, and then I could text him something cutting. Like, maybe, do you have something in a bigger size? That would take him down a peg or two.

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