Senseless Attraction (15 page)

      “Oh, that’s just someone...ah, I—um...” I didn't think Tristan would want me to tell Michelle that he was here for me to tutor him. “He's a friend, ah, helping me with some school work.”

      She looked at me with a mischievous smile. “Oh, only a friend?”

      “Yes.” I nodded.

      “Great! I can't go over there myself ‘cause I have to take the desk now, but can you give him my number?” She slipped a piece of paper in my jeans pocket.

      “Um, sure,” I said and pushed my glasses up my nose.

      “Thanks. You might as well go; it's just about time.”

      “Okay, thanks. Have a good rest of the day.”

      “I will, and don't forget.” She gestured with her eyes to my pocket. I nodded at her and grabbed my bags from under the desk.

      Tristan certainly received a lot of attention. He only had to walk past someone and they’d swoon his way. I wondered how many girlfriends he’d had. Or still did have.

      “Hi,” I said, placing my bags on the table with a thump.

      He moved slightly, so I guessed that was a greeting. I opened the bag with my soccer gear in it and retrieved his jacket, which I’d stuffed in that morning.

      “Thank you for that,” I said, putting it on the table in front of him. He nodded and sat it in the seat next to him.

      All right, we were full of words this morning. I sighed; this was going to be so much fun and comfortable. I was never really any good at sarcasm, and I felt bad once using it.

      “Today we’ll work on cosine ratio. Then next time we meet up, I thought we could revise on both ratios? Then if you feel comfortable with those, we’ll move onto rational expressions, then factorization techniques, and finally variations. How does that sound?”

      “You’re the boss.” He yawned.

      “No, I'm here to help
you
. I need you to be all right with what I have set out, and then I need you to be honest with me. If you feel I’m going too fast, or if you want to work on something else, tell me, please.”

      “Yeah, all right; it's fine.”

      “Good.”

      I started explaining that cosine ratios were similar to tangent. He leaned forward in his seat once I started going through some examples. Then I wrote out some for him to work through. I could see him struggling with one, and I thought he was going to be too stubborn to ask me for help, but he wasn't. That was when I knew this arrangement was going to work. Tristan really did want to improve his grade, and it could be easy enough to do, because I knew if I explained it the right way, he caught on quickly. As he sat there next to me, working on the Maths homework we both had to get done before Monday, I had the chance to attempt my own homework from other subjects. I’d already done my Maths last night.

      An hour-and-a-half later, I started packing up my things; if I didn't leave soon, I would be late for soccer. Tristan had only two problems to solve, so I was sure he'd be all right on his own.

      “Sorry, Tristan, but I have to go.”

      He nodded his head while still going over the last problem. I took that as an okay and a goodbye included, so I got up from the table.

      “Where are you going?” he asked, looking up at me.

      “I just told you I have to go; I have to get to soccer down the road, and if I don't leave soon I'm going to be late.”

      “All right.” He grabbed his own bag that held his homework, a pencil, and one notebook, and then stood up next to me. I looked at him curiously and started walking to the front door, waving at Michelle on the way, who tapped her front pocket.

      I stopped out the front and turned to Tristan, he watched me reach into my pocket and pull out the piece of paper, which I thrust at him.

      “Here.”

      He smirked at me. Did he really think it was from me?

      “It's Michelle's number; the girl I work with in there. She asked me to give it to you.”

      “Really,” he said, looking back through the library window. I glanced over as well to find Michelle there waving at him; he gave a chin lift back in greeting, which prompted Michelle to wink at him. He laughed. “Straight forward kinda girl.”

      “Yeah, I guess,” I said, looking away.

      “Like your other friend Sarah.” He smiled down at me. And I meant
down
because I only came up to his chest.

      “I’m shocked you remembered her name.” My hand flew to my mouth. “Sorry.” I blushed.

      He rolled his eyes. “I saw her last night.”

      “I know. Look, I really have to go, so I guess I'll see you next Friday.” I started to walk off when he called out.

      “I'll see you Monday at school.”

      I couldn't stop the snort. “Maybe I should rephrase what I just said. I'll see you at school, but I'll talk to you next Friday.” With that, I walked off.

      I wanted to turn around and apologise for sounding rude, but I didn't. Besides, he was the one who told me to stop apologising. Now all I had to do was stop feeling guilty about it.

      Thankfully, I wasn't late. I had enough time to run into the locker rooms and change. I walked back out and onto feild one, and found Corbet sitting on the sidelines. I gave him a quick wave, surprised to see him, and went over to my team.

      “Hey, girl, thanks for filling in,” Heather greeted. She was the team captain and another friend of mine. Not that we did anything together on weekends or after school, but that was because we had different things in common. But ever since she confided in me about her troubles with her boyfriend last year, I found that we had connected on a different level.

      Soon enough, the buzzer rang and the game started. I stood in my position as goalie. The team consisted of Heather, Serena, Danni, Wendy, and usually Sunny as their goalie. Sunny had taken over this year when I had quit, but she was sick.

      We were in the second half when I heard a loud wolf whistle. I looked over to the side and found Sarah standing there smiling and waving. What I didn't expect was to see Tristan standing next to her. 

