So Much to Learn (13 page)

"Cheers," he
grinned, "carry on." And the door shut behind him.

There was a
pause and then, just as it seemed Jack was going to say something,
I hitched the book higher and said, in my most business-like voice,
"So I missed that last thing you were saying, let's have it again
please, Mr Whitby."

Jack shot me a
look which told me that he knew I was trying to avoid discussing
what had happened a moment before, but he obediently began reciting
the answer to me and, that time, I refused to allow myself to get
distracted.

It was way too
dangerous.

~*~

I was looking
forward to going to the cinema with Adam. We'd had four lectures
together during the week and I'd discovered he was in two of my
tutorials as well. It was so fun to have someone to be stupid with
during the long tedious hours and we amused ourselves by making fun
of the lecturers and our obnoxious fellow students.

At home on
Friday night I dug around in my wardrobe until I found my pretty,
red, Chinese silk top, one of my favourite items of clothing.
Considering I was going to a Chinese movie marathon I thought it
quite appropriate. Still, considering I was technically only going
to the pictures, I dressed it down with a pair of jeans and my
black flip flops. I know it was only a few days into spring so my
footwear wasn't entirely appropriate, but I liked to wear thongs to
the cinema because it was easy to slip them off and tuck your feet
onto the chair.

I was just
doing my hair in the mirror near Matt's door when Jack walked
in.

"You look
nice," he commented, throwing his keys and wallet down onto the
table. "I take it I'm studying on my own tonight. Are you going
anywhere good?"

I whirled to
face him, my hair half up, pins falling from my hands. "Oh damn,
didn't I tell you?" I asked in disbelief. "I should have told you,
I'm going to the pictures. I said I'd go before the whole
scholarship thing came up. Do you think you'll be alright revising
without me?"

He chuckled and
rolled his eyes. "I think I'll manage," he said dryly. "And you've
got to promise me that you won't turn down something you want to go
to just because of this scholarship thing."

"I won't," I
said while, behind my back, I crossed my fingers.

Jack's eyes lit
up with laughter. "Tally," he said, his voice shaking with
repressed mirth, “you do realise you’re standing in front of a
mirror, right? I can see your crossed fingers in the
reflection."

"Whoops." I
shrugged, then joined in his laughter. He seemed to be smiling and
laughing a lot more these days and I flattered myself to think it
had something to do with me.

There was a
loud knock at the door and I started in surprise. "Oh man, you're
kidding me." I turned back to the mirror and attempted to finish
the elaborate knotty thing in my hair which I'd started before Jack
came in. "He's early? Who comes early? Could you let him in, Jack?"
I began yanking the pins out and my hair unravelled and fell to its
usual height of just below my shoulders.

I watched in
the mirror as Jack shot me an indecipherable look then yanked open
the door. Adam looked slightly surprised at the force with which
the door had been flung open and I could tell that he hadn't
expected Jack to be answering his knock.

As I twisted my
hair up into a bun I saw him and Jack doing the typical guy sizing
up thing which included the narrowed eyes, the straightened
shoulders and the handshake which looked more like a battle of
wills than a simple greeting.

"Hey," Adam
said coolly to Jack.

"Hey," Jack
replied, just as unenthusiastically.

At that moment
Matt emerged out of his room, "Talia have you seen my-" he caught
sight of Adam and stopped short. "Hey," he said coldly.

"Hey," Adam
replied.

"Oh for God’s
sake," I laughed. "Enough already!" I grabbed the two short black
chopsticks I'd had ready and jammed them through my bun to keep it
in place. Some bits fell out, but the majority held so I was
satisfied. "Let's go."

I grabbed my
bag and headed over to where Adam was standing. As I sailed past
Jack I whispered, "It's not a date," and I could tell by the
lessening of the rigidity of his stature that he'd heard me and
understood. "Bye guys," I called out cheerily before I shut the
door firmly behind me.

"Wow, I bet the
pair of them are really good fun for your dates to meet," Adam said
as we made our way down the stairs. "Regular laugh a minute, those
two."

