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Now that I was looking at him, I noticed that his hair was wet, a few strands stuck to the back of his neck. He wore normal clothes, a blue shirt, and droplets of water fell onto the collar. “Are you seriously that sweaty?”
“This is what we call a product of ashower,” he responded in a condescending tone. “Heard of it?”
“I wondered what took you so long.”
“I was barely five minutes late. But wow, now that I know you’re a fan of what sweaty football players smell like, I’ll keep that in mind for tomorrow.”
I folded my arms across my chest, counting out the seconds. Now that he’d pointed it out, I could smell the clean sandalwood body wash he’d used. Begrudgingly, I could admit it smelled nice. “Where are we going?”
Connor stepped on the brake as the light before us flicked yellow, causing me to strain against the seatbelt. “There’s a park in Jefferson that has picnic benches. Figured we could go there.”
“Jefferson?” I felt my eyebrows raise. “You’re the star football player and you’re entering rival territory. What if someone sees you?”
“Please, it’ll probably be just us in the park. Us and geese. Besides, if anyone recognizes me, they’ll have no clue who you are. No offense, but you’re not exactly memorable.”
My jaw dropped. “Yeah, because that’ssonot offensive!”
“Well, I mean, you don’t stand out much. At least until you open your mouth.”
“You’re making it worse.” But then again, he wasn’t exactly trying to come to his defense. He was being a jerk and didn’t think twice about it. “Seriously, shut up and drive before I change my mind.”
Connor obliged. He turned up the stereo using a button on the steering wheel, filling the interior of the SUV with The Cars. It was a band Dad liked listening to, the only one he asked me to load his phone up with a few months back. I wouldn’t have guessed anyone our age knew them, and judging by Connor tapping his fingers in time with the beat, he knew them well. It was another weird stab of normalcy from him, and even worse, it was something we could connect on.
Gross.
We coasted into the city of Jefferson with Connor matching the speed limit. “Just What I Needed” morphed into “Moving In Stereo,” and I knew where he was going the second he turned onto Huntington Road. Keystone Park was one of the biggest parks in the county and known for its hiking trails and the large lake at the center. I used to come up here three times a week and walk, admiring the scenery, but I hadn’t been to the park in years. I didn’t have a hiking buddy anymore.
As we turned into the park, my mood simmered into something more sullen.
“We can go in the center,” Connor said as the car bumped along. “Near the water. Prettier view than the parking lot.”
“More secluded, you mean,” I muttered, gripping my bag against my chest tighter. The nylon fabric scratched against my skin. “Whatever. Hurry up and park so we can get started.”
“You’re so demanding, you know that?”
“Says the guy who yelled at me to get into his car,” I threw back with a sharp scoff. “And the guy who dragged me underneath the bleachers so no one would see me.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “And you bit me for it.”
“It’s my charm.”
He turned the wheel around sharply, causing my shoulder to slam against the edge of the door as he swung into a parking space. He unclicked his seatbelt and withdrew the car keys, giving them a shake.
The warm air hit me as the comfort of the AC dissipated, and I rolled up my striped shirtsleeves to my elbows. Hopefully this hour would pass quickly.
There was one picnic by the large man-made lake at the center of the clearing, slight ripples vibrating the water. Geese littered the along the bank, ambling about like they didn’t have a care in the world.
“Chapter one,” Connor said as he dropped his book onto the table. “Gotta say, learning math here beats learning it in a stuffy classroom.”
He wasn’t wrong. Even though the sun was blistering hot, it was a pretty day, especially by the lakeside. Besides the geese, the only other distraction was an elderly woman decked out in a Valore tracksuit, walking her small poodle. From here, I could see that he had on a velvet little shirt of his own. “Let’s get started. I brought some notebook paper we can work through the problems on.”
Connor seemed different now that we were out of the car, and as he peered at the book, the look in his eye seemed to sober up even more. “How many chapters will we do today? You said there’s a lot.”
“We’ll go for an hour and see how you do. We don’t need to hyper focus on every equation, just enough to brush up on the section. Flip open to page twenty-two. We’re going to work our way from there and see if anything jogs your memory.”
Once Connor had the book open, he turned back toward me, waiting for the next direction.
“I have a rule,” I told him, switching into full-on tutoring mode. “When my students get frustrated or need a break, I have them put their palm on the book.”
