"Can we stop now?" I grumbled. "Please, my head's starting to hurt."

"Not until you get the concept," Alex sighed. "And my head's starting to hurt as well trying to teach your ravioli-brained self. Come on, try it one last time."

The boys had showed up just in time and I had been planning to spend time by watching a few movies and playing some video games or just binging on junk food, however Alexander had other plans. Which was how the both of us ended up studying trigonometry while the rest of the boys played Overwatch and screamed insults at each other every now and then - despite me having warned them about my mother's sensitivity to noise. Thankfully though, she was asleep - and she could sleep through a hurricane if she wanted to.

"Alex, please?" I whined, giving him the best puppy-eyes I could muster.

He looked down at me for a brief moment as if he were entertaining the thought of letting me off the hook, however, he shoved the book in my face with a sly grin, "No. Try solving it one last time and I'll decide then."

"Oh fuck you," I complained before beginning to solve the equation.

"In your dreams," he mumbled under his breath, but I pretended as if I hadn't heard him and focused on the equation instead. After what felt like an hour, I slid the textbook over to him and gave him a hopeful look. He examined what I had written down for a minute before giving me a suspicious look, "Did you copy this from somewhere?"

"Huh? No, why would I do that?" I questioned, confused.

"The answer you got is right," he responded, sliding the book back over to me with a proud grin.

"WHAT?" I yelled with a dramatic gasp. "Holy shit, that's it. I'm the smartest fucker in this room, fuck all of you. My brain is a balloon and yours are all walnuts."

"Balloons have only air inside them," Ethan yelled back. "So yes, I agree. Your brain is a balloon."

I resisted the urge to throw a book at his face and gave Alex a thankful grin, "I couldn't have done it without your help. Thank you."

"You're welcome," he responded, returning the smile. "Have you started working on the project yet? You know we only have less than two weeks left to submit it, right?"

"I'm already halfway through," I admitted. "You don't have to worry, I've got this in the bag."

"I hope you're right," he sighed in response. "If it gets too much for you to handle though, then you can just tell me. I can finish the rest of it by myself, you don't have to stress yourself out."

I felt a smile creep its way onto my face at how caring he was being, "Are you just saying that because you don't want to get back into football?"

He scoffed as if he were offended by what I had just said, "No, I'm just worried about you, that's all."

"Worried? Why?" I questioned, shutting the trigonometry guide and pushing it away, hoping he wouldn't notice. However, he narrowed his eyes at me and pulled the guide closer, opening it once again. I let out a frustrated sigh, when was this torture going to end?

"Because you've already been through a lot this week," he replied after a while. "I don't want to stress you out more, that's all."

"That's.. really sweet of you," I commented, feeling myself getting a little flustered at how concerned he was about me. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he said with a subtle grin. "Now let's get back to trigonometry, shall we?"

"Oh hell no," I retorted. "Please no. That's enough torture for today, I can't handle it anymore. Do you want me to jump out of my own window? If that's the case, then I will. Right here, right now. Don't try me."

He pursed his lips for a moment, not respond to what I had just said. Then, he averted his gaze to the textbook and I saw a small smile make its way onto his face.

"I saw that smile," I snorted, my frustration growing by the second.

"Nothing ever gets past you, does it?" he sighed, shaking his head, the smile still on his face.

"What can I say? I'm talented," I responded, flipping my imaginary weave.

"Yes, yes you are," he replied bluntly, glancing up at me for only a second.

I was taken aback by that and looked away right after, unable to control the smile that found its way onto my face.

"I saw that smile," he stated, his own grin growing a little wider at the sight of mine.

"Oh shut up," I huffed, shaking my head at him.

"Okay, now Math."

Oh fucking shit.