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Cue dramatic sigh. “We’ve been together almost a year.”
Connor’s reaction was the exact opposite of what I expected. Instead of nodding affably, like a polite person, he made anoofface. Scrunched eyebrows, crinkled nose, avoided eye contact.
“What?”
“You haven’t even been together for a year and he’s already treating you like that?”
It felt like I was moments away from snapping at him again. “Like what?”
“Like you’re his annoying little sister.” Connor leaned back against the bookshelf, expression like a doctor’s who’d given a patient a grim diagnosis. “That’s rough, Macy.”
“He doesnottreat me like I’m annoying!” I shouted, risking the wrath of Mrs. Juniper. “Or like a little sister. And it’sMaisie.”
“Hey, the spark between you two faded, that’s all. If you’re that into Alex, you need to amp it up.”
Okay, it was a little eerie that I’d had that same thought a few nights ago—that Alex’s and I’s spark had dulled. Hearing it come out of Connor’s mouth now, though, made me want to punch something. “Yeah, because that’s the easiest thing in the world.”
I wasn’t sure what it was about my words, but something triggered the bright smile that spread across Connor’s mouth. It displayed a set of teeth that were sparkling white, but slightly crooked. The blip of normalcy felt more out of place than his presence in the library to begin with.
After he started to rub his hand across his mouth, remaining silent, I squirmed under his stare. “Why are you smiling?”
“Love advice.”
“Excuse me?”
“In exchange for tutoring me, I can give you love advice.”
He’d spoken clearly, but surely I heard him wrong. Connor’s amusement didn’t fade, though, and neither did the feeling churning in my stomach. “Love advice?” The laugh I barked out was obnoxiously loud and filled with nervous tension. “From you? Yeah, no thanks.”
“It’s fitting. Tutoring the tutor. I like it.”
Fitting?No, it wasn’t. Love advice from Connor Bray? I mean, yeah, he had an on-again, off-again girlfriend, but it wasJade. ThatHeatherswannabe wasn’t the girl next door. Not exactly the epitome of a healthy relationship there. If I wanted love advice, he’d be the last person I’d go to.
But then a new thought trickled in, an insidious whisper that took the voice of the person who should’ve been the most accepting.Do you ever just feel like we’re different?
When it came to Alex, it felt like I was clinging tightly to a rope tugging out of my grip. The friction burned my palms, but I couldn’t let go. The newness of our budding romance wore off like dew evaporating in the morning sun, fizzling out to a content time together. And ithadbeen content.
Do you ever just feel like we’re different?
“We shouldn’t meet here tomorrow,” Connor said, dragging me from my thoughts. “If Mrs. Juniper heard us, someone else could’ve too. We should find a place more private.”
“Okay, whatever.” His desire to keep this a secret irked me, but then again, did I want anyone to know I was hanging around him? Ava and Rachel would probably give me a list of questions to ask him if they found out, ranging from his favorite shampoo to what color underwear he wore. “Any ideas where?”
“Your house?”
“My hou—no. I live next door to Madison Oliphant.”
My excuse only slowed him down for a fraction of a second. “Meet me at the corner of Main Street and College Avenue at 4:30. Practice should be over by then.”
The intersection he mentioned was the one a few blocks down from the school, the very public corner near the heart of Brentwood. “Meet you there?”
“Yeah, wait for me there. And don’t worry,” he added, tucking his textbook under his arm and walking backward toward the end of the bookshelves. His eyes glinted with amusement and mischief. “I’ll make my own curriculum tonight. Your lessons in love start tomorrow.”
“I don’t need—” I began, but cut myself off when he disappeared around the corner, slamming the door shut on that conversation.
I sat motionless amongst the omnibuses and dust bunnies, trying to process the whirlwind of the last twenty minutes. Connor’s practice test was on the floor beside me, his terrible handwriting the only indicator that hehadswept into the library late, that hehadtaken the test—and bombed it—and that hehadoffered me love advice.Love advice. Because he took one split-second interaction with Alex and thought, “hmm, these two need a love doctor.”
The guy failed math—no way he was smart enough to have a PhD in romance.
