Please. I might barf.
“Hello, Clara.” James gave her a tight smile when she entered.
“It’sClaire,” she corrected, still smiling prettily at him. Her skirt was inched higher than before. I looked away, squeezing the pencil in my hand. “Are you free? I’ve a few questions, and I need help with some of my sketches.”
She wasn’t asking. She was demanding.
“I’ll leave.” I stood up, picking up my bag and closing the sketchbook. My cheeks heated when I looked at him. His hair was a little rumpled and his face was poker as usual, but the heat in his eyes made me want to crawl back to his lap. “Thank you, um, for your help, Mister James.”
I ignored the eye-roll from Claire and left his office with my heart thudding wildly in my ears. I needed to calm down. I didn’t care if James had his own fan-following in the school. I trusted him. Even Summer and Emma had noticed how he didn’t look at any other women, students, or teachers, whether I was around or not.
With a hand pressed against my cheek, I left the building and headed towards my car. I had finally saved enough to pay Dad’s bills. Even though it meant emptying my car and tuition savings, I would be able to take care of my dad. The extra help from Aaron and the other students also helped.
* * *
James
“I’m home!”I announced, placing the keys in the fish bowl and stalked towards the kitchen to store the pizza I had bought on the way back. I didn’t usually eat pizzas or junk, but Mia deserved it after passing her recent exams with excellent marks. She would wake up early, hunched over her desk when I came back from the gym. I didn’t even distract her from her studies, bargaining her with more sex and junk food once the result was announced.
I found Mia sitting by the kitchen bar, staring at her laptop with a dull look on her face. She must’ve showered by the look of her damp hair. She didn’t even dry it? I hope she won’t get a cold.
“Everything okay?” I asked, unbolting a few buttons of my shirt. She didn’t even make any exaggerated moaning noises seeing the pizza box. Something was definitely wrong.
She finally looked up, hurt flickering in her eyes. I straightened up, wondering why it was directed at me.
“You didn’t tell me,” she whispered, her voice hoarse.
Fuck. Did she find out?I didn’t want her to find out like this. I wanted to tell her.
“I-I’m sorry, Mia.” I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath before looking at her. “I didn’t know how to tell you—”
She closed her laptop and stood up. “You could’ve told me anytime you wanted. But you hid it from me.”
“Princess, Mia… it’s not easy for me to—”
She threw her hands in the air. “It’s about my dad! How is it not that easy?!”
What?
“You paid his bills,” Mia said, glaring at me. “You paid all his hospital bills. All of them, yet you didn’t tell me.”
Oh. She wasn’t talking about—
Fuck. Thank God.But I knew I couldn’t keep it from her longer. It would be worse if she found out about that from someone else.
“He’s my friend, Mia. I did it because I wanted to, and why are you so upset about it?”
“Upset?” she asked, her eyes wide. “Upset? I’m not upset, I’m mad, James!”
I kept my tone levelled and asked, “Why are you mad?”
“Because you paid my father’s bills!” she sputtered out.
“He’s my friend,” I repeated. “If Emma or Summer, bless them, got in an accident and couldn’t pay the bills, wouldn’t you do the same?”
She blinked, considering the scenario, and crossed her arms. “That’s not the same.”
“Mhmm.”