The Tutor

(6) Comfort Zone

Comfort Zone . . .

"I thought you said never to touch you," I reminded her as she reached for my hands. Beyond confused, I allowed her to take my hands into hers.

Jennifer tilted her head to the side, causing her wavy, brown hair to cascade down her arm. Stepping towards me, she placed my hands on her waist and looked up at me from under her eyelashes. "Well... I changed my mind." She gave me a shy smile.

I raised an eyebrow at her while pulling her closer to me, not giving her a chance to get second thoughts. "Oh, is that so?"

She nodded and bit down on her bottom lip. Her arms wrapped around my waist and she sighed, resting her head against my chest.

Without hesitation I placed my cheek on the top of her head, breathing in the sweet smell of vanilla coming from her hair. Why does this moment feel so perfect?

"Wyatt," her voice called out, seeming far away.

"Yeah, Jennifer?"

She lifted her head from my chest and held me at arms' length. She looked up at me. "Wyatt," she repeated, this time louder and sounding right beside my ear.

My eyes shot open and snapped towards the source of the voice. My eyes settled on my teacher, Mrs. Deaton, and I quickly realized the entire class was turned staring at me with amused expressions on their faces. I sat back in my seat and stretched my arms out above my head. "Um..."

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Levi scribbling something on his paper. Trying to be discreet, he slid the paper closer to the edge of his desk so that I could see.

I quickly glanced over there and said, "Uh, the crustaceans were in the north and the Greeks were in the south."

Immediately Levi's head fell to the desk and he sighed heavily, while the rest of the class exploded in laughter.

Mrs. Deaton formed her lips into a thin line and glanced at the board behind her. "I didn't major in any science field, so I'm no expert in describing the animal kingdom." She paused and laughed a little. "But I'm pretty sure I know the difference between a crustacean and the Etruscans, who lived in early Rome."

The realization dawned on me and a chuckle escaped from my lips, not caring enough to actually get embarrassed by my mistake. I sighed and looked over at Levi as Mrs. Deaton continued teaching.

"Good looking out," I mumbled to him sarcastically.

"You're the dumbass who said crustaceans," he shot back in a low voice. He grabbed the paper from the desk, crumbling it into his grip. "You tell me if that fucking says 'crustaceans'," he hissed, practically shoving the paper in my face.

I leaned in and squinted my eyes dramatically, planning to fuck with him. "Maybe if your handwriting wasn't so shitty, I could tell the difference."

"Oh yeah, blame it on my handwriting," he told me, balling the paper up. "If you had any sense you would know that this is a fucking history class. What the fuck do crustaceans have to do with history?" He gave me a stupid look.

"You seriously don't wanna start with me about having some 'sense'---"

"Mr. Stevenson," Mrs. Deaton called out, causing Levi and I to turn our attention towards her. "Is my teaching interrupting your conversation?"

I snorted. "Kinda," I mumbled, receiving a bewildered look from Levi.

"Uh, no ma'am," Levi responded quickly. "He had just asked me a question about what you just went over."