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“It was a lot of fun, actually. The girls may have been a bad influence and helped me go a little overboard, but I promise I’ll pay you back—eventually.”
I reach over and hold her chin between my thumb and pointer fingers.
“You’ll do no such thing. Let me do this for you, gorgeous. Please,” I beg.
Aubrey sighs and I feel her warm breath on my fingers. Without thinking about it much, I pull at her bottom lip gently with my thumb. I can feel Aubrey’s body go rigid and a faint gasp escapes her. I stare into her eyes that are wider than I’ve ever seen and slowly run my thumb across the soft skin of her bottom lip until I’m interrupted by my phone beeping loudly in my pocket.
I pull it out with a loud groan, only for it to be a text from Jesse. It’s a picture of a cat dressed in a tuxedo. I put my phone on silent and shove it back in my pocket.
“I totally forgot to stop and buy a charger for my phone,” Aubrey says.
I gently move her legs off mine and grab a bag from the coffee table.
“Actually, I picked one up for you. Which was not easy, mind you. I had to go to three different stores to even find this one,” I say, pulling a charging cord out of the bag and handing it to her.
“Emmett, thank you.”
“But–I also got you this,” I say, handing her a phone from this century.
Aubrey hesitantly takes the phone from me and turns it over a few times in her hands.
“I figured, this way, you had the choice to not ever turn your other phone back on. That is, if you don’t want to. You can start fresh with this new phone. The choice is entirely yours.”
Aubrey stares at the phone for a long time and I worry that maybe I overstepped, but then she leans over and wraps her arms around my neck. I return her tight embrace and bury my face in her hair, inhaling her unique scent that’s mixed with my own familiar smells.
When we break apart, I pull something else out of the bag on the coffee table.
“I have one more gift for you,” I say, handing her the laptop. “I figured you could use it when you start classes at Pinehurst winter quarter.”
My fingers find their own way to the stubble of hair on the back of my neck. Aubrey stares at me, her eyes narrowed.
“Well, I’ll be starting classes on campus again in a few weeks for the new quarter and I thought maybe you’d like to enroll, too?”
“I don’t know Emmett. I haven’t even figured out where I’m going to live or how I’m going to afford it. I’m not sure college is in my part-time job budget.”
I stop rubbing my neck and take Aubrey’s hand in mine.
“I thought that may be your response. Now, don’t get mad, but I made some calls,” I say hesitantly.
I know I have to dole out this information in a specific way, or I’ll scare her away. There’s a fine line between being helpful and being overwhelming when it comes to Aubrey.
“You made some calls?” she says, her right eyebrow raised higher than her left.
I let out a bit of a shaky breath and slowly tell her about the scheming I’ve been doing.
“Well, for starters, don’t worry about a place to live. I’m going to move back into my room at my parent’s house so you can feel comfortable staying here for as long as you need.”
“Emmett, I can’t accept that offer. I can’t drive you away from your privacy. And I can’t live here for free.”
I laugh and sigh.
“I figured you’d say that as well. So, since my parents technically own this place, they’ve agreed to rent it to you for $200 a month. They thought that would be doable, especially if you agreed to the next part.”
“The next part?” she questions.
“The football team needs a tutor, and the gig pays really well.”
“Tutor? I don’t know if I’m qualified for—”
