Authors: Karen Pokras
“Oh, that makes more sense,” Ava said, trying to hold in a giggle.
“More sense than what?” Thomas asked.
Ava realized too late that she probably shouldn’t say, but the alcohol was already starting to loosen her up. “Well, when I was first telling Carly about your exhibit, we thought you both flew the plane and took the photos at the same time. I pictured you hanging out the window with one hand on the controls and the other on the camera.”
“Ah, I was a daredevil, eh? Well that sounds much sexier than vomiting into an airsick bag at 10,000 feet in between photos now doesn’t it? I won’t tell if you don’t. Deal?” Thomas lifted up his glass.
“Deal,” Ava agreed, meeting his glass with a clink midair.
Chapter 7
As expected, the library was packed. After all, it was the weekend before final exams started. Luckily, most of Ava’s classes were ones in which she had to hand in art projects. Those she had under control, leaving only Statistics left to worry about. Statistics. Just the word made her entire body break out in a cold sweat. It was an evil word for a useless class. It’s not like she would ever need it again. There was only one equation she needed to solve: The probability that she would pass the class … hopefully it was 65% or better.
She had forgotten to ask Suzanne where exactly to meet in the library. It wasn’t like she was familiar with the building. Studying and Ava didn’t actually go hand in hand. She spent most of her time either in the one of the art studios or at the Main Street Gallery. She had high hopes Cynthia would offer her a full-time position once she graduated … if she graduated.
Damn Statistics.
Bauer Hall, the official name of the library, was an exquisite building, as were most of the buildings on Wolfenson’s quaint campus. The exterior was made of the granite and limestone found in the local quarries back in the late 1800s. The interior was five floors comprised of a maze of passageways. Private study rooms were set between stacks of books, tables, and cubicles. All of the floors were joined together by an elaborate and winding center staircase, topped by an extravagant chandelier that covered nearly the entire opening. To someone not familiar with the layout, the building proved to be quite overwhelming.
Ava’s phone vibrated between her fingers. Maybe it was Suzanne finally answering one of her texts about where to meet.
Ava, would love to finish our conversation. Dinner tonight? – Thomas
She couldn’t help but wonder how he got her number. She had left the bar last night shortly after they finished their drinks, claiming she had booked early morning studio time. It wasn’t a lie, but early morning studio time had never kept her from staying out late before. The truth was she was worried about what might happen with Thomas after another drink or two. Had it been anyone other than one of Cynthia’s high profile clients, she would have stayed. Well, not anyone else. Not that arrogant guy from art class. Carly, who was still at the bar flirting with the same boy when Ava left, must have given him her number.
Great.
She ignored the text. Right now, she needed to get to her tutoring session. She walked through each floor, searching for Suzanne’s perfectly coiffed blonde hair. Finally, she spotted her sitting at a third floor table.
“You’re late,” Suzanne said, barely looking up from her pile of books.
“You didn’t tell me where to meet you,” Ava replied, trying her best to sound more on the side of apologetic and less on the side of annoyed. “I was here at one o’clock, but it took me ten minutes to find you. This is a big place, you know?” She looked around. “I thought you said someone else was coming.”
“He’ll be here any minute. I figured you’d be late, so I told him to come at one-fifteen,” Suzanne said smugly.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Ava acknowledged, pulling out a chair to sit down. Removing her Statistics book from her backpack, she opened to the page where they left off the other day.
“I was right, wasn’t I? Here he comes … early, too. Maybe you can learn something from him.”
“Well, you probably told him where to meet—” Ava sunk into her seat mid-sentence, wishing she could sink right into the floor. It was …
him.
“Hello Max,” Suzanne said. “This is the other student I told you about. Ava Haines, meet Max Wallis.”
So it was Max, not Mark or Matt. She knew it started with an M. He looked Ava straight in the eyes, and she couldn’t immediately tell from his expression if he recognized her or not. Maybe he wouldn’t remember her. “Nice to meet you,” she said, deciding to go the ‘I have no idea who you are’ route.
“Actually, we’ve met before, but I guess you don’t recognize me with my clothes on,” Max replied, smiling as he took a seat across from her.
