I fold the paper and push it away, then take a breath. “Yes, she’s a student.”
His eyes nearly double in size. “Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not freaking out?”
“Who said that? I’ve been freaking out since she walked into my class.”
Royce jumps off the stool. “What?” He runs his hands through his hair, looking more shocked than me when I found out. “She’s in your class? Your fucking class?”
I can’t help but chuckle at his theatrics. “Yeah, she is.”
“Oh my fucking God, I can’t believe it.”
“Yeah, well.”
“I need so many details right now. Oh man, I’m glad I came over early. Can we call Cill? Please? We need to talk about this.”
I shrug, might as well get this over with all at once. “Fine. Call him.”
It only takes Cill fifteen minutes to get here, and once he is, we all sit in the den with a drink in hand, and I start talking.
I tell them how things ended between Nova and I that night we slept together. Meaning, no personal info exchanged, no plans to meet up again—just a simple one-night stand. Then I go over how it felt to watch her walk into my class on Monday morning. I talk about the flirting, the tutoring, the kiss in my office, and briefly gloss over the incident in my car without giving too many details. I just tell them the things we talked about without mentioning what she was doing.
Their eyes stay wide the whole time. I can’t remember a time they’ve been this quiet. Especially together.
“So, that’s about it,” I say.
“That’s just the beginning! What?” Cill exclaims, looking at Royce. “You gotta tell us your plan. Like, what happens now?”
I take a sip of my drink and shake my head. “I don’t know. She’s still a student.”
“But you like her, right? And she’s into you?”
“We’d have to be secretive. No dates, no being out in public. It’s not ideal.”
Cill scoffs. “It would still be more than what you’ve had these past several years. Tell her to come here. Nobody from the school is watching your house. Go out of town. We live within driving distance of a lot of different cities and towns.”
“You could go to the lake house,” Royce offers, then looks to Cill. “You could ask Midge when it’s free, right?” Royce looks back at me. “You could take her up there.”
“I don’t know.”
They both make discouraged noises, and Cill says, “I think you should give it a shot. Fuck the rules. Try it out.”
“I agree,” Royce chimes in with a nod. “It’s not like we’re gonna be telling anybody. You’re our brother, and we only want the best for you. We’re not about to get you in trouble, but I think you should just see what happens.”
I’m saved by the doorbell ringing, announcing the arrival of Midge and London. “Y’all get the door, I’ll check the food. We’ll talk about this later.”
24
After my night with Elijah on Friday, I feel like the rest of the weekend drags on far too long. I went out with Ayanna on Saturday after running some errands, and we ran into Lorenzo, who doesn’t appear to be holding any grudges for how I left on Friday. If only they knew what really happened. A shiver runs up my spine just thinking about it.
I spent Sunday on the phone with my sister while I did some cleaning and hung up a few pictures I bought on Saturday. The walls are still mostly bare and the apartment feels very temporary, but I’ll slowly give it some TLC and make it homey.
I brace myself for Elijah’s cold shoulder when I walk into his class a few minutes early, because I’m sure he’s about to lecture me on what we can and cannot do. But I’m still holding on to a little bit of hope.
When I enter the room, he has his back to me, hunched over the side of his desk. I let my eyes peruse his body, enjoying the view, but as soon as he hears my steps, he looks over his shoulder.
“Morning,” I greet.
Standing up straight and turning to watch me walk in, he offers me the smallest smile. “Good morning, Nova.”
I get to my desk and sit down, then rest my face in my palm as I continue to watch him. “How was your weekend?”
Elijah walks to the front of his desk and leans against the front of it, crossing one foot over the other. “It was quite eventful, actually. Yours?”
“Same.”
We continue to stare at each other, stuck in a game of who’s going to turn away first. The fact that he’s holding eye contact with me is a good sign.
“Do you think we should talk about Friday night?” he asks.
Here we go.
“Only if you have something positive to say.”
He smirks and my heart skips a beat. “I’m not free to tutor you this week,” he says, making my head spin with the rapid change of direction.
“Oh. Okay.”
He turns away from me and walks to the board. “I’m only available on Saturday.” I keep my lips together, unsure about where this is going. He barely glances over his shoulder when he says, “You can come to my house. Seven o’clock?”
Heat spreads through my veins as my heart bangs against my ribs. I try to say, “Y-yeah, “ but my voice is barely a whisper, and I find that I’m only nodding. He’s robbed me of my ability to speak.
Elijah spins around to get a good look at me, his right eyebrow going up in question. “Okay, yes,” I finally say. “I’ll be there.”
He grins then turns around just as students march in.
At the end of class, we have a few minutes of free time before we’re able to leave, and Lorenzo reaches over and taps me on my arm as