      Movement out the corner of my eye brought my attention back to the game as the other team drew closer, running with the ball. My team was fighting to get the ball back, but a burly player on the other team tripped Danni and bounded around her, still with the ball. She kicked it to the far left of the goal. I was standing to the far right. Before thinking, I flew sideways, arms outstretched to stop the ball as another team member of the other team ran right into me. Was it on purpose? I didn't know; all I did know was that I landed hard, my head taking most of the impact. The buzzer sounded. I looked behind me and found the ball in the goal. The other team had won.

      Heather was at my side first, then Corbet, Tristan, and Sarah, with the rest of the team and the referees. They all told me not to move, everyone asking me at the same time if I was okay.

      I closed my eyes at their foolish question, because really, if I felt I was okay, I would have been on my feet by now.

      All I could think about was the throbbing in my head.

      Still, I needed to get up. I felt like a fool laying there with everyone around me. Even more of a fool because Tristan witnessed it. I sat up slowly with the help of Heather and Corbet.

      “My glasses, are they broken?” I asked, holding my head at the same time.

      “Here, they’re fine,” Tristan said, handing them over. I placed them on and found it helped my head a little. Only, I knew I was going to be sore for a while.

      “You probably have a concussion,” Corbet said.

     
Duh
, was all I could think.

      “All right, guys, let’s clear the area,” Heather demanded. The team disappeared; all that was left was Heather, Corbet, Sarah, and Tristan. What was he doing here?

      “Corbet's right, Alex. You could have a concussion. Maybe you should go to the hospital,” Heather said, concern showing on her face.

      “NO! No, I'll be all right. No hospital.”

      “Well, someone's going to have to watch you tonight; your dad going to be home?”

      “Yes, I'm sure he will be.”

      “Alex,” Sarah warned.

      “It's fine. Thanks, Heather.” I smiled.

      I got up slowly, only to feel dizzy. There was no way I was going to move with Heather still standing there; she was the type who would ring my house to make sure I was being taken care of. She’d make sure my dad would be home and tell him why he needed to be there. Only I was sure my dad wouldn't be home, and I would hate to disrupt his next case because of some silly bump on the head.

      “Okay. Take care. Drink lots of fluids. I'll call you tomorrow.”

      I smiled and nodded. Bad choice. I had to grab my head after doing it. It made me feel nauseated. Heather gave me another concerned glance, turned, and thankfully left. I took a step forward and nearly fell over again. That was until Tristan caught me and straightened me up.

      “What the hell are you doing here?” I growled and then gasped, my hand flying to my mouth. “Sorry, I really didn't mean that.”

      He laughed. “That’s all right.” He smiled. My stomach fluttered.

      “I saw Tristan on the way here and asked him if he wanted to come with me. As you can see, he said yes.” Sarah beamed.

      “I don't think she needs to hear this right now,” Corbet said through clenched teeth. “We need to get her home.”

      Sarah looked stricken. “Yes, of course. Luckily, we're staying at your house tonight, Alex. Someone needs to keep an eye on you.” I rolled my eyes. “Do you think you can walk, or should Tristan carry you?”

      “No! I'll be fine,” I said quickly. “Only, I don't think I can drive my car home.”

      “Definitely not,” Corbet agreed. “I'll drive it for you.”

      “But, Corbet, you came in your own car, and I came in mine. Tristan do you have your license?”

      “Yeah, I can drive it,” he said. Sarah rattled off my address for him.

      “Great, you take Alex, and I'll go and grab her stuff while Corbet picks up some pizzas on the way to Alex's.”

      “Alex can come with me,” Corbet said, glaring at Tristan. I knew he didn't trust Tristan, just like I hadn’t, but now that I knew him, it was different. Wasn’t it? Or was that just the head injury talking?

      “But then she’d have to wait in the car for you to get pizza, when she should be home resting.” Tristan smiled.

      “Fine, whatever,” Corbet said, and then left in a huff. Sarah gave Tristan a quick peck on the cheek, then left. Tristan placed his arm around my waist. I went to move away, but his grip tightened.

      “You can barely stand on your own two feet; just let me help you.”

      I didn't meet his eyes. I was having a hard enough time trying not to blush from having his arm around me, while at the same time, trying not to throw up on him. So I nodded and leaned into him.

T
ristan had me wait out the front of the recreational centre as he ran off to collect my car. He sat me down on a bench near the road and wrapped his jacket around me. I told him not to bother, that I was fine, but that was when a shooting pain had me clutching at my head. He, of course, ignored me.

      It was late in the afternoon, and it had turned a little chilly. So instead of cursing Tristan under my breath, I pulled his jacket closer around me while trying to hold it together. My head was killing me; what I needed was a double dose of pain medication and some sleep. Just as my eyes were drifting closed, I heard a car screech, a door slam, and loud pounding footsteps coming my way.

      “Hey, Alex, this is no place to go to sleep, and you have to stay awake.”

      I opened my eyes as Tristan shook my shoulders.

      “Just a little nap,” I insisted.

      He laughed and shook his head, which made me glare at him and curse him silently.

      “Come on.” He helped me stand and walked over to my car. How did he know which car was mine? I never told him. He opened the door and I lowered myself into the seat, and thanked anyone who cared that the car was warm. Still, I turned on my side and pulled Tristan’s jacket tighter around me. He smelled wonderful.