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I hated him, hated how gorgeous he was, and how much I longed to kiss him again as much as I wanted to smack him across the face. He watched me through hooded eyes, a mischievous sparkle in those golden-brown irises.
“Ok. Before this little back and forth goes any further and before we jump into prep for the day. I wanted to let you know I don’t find you as completely lacking as I originally thought I would,” he said. And once again, the backhanded compliments seemed to be his specialty.
“I think you can officially become the official T.A. of your very own biochemistry class. You are off probation. Congratulations on teaching this batch of dumbasses for this semester. I can spend more time in the lab, you can spend more time on your own.”
My anger seemed slow from a boil to a simmer at those words. My eyes widened, and my heart began to slam against my ribs. I got the job. I wasn’t going to get passed around or have to wait again.
“Really?” I asked, my voice coming out breathy and incredulous.
He smiled, a true soft expression this time, “Really.”
Chapter 9
Aldric
Ourargumentshadnotabated; the more we interacted, the more they seemed to grow.
I couldn’t take full responsibility for them, but I also couldn’t say I was trying to stop them. I could say Roseline worked better when she was angry, when I was stressed, and when the research wasn’t going well; all of this was true.
But it was also true that I adored her spark and loved hearing the sass in her voice. Nonetheless, I found myself staring at her and learning far more about Roseline than I needed to.
I discovered she liked peanut butter granola bars, meal-prepped frequently, and was obsessively organized. And if I messed up what she had painstakingly planned, this was the quickest way to start a fight.
She was quick to argue with me but equally quick to laugh with anyone else. I think I liked her smile as much as I liked her glare. It wasn’t fair to have her so distracting and entirely off limits, right in front of me, surrounded by a barrier keeping her out of my reach.
She screamed the word forbidden as she sat across from me that night, her curly hair tucked into a loose bun with spools tumbling out to frame her face. Her eyes flicked over the essay in front of her.
We had recently handed out the first big test for the semester, and while she graded the written work, I graded the multiple choice. Roseline had done an excellent job creating this test, and I was oddly proud even though I hadn’t done much to help her.
Honestly, she had come to me already prepared to teach. She was one of the most advanced bio-chem teaching assistants I had ever met.
“How would you grade this part? I think it changes a lot of what they are trying to say, but it’s almost as if they correct that in the next sentence and compensate for it".
Her voice sliced through the near silence in the office, and I almost jumped, hoping she didn’t notice me staring.
I needed to get my shit together. I grabbed the paper from her and read over the part she’d marked lightly with a pencil.
“I would take off some points but not the usual amount,” I said slowly, seeing her confusion right away.
“What the hell was this kid doing? Why didn’t they take out that sentence?”
“Like you keep saying, they’re a group of dumbasses,” she fought back a smile.
“We all are until a certain age,” I murmured. “Some of us never grow out of it.” “Hm?
Are you talking about yourself?” she asked, and I winced; I didn’t realize I had spoken loud enough for her to hear.
“Of course not,” I snorted when I sometimes still felt like I was clambering to find a handhold on the ladder of the world.
She looked at me, resting her hands before she finally perked up and said, “Oh! I have something for you.”
I raised a brow, this from the woman who seemed to hate my guts. I couldn’t imagine it was anything good. Yet, she pulled out a small fruit cup, one of the ones I’d seen in her bag, and a plastic spoon.“I suppose I should thank you. It is, however, a little lackluster. For y’know, giving me a chance,” her smile was shy, and the atmosphere between us that night was different.
The vibe between us was soft and warm compared to the usual crackling sparks waiting for gasoline. She looked at me with glittering eyes as she pushed the fruit toward me, and I reached out to take it, my fingers brushing hers.
Her soft skin reminded me just how much of a woman she was.
She was so beautiful.