"Yeah, there
are plans for them to take their two man puffing peacock show on
the road. You should count yourself lucky, you're not my date and
yet you got treated to a free performance," I said with a wry
smile.

"Oh, I’m fully
sensible to the honour I've been bestowed," he laughed, opening the
passenger side door on his car for me. "Don't you worry about
that."

I returned home
a bit after 5 staggering slightly after having watched hour upon
hour of kicking and wheeling and fancy moves involving any
convenient object lying around. It had been a great audience and
participation was encouraged with laughing, booing and
re-enactments all common occurrences.

Adam and I were
fast becoming firm friends, he had entered the hallowed halls of
those who had made me laugh so hard my tummy hurt. I felt great,
revitalised even, as I put the key in the lock and entered the
flat.

I had expected
it to be all dark, but the light was on in the kitchen and, as I
looked across, I saw that Jack was at the table his books spread
out all around him. When I moved closer, however, I saw that he
wasn't getting much studying done as he was fast asleep, his head
resting on his folded arms.

I felt my heart
give a little skip at the sight of him looking so vulnerable. He
was so often clammed up during the day that it was fascinating to
see his face when it was at rest. His dark eyelashes fluttered
slightly on his cheek as he dreamed and I was loathe to wake him
up, but he'd probably already given himself a permanent back crick
sleeping like that and I didn't want it to get worse so I touched
his shoulder lightly.

"Jack," I said
quietly, trying not to startle him. "Jack, wake up."

He grunted
slightly and slowly opened his eyes. When he saw me sitting beside
him he smiled sleepily. "Did you have a good time?" He asked and I
rolled my eyes.

"Jack Morgan
Whitby, it's basically morning. Did you wait up all night for me?
You did, didn't you?" I accused him.

He yawned and
then unfolded himself from the table and stretched. "Of course I
didn't," he said, without much conviction. "I was just trying to
cram as much studying in as I could."

"Sure," I said
disbelievingly, "and I'm a flamingo."

He looked at me for a long moment, almost as if he was
checking to see if I actually
had
turned into a pink bird, and then said, "What are
you doing tomorrow night? Actually," he glanced at the window where
the first rays of dawn were turning the clouds a light orange,
"make that what are you doing tonight?"

I thought for a
second and then shrugged, "Nothing."

"So how about
you come out with me?" He said and, unlike the Friday before, I
knew he did mean it as a date.

I smiled
brilliantly at him and nodded. "I'd like that." I said
truthfully.

Jack smiled
just as widely and then stood up. "Good," he said simply. "See you
in the morning."

"You already
have," I called after him and I heard his chuckle before he closed
his door.

And that, I
thought as I made my way over to my own room, was a very
satisfactory end to a very good night.

~*~

Matt and Jack
had footy training all of the next day and I used the time to add
the finishing touches to an assignment I had due on Wednesday. With
the essay finished, I moved on to the next week's readings and,
when they were done, I was a week ahead with my law work. That
meant that I would be able to devote my evenings to helping Jack
without my work suffering. Feeling pretty damn proud of myself, I
took a long bath complete with rose scented bubble bath and emerged
at peace with the world.

I pulled on a
pair of track pants and my old pink tank top and, with my hair
still wrapped in a towel turban, settled myself down on the couch
with a novel, relishing in some reading that wasn’t law-related for
a change. I'd barely had five minutes of peace, though, when I
heard five sets of football boot clad feet thundering up the stairs
and, a moment later, the door banged open.

I sighed and
set aside my book. The boys were always at their most aggravating
after footy training. The adrenaline and testosterone pumping
around their bodies seemed to override the small amount of their
brains that they used for normal thought processes.

"We're the
Grovers and the Rovers, we'll leave you our leftovers. With one big
shout, we'll knock you out. We are the Grovers Rovers!"

Whoever had
made up their team song needed serious help. Then again, those who
would choose to chant it couldn't exactly be in the right frame of
mind either.

The boys howled as they finished their song and slapped each
other on the backs. The flat suddenly seemed unbearably small, in
fact
I
suddenly
felt unbearably small. From my position on the couch they were like
overexcited, sweaty giants.

