Page 12 of Of Pranks and Passion

He looked a lot happier when he was done. His energy was up, and he smiled brightly at me, practically bouncing in his seat as he offered me his notebook. “So I drew up some outlines on a few of the topics I chose. If you’d prefer another one, I’m okay with that, but I have some background knowledge on these, so I thought it’d make it easier.”

Pulling the notebook toward me, I frowned. He didn’t just draw up outlines. He was half finished already. That irritatedme. I was capable of doing my own work. I didn’t need him to do it for me.

Sitting back with a scowl, I crossed my arms over my chest. Gary’s smile faltered, and he drew the notebook back towards him, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth.

“If you don’t like the topics, I’m happy to change it.”

“I don’t need you doing my work for me,” I growled. My response surprised him, and he frowned at me.

“O-Oh… I didn’t mean to–”

I slapped my palm over the notebook before he could withdraw it completely. I wasn’t going to let him start over again. He already did the work.

“I’ll do the rest.”

His mouth fell open. “But it’s barely got anything so far. It’s just an outline,” he protested.

“It’s more than that. You’ve done enough.”

Call it pride or competitiveness, but I didn’t like people trying to do my work for me. I never cheated on tests or made someone do my homework. It chafed wrong just thinking about it. Whether he agreed or not, Gary had already done too much, and I would finish the thing off myself. Making him start over so the labor was equal would just make more work for him.

Tucking his hands into his lap, Gary frowned down at the table. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s whatever. Explain to me what your goal was for the assignment. I’ll write it up how you want it.”

Garyand I separated on an awkward note. When I saw him in class again on Wednesday, he was withdrawn and barely spoke to me, and on Friday, it was more of the same. When Icomplained to my friends, they pointed out that I was kind of an asshole about it and suggested I apologize. Which was how I ended up back on campus on a Friday night, when I was generally getting in some downtime before my next fight.

Standing outside Gary’s dorm, I called him, waiting a few rings before he finally answered. There was some noise in the background, like a tv was on, before it went quiet.

“H-Hello?”

My spine straightened. “Why do you sound scared?”

If it was because of me, I’d feel like a dick. I was annoyed, but I wasn’t looking to terrify the guy.

“N-No reason. Did you need something?”

“Where are you?” I demanded.

“My dorm.” Now he sounded confused. It was an improvement from terrified but not much of one.

“Give me five minutes. I’m coming over.”

“Wha–”

I hung up before he could protest, heading for the back door. Technically, only people who lived in the dorm had access to the building, but the lock on the back door near the trashcans was broken, and no one bothered to fix it. I slipped inside without issue and took the elevator to the fifth floor, where Gary’s room was at the end of the hall. He was standing outside his door, wearing a baggy t-shirt and thin argyle pajama pants. I stopped toe to toe with him, giving him an expectant look, and his face flushed bright red.

“My roommate and his friends are watching a horror movie. They asked me to join them, and it felt rude to say no, so…”

So he felt obligated to watch a movie he obviously didn’t like. Well, at least it wasn’t me then. I jerked my chin at his door.

“Want me to sit with you, or do you want to take a walk?”

The surprise on his face was a little funny, because it looked like it was mixed with barely banked hope. Gary was easier toread than most people. I usually struggled to get impressions like that, but Gary’s emotions were written all over his face.

“Uh, I, uh… Walk, please.”

I nodded. “Grab your shoes.”

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