Reaching over, I gripped his arm. “Just stay strong with it. I got a buddy whose mom woke up from a coma after like twelve years. She’s not only awake but doing real well.” Though my friend Knight’s situation was a little more complicated than that, the fact of the matter was, his mom was okay. “Don’t give up. You do, and it’s even harder for her.”
“You’re right. You’re right.” And standing up, he stretched his long body. “Now, enough with this serious shit. I’m about to fucking own you on the real court.”
A real funny guy, but after eating, he really thought he could challenge me on our basketball court. We played well into the afternoon, even missing our final classes of the day, but I had no problem doing that. This guy had become my closest friend outside of the ones from my hometown, and anything I could do to take his mind off his current situation with his mom I would.
I knew he’d do the same for me.
Chapter Seven
Billie
A tap at my door, and my stomach twisted, but I shut that crap down. “Come in.”
The door creaked open, and LJ actually had to dip his head to come into my office, the TA office door frames sized to accommodate most people.
Lance Johnson wasn’t most people.
He sauntered in during my office hours, black jeans sagging low and university hoodie pulled up over his head. He tugged the hood down, a wash of restless blond hair he fingered through. “Sup? You wanted to see me?”
Not really, but considering I didn’t have a choice, I approached him with a paper in my hand. It had his extra credit assignment on it.
An assignment I’d been forced to give him.
Honestly, I thought Professor Douglas had been joking this morning when he’d approached me about needing to come up with a way to allow LJ to make up for his, quite frankly, piss-poor job on his midterm examination. It’d been like he hadn’t attended class at all, let alone watched the films there. I’d seen him in lecture, but since he hadn’t really come to recitation all term, aka my class, he hadn’t been able to expand on any of the conceptions. He couldn’t answer why the class was watching the films assigned, so therefore, that bled into the performance on his midterm examination. A C grade had been generous and add to the fact that he basically wasn’t coming to a third of his classes by not attending mine, his grade had tanked. This was of no fault but his own, but for whatever reason, I got to hear about it this morning.
LJ turned the paper around. “What’s this?”
“Your extra credit assignment.” Saying the words physically boiled my blood, the crow I was eating able to feed a small village. I folded my arms. “Though, you shouldn’t be surprised, right? You have spoken to Professor Douglas, haven’t you? A way to make up for your term grade thus far?”
Professor Douglas had been unreasonably livid at me, the distinguished professional basically two seconds away from losing his shit. He couldn’t fathom how LJ’s grade could have possibly happened.
“You must not be following my direction in regards to the students.”
He’d actually said that to me, and I’d seriously looked around to see if I was being Punk’d. This guy standing in front of me now had literally dug his own grave with his grade, and I’d been punished for it. I bunched my arms. “So now you have to give me a ten-page essay on the film we watched this week in class.”
LJ analyzed it long and hard before dragging those his eyes up at me. “When’s it due?”
“Two weeks. That sound like enough time for you?”
A smirk touched those pretty lips, but he did tuck the assignment into his back pocket.
“So if we’re done then—”
Apparently not with me, LJ’s fingers wrapped around my arm, tugging me back, and the audacity floored me. I ripped my arm away, immediately putting space between us. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t touch me just now. Let you walk away?”
The threat in my voice was clear, but for whatever reason, his fingers came to find my sweater. A bunch and he had me smacked hard against his chest, another and he backed me to the wall. Before I knew it, he had his lengthy arms positioned on either side of my head.
“How about this?” he asked, running his nose along my cheek. I twitched, and he smiled. “We going to pretend I’m not doing this either?”
I swallowed, but I didn’t relent, immediately recognizing his challenge. “What in fuck’s name do you think you’re doing?”
“Trying to figure something out.”
“What?”
His mouth hovered over mine, my whole body quivering as I couldn’t figure out whether to sock him in his face or knee him in his balls. I chose neither as he honed in, silky blond lashes fanning above his crystal blue eyes.
“How far you’ll let me take this,” he stated, his voice gruff as he encased nearly my entire waist with his hands. He wet his lips. “Tell me something, beauty queen. Did you push me off you that night at my house because you felt you had to or because you wanted to?”