Mackenzie

The library basement is shockingly cold, and I'm sitting there shivering as I complete my assignment and wait for Dane. Helping him the day before was more fun than I had been expecting. I liked teaching, but I hadn't thought he would be so receptive to it. Dane seemed really engaged and like he wanted to learn.

Something heavy hits my shoulders and I look up in surprise. Dane is standing there, a small smile on his face. I look at my shoulders, and see a sweatshirt draped across me. "What's this?" I ask him.

"A sweatshirt."

"I can see that!" I give him an exasperated look.

"A sweatshirt for you to wear." Dane tells me. "You look cold."

"I'm fine." I begin to remove the sweatshirt, and a fresh wave of goosebumps pop up on my arms.

"I can't have my savior freezing to death before she helps me finish my assignment." I can't help my blush, and I also can't refuse the sweatshirt, because I really am cold and uncomfortable. I pull on Dane's large sweatshirt and am immediately swallowed by the scent of his woodsy deodorant. It smells amazing and even though I know it would be inappropriate, I want to steal it.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Dane says simply, sitting down next to me and pulling his laptop out of his bag. "I've never seen someone who can focus like you."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that you seem really engaged in whatever you're doing whenever I see you."

"Oh." I feel a little embarrassed but I'm not sure why.

"It's a good thing!" Dane reassures me. "Don't worry." I nod slowly. "Also, I forgot to pay you yesterday and we never talked about your rate."

I honestly forgot that he'd said he would pay me. "Um, well--" I've never actually been paid to tutor one on one before and I make fairly shit money when I run TA sessions in the library to answer student math questions.

"Is $50 an hour good?" Dane asks. I stare at him, thinking he must be out of his mind.

"I was thinking more like $25 an hour?"

"You're shit at negotiating." I can't help my laugh. "Mack, I'm serious. I want to pay you what you're worth." Hearing him say my nickname catches me off guard. Dane is wearing a small smile though, so I'm sure he's not too serious.

"$25 an hour is good for me." I say more confidently. I don't feel like I'm a good enough tutor to deserve $50 an hour, especially when I'm working on my own homework as I help him. "Plus you bought me dinner."

"And I plan to bring you more food in the future if you continue to help me." I'm suspicious at how nice he's being.

"So we're good then?"

"Sure." Dane looks like he feels guilty but hands me his phone. I'm confused as I take it, but then realize his Venmo search is up. I enter my username and add myself as a friend and then hand it back to him.

"Now that we've learned I'm trash at negotiation, do you want to wrap up that assignment?"

"Yes, ma'am. I do."

As Dane and I walk through the last piece of his assignment, I can't help but be impressed by how he listens to me when I'm explaining concepts. His questions are good and he's clearly trying to piece everything together.

When we finish, it's only 12:30, and I expect him to just get up and leave, but instead he pulls a container out of his backpack and starts eating. When he catches me looking at him he raises an eyebrow. "What?"

"I just figured you'd leave."

"If you're okay with it, I'm just gonna stay and work on other homework." Dane says.

"Oh." This is an unexpected reply from him.

"Is that okay?"

"Yeah, of course."

The silence is comfortable as we work on homework. Occasionally, I glance up at Dane, shocked that this beautiful man is sitting across from me doing something as mundane as his homework. He looks like he belongs playing a sport or modeling. He definitely doesn't look like he belongs in the library basement doing homework with me.

When Dane catches me looking at him for what must be the tenth time, I quickly look back down at my homework. "What?" He asks, exasperated.

"I--" I'm having a hard time coming up with a convincing lie, so I settle for a half truth. "I just am surprised you want to do homework down here with me."

"You're a good study buddy." Dane says. I raise my eyebrow. "You're just--" There's a moment as he searches for words. "A good influence."

I can't help my laugh. "What?"

"I love my team." He sighs. "They're like my family. But they're hard to focus around." He shrugs. "And you're so motivated, it just feels like it will be easier to get stuff done if I'm with you. I feel productive."

"I'm glad." The words slip out of my mouth and I try hard to not physically cringe.

"Me too." Dane gives me a small smile and goes back to writing. My eyes go to his homework, because his hand-writing is pretty neat compared to most men I've seen.

Dane is an enigma to me. I wouldn't think that he would care so much about his classes or his assignments, especially considering that he wanted to go pro. I still didn't know what that entailed, but I could assume that it didn't mean you had to get good grades all the way through college.

At 1:40PM, Dane slams his textbook shut. I glance up from my computer in surprise. "I got practice." He tells me.

"I hope you have fun." I sound like an idiot.

"It's rarely fun." Dane says grimly.

"Why do you play then?" I'm genuinely curious, but Dane just grimaces.

"For love of the game." It sounds very cryptic. "You don't get that reference, do you?" I shake my head slowly. Apparently not willing to take the time to explain it to me, Dane immediately switches to his next topic. "We get our next assignment tomorrow, so I'll text you and we can figure out a time, alright?"

"Alright." I agree. He gives me a mock salute and strides away with surprising speed.

I'm only alone for five minutes before Kate shows up. When she sits down she gives me a big smile.

"What?" I ask.

"You're wearing his sweatshirt still." Kate sounds like she's talking about a cute puppy. "So adorable."

"Oh my God." I start to take it off, but Kate reaches across the table and grabs my wrist.

"Please, do not do that on my account. It's fucking cold down here."

"Fine." I yank the sweatshirt back down but give her a short glare. Kate just smiles. "What?" I'm starting to feel exasperated.

"I just think it's really cute that he gave you his sweatshirt."

"Don't we have something else to talk about?"

"I failed my first college test." Kate says. "So I guess we could talk about that."

"What happened?"

"I was distracted." Kate has a small smile on her face, and I can tell that she's thinking of something. I wait for her to go on, because I'm sure there's more that she's going to say. "There was a girl--" Of course there was. "And we'd talked a couple of times in class." I nod, waiting to hear how this possibly made her fail her test. "Anyway, we went to the bathroom in the middle of the exam and we sort of made out."

"Kate!" My voice is surprisingly loud, and I get a look from someone at the next table over.

"It's not a big deal." Kate mutters. "She was really hot though."

"It sounds like a big deal. You don't even sound upset about failing your exam."

"The only thing I'm upset about is that I didn't get her number, and she hasn't been in class."

"Maybe she has mono." I say jokingly. This earns me a glare from Kate.

"Fuck off." Kate mumbles, rolling her eyes.

"I'm sure there's a perfectly valid reason."

"The reason is that I scared her away."

"Kate, you've kissed me when you're drunk before, and you're a very good kisser." I tell her reassuringly. "I doubt that you scared her away." Kate gives me a smile.

"You're right. I'm overthinking this." Clearly deciding that she's had enough of this topic, Kate switches back again. "So how is tutoring Dane?"

"Surprisingly good." I don't know why, but saying the words makes me blush. Kate, being Kate, doesn't miss this.

"Yeah? What makes it so good?"

"He's just--" I search for the words as Kate waggles her eyebrows. "A good student."

"Clearly. That's why he needs tutoring help." I shoot her a glare. "And I'm sure he's getting all the help he wants from you." She says suggestively.

"Nothing is happening. I'm just tutoring him."

"Sure."

"He has a girlfriend." I sigh. "And if he didn't, he wouldn't be interested in me."

Kate gives me a pitying glance, which I assume is for my total lack of confidence. "I wouldn't sell yourself short, Mackenzie."