CHAPTER 16

29K 1K 306
                                    

Aaron



Today is a dark pink lipstick day.

That is the first thing I noticed when I opened my door to a... blonde Ariana Grande staring at me with a cheeky smile on her face. She had an oversized sweatshirt which reached up to her mid-thighs and probably nothing underneath except grey boots and her hair is up in a really high, really tight ponytail. And the lipstick, which is starting to grow on me at an alarming speed.

It is also the only thing I am noticing right now, when she is sprawled over my bed, with her head buried in an applied biology textbook. Not her swishing hair or her practically naked legs; her dark pink lips.

"Do you think autistic people are dexterous?"

Lexie breaks my stance and I stutter, "What?"

"It's a question here, do you think autistic people are skilled with their hands?"

She is surrounded by books, pens, and highlighters at the foot of the bed, "What do you think?"

"I don't know," she admits, chewing a pencil which now has a pink circle around it, "I don't think all autistic patients are the same."

"And?" I prod her on.

"Tiberius Blackthorn was skilled with his hands," she raises an eyebrow and points the pencil at me.

"Only when he had his headphones on," if she thinks I won't be able to answer her book references, she is dead wrong.

"He had Kit at knifepoint."

"He had a rush of adrenaline."

She cocks her head to one side, "I can't believe you actually know about Shadowhunters."

"You know, you think that I am just a stupid jock with nothing inside and only good for hockey and girls, but that is seriously not the case."

"Yeah you're right, you're annoying too," Lexie sticks her tongue out at me and I roll my eyes.

"Shut up and answer the question."

"I already did. Not all autistic people are the same, and neither do they behave in the same way. I don't think any mental illness has people behaving in the exact same way," she scribbles something on the margin of her notebook.

I don't understand how a girl like her cannot understand anything in class. She has the concepts, and the understanding too, and right now, she looks like she knows everything and whatever she doesn't, she is quick to catch on.

"Hey, do you really need this help?" I ask, softly.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," I take a deep breath, "you are smart, Lexie, really fucking smart for a matter of fact. Are you sure you need me teaching you stuff?"

She squints her eyes at me and accusation is laced in her voice, "Are you saying I lied to you?"

"What? No! I am just saying that you are smart enough to understand all these," I point towards her book, "and you do understand everything, so why do you need my help?"

"Honestly, Rainbow boy," I groan at the nickname, "I completely blackout in Professor Black's class, it's just...poof, nothing! Whatever I am answering to you is because of self-study."

"Have you thought about the switching courses?"

"It's not the course," she tugs at her ponytail, "I can understand everything you're saying, and by the time I was ready to switch my teachers, it was already too late."

"What happens after I stop teaching?"

"I will figure something out, sunshine, I always do!" Lexie winks at me playfully but I don't feel it.

I can see that she is as worried as I am and that she is already mentally making a list about what else she can do to make sure that she still passes her class at least. If she asks me to tutor her for the whole semester, I will agree, I don't know why but I will. But I will not be the one to offer it first, she has to ask.

"For the record," I look up and she's smiling at me, "I don't think you're an airhead jock, I know you Richards and I know you have layers."



-------------------------------------------------------------------

if you think i am wrong about the autism part, please feel free to correct me, @cactusxgirl has been a major help in this matter, and your criticism is appreciated too.

sorry for the short chapter, I am really not feeling it. What do you do when you have a writer's block?

All I see ✔️Where stories live. Discover now