“Because they probably know your load is heavier because of the team. Student athletes have a lot to balance, so there might be plans in place for when you fall behind. Didn’t your advisor tell you any of this?”
He scratched behind his ear. “I, uh, may have missed my appointment with him.”
“And he wouldn’t reschedule it?”
“I don’t know.” He looked properly scolded, even though I hadn’t said what I wanted to say. “He called, but I was busy with something for the team. I assumed he wouldn’t help me. It’snot like Mr. Harlow ever did in high school. So, I…I may have ignored it.”
A groan escaped my mouth before I smothered it. “Blake!”
“I’m sorry, Addie!” Blake’s frown deepened. “I’m sorry, alright? I’m not good at any of this. It’s not what I want to do with my life, so it’s hard to find the motivation. Especially now.”
To his credit, the amount of times Mr. Harlow had called me into his office for something about Adam should’ve been studied. Every time I mentioned concerns about guys like Owen, he brushed them off quickly. He had been the world’s worst guidance counselor.
But this wasn’t high school.
“Excuses and bullshit.” I pointed at him. “You know you need all of this in order to do what you want. You just messed up and fell back on familiar patterns. So what?”
Blake didn’t know that much of my annoyance stemmed from the time he spent flirting instead of studying, but he had the good sense not to defend himself against my accusation.
We both knew it was true.
He’d been making out with a girl at our apartment complex’s pool, seconds from doing God knew what else, just last weekend. That image burned in my brain as he begged me for help.
But, as much as I wanted to make him learn his lesson, we showed up for each other.
I reached up and grasped the pendant on my necklace, fiddling with the small charms. My fingers traced over the one he’d given me as I settled on a compromise. “You still have a chance to fix it.”
“You’re right.” He nodded emphatically. “That’s why I came to you, Addie. I messed up, but…Iwantto fix it.”
With a huff, I leaned back in my chair. “Look. If you email your professorsandtalk to your advisor, I’ll set aside time foryou this week. In the library. So you can’t get distracted. But you have to email them first.”
If he refused to take this seriously, I couldn’t tutor him, and I needed him to prove it.
He threw his arms around my neck. “Thank you. Thank you, Addie! Thank you!”
My breath caught. Electricity zipped up and down my spine, startling me. Butterflies in my stomach took flight so quickly, I had to swallow a squeak of lust before it burst out of me.
I patted him on the back awkwardly, needing to touch him as little as possible. “You’re welcome. Now, get out of here so I can try to get ahead on my stuff. Keep me posted on what your professors tell you,andwhat your advisor says.”
He scrambled to his feet, promises trailing behind him as he left my room.
Once he was out of sight, a smile spread over my face.
I couldn’t stop it. My cheeks hurt from how wide it was, and I had to tell myself to chill out several times before I’d calmed down enough to focus.
Still fiddling with the charm on my necklace, I tucked it back into my shirt. I’d gotten my hopes up enough, and I refused to over analyze the elephant in the room for the thousandth time.
But I couldn’t help the seed of hope sprouting in my chest.
Maybe it hadn’t been the right time, initially.
Living together—without the intervention of my parents—often left Adam and me at each other’s throats. More so than Blake and I had ever been in high school.
Mediating twin sibling arguments did not a steamy romance make.
Of course, he’d continued to see me as a surrogate little sister. But now that we’d settled in, he’d chosen to come to me for help, seeing me as more than a bickering family member.
Maybe tutoring him could give us a chance to connect on a new level.
