Page 47 of Icing Hearts

I pinch the bridge of my nose. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but listening to your stomach growl and knowing you’re hungry is…distracting.”

“Distracting. To you?”

I nod.

“Sorry,” she mutters.

“It’s just,” I pause, worried about finishing the sentence. Scaring her off is always a possibility, especially with the tentative nature of this phony “friendship” label and the fact that I want to lay her across the desk and—“I worry.”

“About me?” She looks surprised.

“Yes.”

“In a friendly way?” she teases.

I lean in, tracing the line of my lips with a fingertip. “In a decidedly unfriendly way. Possibly the unfriendliest of ways.”

“Oh.” She looks down at my blocky handwriting on the notebook in her lap. I stare beyond her at the poster of a kitten that says, Hang in there.

“If it makes you feel any better. I bring extra snacks for the guys, too. A bunch of the sophomores are always hungry after the weight room, and they never have anything.”

Clara huffs a laugh, and I know my words have helped. “It does.”

She peels open the wrapper and munches away while reading off my notes.

As I planned, the work I brought takes about forty minutes, and we have ten minutes left to hangout. While we worked, I made her laugh approximately six times and blush twice. Don’t want to overdo it with the innuendos, after all. With my laptop secured and my books put away, I rest my elbow on the gray, wobbly desk and angle my body toward her. Clara does the same, and we smile. Real smiles. I trace the heart someone etched into the desk and begin to ask her if she needs the next book in theShatter Meseries.

“So did—” Unfortunately, Vince walks in, boisterous as ever, and completely foils my attempt.

“Well, if it isn’t my two favorite people,” he bellows, flicking off the light and diving onto the grouping of desks in front of us. He props his head up with his fist and strikes a pose. “Has anyone told the two of you how sexy you are?”

“Not today,” I answer.

Clara just giggles. It annoys me that Vince makes her shy. If I said the exact same thing to her, she would’ve had a snide quip in her back pocket. But with him? She blushes and giggles, and I swear her finger itches to twirl one of her curls.

Makes me sick.

“Hey, Clare Bear, we still on for tomorrow? Coach needs me after practice, but I could scoop you up by six.”

Planning a date right in front of me. No thanks.

“Sounds good,” she tells him.

I stand up and grab my bag, pulling a white envelope from my pocket and putting it on her lap discreetly. She slides it into her own backpack without breaking eye contact from Vince. I decided to pay her for tutoring in cash since I don’t have to hide the fact that I’m paying her.

Between tutoring and managing, she’s making over a hundred dollars a week. It’s not enough, but anything else would raise suspicion.

As I reach the door, Clara calls my name, and I turn to see her holding up my quarter-zip. “Thanks for letting me borrow this.” Then to Vince, as if she needs to explain, “I’m always chilly.”

“Anytime,” I tell her. “So, tutoring on Thursday after practice?”

She smiles and nods. Vince holds out a fist, and I knock mine against his before meandering out the door. Despite my casual pace, I’m itching to be free of them.

Breathe, I remind myself as I walk down the hall to put my books away. When I’m sure they aren’t following behind, I shove the shirt against my face. Soak in every bit of her that I can while chastising myself for being the orchestrator of my own agony.

This too shall pass.

Chapter 28

---