"Ugh, what's
that smell?" Micky shouted when he'd finished wrestling with
Matt.

"That would be
your armpits," I said, reaching up to take the towel off my
head.

The five of
them suddenly noticed me, as if I had been hiding before, and all
but Micky yelled noisy greetings as if I was at the other end of
the football pitch as opposed to about three metres to their
left.

"No, it's like
a girly shit smell," Micky insisted.

They all
started sniffing and Tommo worked his way over to me and smelt my
hair.

"It's her," he
announced.

"Figures, this
flat only started to smell when she moved in here," Micky
snapped.

It was rare
that he was overtly rude to me in front of all the boys and, as I
shot him a 'rack off' look, I wondered what I'd done recently to
piss him off particularly. Probably just continued to exist.

Jack and Matt,
who had gone to the kitchen to crack out some beers, looked round
angrily.

"Watch it,"
Matt said as Jack glared.

Sam took the
route that I most appreciated, however, smacking his twin round the
back of the head and instructing him not to be, "Such a dick!"

Tommo settled
down on the couch beside me and smiled, his teeth incredibly white
against his dark skin. "I think you smell nice," he said and I
laughed.

"Thank you for
that," I said primly. "Unfortunately I can't say the same for
you."

He sniffed
under his arms and made a face. "It's not great, is it?" He agreed
before hauling himself off the couch. "I'm going home for a shower,
but we're meeting at O'Reilly's tonight, yeah?" He said looking
round at his friends. "About 8 'o' clock?"

Sam, Michael
and Matt nodded, but Jack hesitated and I knew he was thinking
about our date that night. Luckily Matt seemed to notice his
indecision and said understandingly, "Are you and Talia doing more
scholarship stuff tonight?"

Jack and I
looked at each other quickly then looked away and said, "Yeah," at
the same time.

As soon as I
said it I felt guilt grip my guts, it wasn't a pleasant
feeling.

One by one,
Samsa, Micky and Tommo trooped out the door and Matt went off to
have a shower. As I heard the hiss of the water start I looked
across at Jack, my face crumpling.

"I didn't like
that," I said quietly.

"Lying to Matt?
No neither did I." Jack sighed and sat down beside me on the couch.
"It's the first time we've had to do that and let's try and make it
the last, OK?"

I nodded my
agreement, but, secretly, I was wondering how we were going to be
able to pull it off. He seemed to notice my uncertainty and he
slung his arm around my shoulders and gave them a squeeze. I leant
into him, letting him comfort me and he rested his head atop mine.
"Tommo was right," he said after a moment. "You do smell nice."

A completely
different feeling clenched my stomach this time and I felt a silly
grin stretch my mouth. "You're so nice to me," I said happily and I
felt him kiss my hair before chuckling lightly.

"Well, that's
lesson four. Be nice to the person you're trying to get into
bed."

I snorted and
smacked him in the face with a couch cushion. He laughed and got
up.

"I'm going to
get some studying done, but it’s stuff I can do on my own so give
yourself some time off." He turned to go into his room, but I
called after him,

"What do I wear
tonight?"

Jack didn't
turn around, just called back, "Your dancing shoes."

Several hours
later I stood before my wardrobe and eyed my clothes
disparagingly.

My dancing
shoes?

Dancing was a
very broad requirement, I mean if it was going to be line dancing
it would require a very different outfit from if we were going,
say, ballroom dancing.

I shook my head
at my melodramatic streak, what were the odds that we were going
either line dancing or ballroom dancing? Very low.

I stopped
fussing and decided on a knee length, floaty, layered red skirt and
a tight black top with a very wide neck. The top was good because
it could be quite respectable, but, if the situation demanded, it
could also be sexy as one side could slip off the shoulder leaving
some skin exposed. I finished the outfit off with a pair of black,
strappy high heels. OK so they weren't exactly dancing shoes and I
knew my feet would be killing me by the end of the evening, but,
damn, they looked good!