Page 36 of Love, Academically
“I can’t very well leave you by yourself, Lila, can I? How would that look?” Rhys retorted, shoving his hands in his pockets, his breath pluming out in the cold air.
Oh. That’s right.
It was all about how he presented himself, not that he actually wanted to walk with her. Graceless wasn’t the word. Possibly maladroit, bungling, oblivious or downright rude.
“Hmm.”
Rhys visibly forced himself to slow down to wait for her on her stupid crutches. Her bag fell off her shoulder down to her elbow and Rhys hoisted it back up for her. He brushed her hair carefully over her shoulder, his cold fingers flitting over the skin of her collarbone, so the strap of the bag didn’t rest on it, a crease of concentration between his dark eyebrows. She swallowed.
Should she explain to him that most people didn’t like being treated as a chore, or that his what other people thought was more important that being a decent human being. Or was his precious reputation going to be tarnished by her glitter if he wasseen with her? How on God’s green earth was he going to have her as his fake girlfriend, if he couldn’t bear to be seen with her? Perhaps that was it. He’d changed his mind and was being extra hurtful so she would cry off. Well, that’s not how she worked. She’d made a deal and she intended to hold up her end of the bargain.
Lila pulled her eyes away from the stubble across his jaw.
“I’ve done it again, haven’t I?” He sighed. “I don’t do well with people.”
“That’s not true. You just need to think before you open your big fat mouth.”
Wisely, Rhys did not open his big fat mouth again until they got out of the lift on the second floor of the building that housed the History, Classics and Anthropology departments. The lift journey was too long, it was all too close and Rhys smelled vaguely of her house, her washing powder, her bedding. Of her. And Lila didn’t hate it. Not one bit.
“Okay, see you later then,” he said awkwardly. He was a greyhound, desperate to get away from her.
Lila swallowed hard and gave him a smile.
“Go to your office, Rhys. It’s fine.”
With a brisk nod, Rhys was gone and she shuffled to her own office. Plonking herself in her wheelie chair and resting her foot on a pile of folders, she started work for the day and tried not to think of the soft touch of Rhys’s fingers across her collarbone.
Lunch was a meal deal from the cafe downstairs brought by Sue, who was more interested in a potential claim against the University than the fact that she was hurt.
“I think we’ll need to do a risk assessment,” she said.
“For leaves? Sue, it was my own fault.”
Sue shifted on her feet. “And you’re comfortable with Rhys?”
“Yes, it’s fine, Sue,” she said. “We’re friends.”
Or, at least she thought they were something like friends. Especially after how she had woken up practically pinned to the bed by Rhys’s strong arm pulling her close to him. She definitely did not stroke his hair and let him sleep until he started to stir, because he must have been shattered. Besides, she had been snuggly warm with an extra person’s body heat. A flush crept up her neck, because that practically naked person had been Rhys Aubrey pressed against her and she had felt everything. Everything.
“Okay. Make sure you get TurnitIn sorted for the end of semester undergraduate essay submissions. Oh, and I’m going to need you to produce a PowerPoint for my meeting with the Vice Chair on Friday.” Sue heaved herself off her desk, snagged a couple of cookies and trudged back to her office and her Solitaire game.
Lila checked the WhatsApp group chat.
Resigned, she clicked online and ordered a taxi to take her home. There was Amanda in Admissions, but she didn’t know her well enough to ask for that kind of favour.
The only other person was Rhys, but she couldn’t ask him. He’d already done so much for her, and besides, it seemed like he needed a break from ‘people’. And by ‘people’, he meant her, because he hadn’t been with anyone else. He’d practically sprinted down the corridor to his office, couldn’t wait to be away from her. Okay, he could have some leeway because he’d looked after her. He was full of contradictions; desperate to get away from her, but insisting that he stay. Huffing and puffing about missing work and having to wait in the hospital, but then staying on her sofa all night and literally curling up with her in bed.
Oh Rhys, if a girl wasn’t careful, she would get sucked into that world of dichotomies. Good job she was careful. But best to keep it business-like, professional, efficient. By email.
Lila span her wheelie office chair around and stared out the window at the lake. She’d missed her sanity break looking overits stillness (and her favourite red-leaved trees) because it was too dangerous with her crutches. Besides, it would probably take her half an hour to get to her bench and then she’d have to turn around and come back to the office. Positive thinking. She’d be having lunch out there again sooner rather than later.
Without Rhys Aubrey.
Chapter 6
Tsundere
