Betting on You

27

t w e n t y   s e v e n

"I'm supposed to be getting better, not worse."

"You are getting better," I sighed through my nose, running a hand through my hair before deciding to whisk it into a high ponytail, "You nearly got perfect on the last exam."

He slouched in his seat, staring at the social science worksheet that lay on the table in front of him, "Well the next exam is right before Thanksgiving weekend."

"So? That's next week."

"And I'm already confused about the new material," he groaned playfully, shaking his head, "I think we should take a break for today."

I hummed, slightly amused, slightly annoyed, "We've only been at this for half the period."

Jared sent me a dazzling smile and my annoyance almost melted away. Almost. Sometimes, in just the right moment, Jared caused me to forget that he was a former crush of mine, and at the way he was staring intensely at me right now, I felt my cheeks begin to warm.

Damn, he's still hot. I couldn't deny myself of that fact. His deep brown eyes were sparkling which mischief and I found myself wanting to get pulled in to them.

Thankfully, I had enough resistance to turn my head away and shake it, my burning cheeks still present, along with my racing heart, "C'mon. We should really finish this before the period ends."

With another reluctant sigh from the soccer player, the two of us continued to try and get our work done. And it was pretty painless, too. Much of the material was on the lighter side so I couldn't understand why Jared still needed me around to tutor him. I knew that he was smart, so it shouldn't have been this hard for him to understand.

Half an hour later and I let us finish early. I had to get a few things from my locker before my next class and I didn't want to be caught in the cluster of students that would soon crowd the halls. As the two of us packed up our things, Jared cleared his throat, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

There was something about his tone that made my heart begin to race for no reason, but externally, I shrugged my shoulders as I continued packing my things, "Sure."

"Well," in my peripheral, he was rubbing the back of his neck, "Wanna go out with me?"

I paused.

What?

I turned my head to look over at Jared, both of us standing from our table, "You're.. you're asking me out?"

There was a hint of a smirk on his lips, but he was disguising it behind a nervous smile, "Yes, I am."

I took my bottom lip between my teeth as I continued to hold his stare, my heart pounding in my ears. If this had been a few weeks ago, I most definitely would've considered saying yes.

But this wasn't a few weeks ago. And a lot has happened since then.

Like him hooking up with Harmony. Not to mention Steph would not be on board at all.

"Aren't you and Harmony...-?"

"No," he rushed quickly, shaking his head as he slung his bag over one shoulder, "No, she was a drunken mistake at a party and she got clingy. We're not anything."