Shit.
“Great … one of your
friends
,
Ava?” Suzanne asked with a sigh.
“What? No! I mean, we don’t actually
know
each other,” Ava insisted.
“Whatever. What you do on your own time is your own business,” Suzanne mocked. She leaned in close to Ava, and with a loud whisper added, “But you should at least get their names.”
“Ugh! No! Not like that. Ew! He was just one of the nude models for my art class. Nothing special or anything. I mean, he was fine ... I mean, he was okay ... I mean ... can we talk about statistics please?”
Ava glanced down at her book and put her hand over her eyebrows like a visor to block out their stares, yet she could feel both Suzanne’s and Max’s eyes on her. Over two thousand students at this college … two-freaking-thousand students. What were the odds that
he
would be the one to show up for her joint tutoring session? Of course, if she were paying attention to what Suzanne was saying right now instead of freaking out, she might be able to answer that question. She needed air. She needed to call Holly. She needed to find an excuse to leave—now—but she couldn’t. She needed Suzanne. She needed to pass Statistics. She needed to
breathe.
“Actually, now that I think about it, I think it’s a great idea. What do you think, Ava?” Suzanne asked.
Ava looked up.
Crap.
She knew she had to agree. If she didn’t, she’d be out a tutor right before finals, and that wasn’t an option. “Um, sure. Sounds good to me,” she replied.
Max smiled.
Double crap.
“Perfect. I really think this is exactly what you need, Ava. It will be a win-win for all of us. I’ll make the arrangements.”
Chapter 8
“Quit staring at me, will you? I’m trying to figure out these problems.” Ava glanced up from her paper, meeting Max’s eyes. She quickly looked back down.
Just ignore him, Ava.
Suzanne’s
plan
apparently had been to reserve one of the private study rooms in the library for just Ava and Max, to allow them to work through their assigned statistics problems
alone
before meeting back with them at four o’clock that afternoon. Ava wished she had been paying closer attention. She never would have agreed to being cooped up in a room with this guy. Wasn’t she paying
Suzanne
to tutor her? How was she supposed to learn anything on her own? Okay, so she wasn’t on her own, but she was paying to be with Suzanne, not to be with this guy. Now he was sitting across the table from her … staring.
“I’m not staring,” Max responded, “I’m watching. There’s a difference. You do realize you’ve been looking at your paper for ten minutes, and you haven’t written one thing down. Do you want me to help you?”
“No, I don’t need your help!”
“Sorry, I’m just trying to be nice. I’m pretty good with some of this,” Max offered again.
“Doubt it. Anyway, last I checked you hired a tutor also for this stuff.”
“Wow. You’re strung a little tight, eh?” Max replied.
“Excuse me?” Ava looked up at Max. She couldn’t help but be on edge. Besides the fact that she was stuck here with
him,
she really needed to actually learn something this time. And why did he always have that grin on his face? That
damn sexy grin
.
“You just seem a bit stressed out, that’s all,” Max said, seeming to carefully re-word his statement.
Ava pushed her chair back with a thud and began to pace the floor of the study room. “I’m not stressed.” Okay, she was, but she wasn’t about to let him know that.
“To be honest, you’re kind of distracting me from my own work,” he continued.
“I’m distracting you,” she repeated with a hostile tone.
“Yeah,” he said, starting to sound annoyed. “Ever since you got here, you’ve been sighing, tapping, mumbling to yourself, and making all kinds of disrupting sounds. I mean, look at you now … you can’t stop pacing, and your phone keeps buzzing from texts or something. Someone is apparently desperate to get in touch with you.”
Ava picked up her phone; there were six texts. One each from Holly and Tessa, checking in—Holly to make sure she was feeling better, and Tessa to ask for advice about her latest crush. One from Carly, asking how it went last night and warning her that she gave Thomas her number. And three additional texts from Thomas—one with a couple of questions about the exhibit, one asking her what type of food she liked in the event the she did accept his dinner invitation, and one wondering if he actually had the right number—since he hadn’t had any texts back—and apologizing to whomever he was texting in case it was indeed a wrong number. With the afternoon she was having, maybe going out with Thomas tonight wasn’t such a bad idea. After all, he did have questions about the exhibit. It was only dinner.
“In fact,” Max continued, “I never would have agreed to share my tutoring sessions with you if I knew what a pain you were going to be.”
“A pain?” Ava asked, putting her phone down. “Me? I’ll tell you what’s a pain. This class. It’s stupid. What do I even need it for?” Ava stopped pacing and walked over to Max, who was now standing as well.
“From what Suzanne tells me, you’re trying to avoid round four in order to graduate,” Max stated, smirking.
Ouch. Whatever.
Ava couldn’t remember the last time she met someone so rude and arrogant ... and hot.
Why did he have to be so hot
? She tried to think of something witty to say, when he began to speak again.
“So what’s your major anyway? Art students don’t need Statistics, do they?” he asked.
“I’m a dual art and business major,” Ava replied, hands on her hips.
“Pretty, talented, and smart … I like that.”
“Wow, you’re smooth. Is that how you work? First you insult a girl, then you compliment her?” Ava wondered why guys always thought that line would cause a girl to melt. If anything, his eyes and lips would cause her to melt. She tried to shake off the thought. “So what’s your story? Playgirl Magazine requiring a minimum GPA these days?”
“Funny ... I forgot to add funny to my list. Actually, I’m trying to make some extra money so I can go to flight school after graduation. I want to be an airline pilot.”
“What is it with me and guys with airplanes?” Ava mumbled with a half laugh.
“Oh yeah? You’ve got a thing for that?” Max asked.
“Actually, no.”
“Too bad. Anyway, I’m a business major also. My parents said I needed a backup plan. I’m surprised we haven’t had any other classes together.”
“I don’t know, maybe we have, and I just didn’t notice. I don’t really pay attention in my business classes. They bore me,” Ava stated.
“That would explain why you’re about to fail Statistics for the third time. Usually when I’m bored in class, I start paying more attention to the people around me. I’m sure I would have remembered you. Then again,
I
tend to pay attention to the subject matter in my classes.”
Ava rolled her eyes.
Apparently not or he wouldn’t need tutoring.
“So far I haven’t run across anyone worth noticing,” she remarked.
“Well, I couldn’t help but notice you noticing me in art class.” Max moved closer to Ava; a little too close. In return, she backed up slightly … but only slightly.
“That’s because I had to draw you, remember? If I didn’t look at you, I wouldn’t be able to complete the assignment,” Ava explained.
“I believe the term the teacher used was
gawking,
” Max reminded her.
“Are you always this
charming?”
Ava asked, eyes squinting. She could feel his warm breath getting closer as her heart began to race.
“Are you always this
sarcastic
?” Max retorted.
Max didn’t wait for an answer as he pushed her body against the wall, finding her waiting lips.
Chapter 9
“Are you kidding me?” Suzanne stood in the doorway of the study room, arms crossed, the sound of her voice startling Ava and Max mid-kiss.
“Suzanne!” Ava took a step to the side and wiped the corners of her mouth.
“I thought I’d pop in a little early,” she replied. She reached down and picked up the blank pieces of paper, waving them slowly in the air before replacing them back down on the table. She looked back over to Ava and Max, now standing about three feet apart from each other in front of the far wall. “I felt kind of bad leaving you two alone like that since you were paying me and all. I thought maybe you might need some help. But, I can see you two really don’t need my help at all. In fact, I was right about you all along, Ava. You’re a lost cause, with a one track mind, apparently.”
“No, Suzanne, I’m not like that. It’s not what you think!” Ava felt the tears begin to well in her eyes.
“I think,” Suzanne began, “that I’m wasting my time with both of you. I could be studying for my own exams right now. I don’t need this crap.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the money Ava and Max paid her earlier. “Here you go. A full refund for today’s session. I’d keep it, but it would just make me feel … dirty.” She shuddered and placed the money on the table before heading to the door. Just before she stepped into the main room of the library, she turned and said, “I’d tell you it’s been a pleasure, but it really hasn’t. See you two ...
never
.”