Tutoring the Player (Campus Wallflowers #1)(7)

A booming voice cuts through the silence, and the ground beneath me shakes. “Gotta get up, man. Class in twenty.”

“Unnggh.” My mouth is dry, and my head splinters in two when I open my eyes.

Liam’s amused smile greets me. “You look like shit. I thought you were taking it easy last night.”

I pull myself up and crack my neck to work out a kink. “Sigma was crazy. Biggest after hours I’ve seen all semester.”

I reach for the water bottle on my nightstand. One beer turned into two or three, and then several rounds of birthday shots.

“The Hideout was packed last night too.” He backs out of my room, stopping in the doorway. “Did you finish your paper?”

Ah fuck. I had my alarm set for eight this morning to get up and finish it, but I must have turned it off and passed right back out. Not surprising since I didn’t crash until almost three.

My face must give him the answer because he laughs. “Bring it to lab. You can work on it there.”

“Thank you.”

I have just enough time to shower and grab my shit before we head off to the Emerson Building for our physics lab. I’m finishing off a bag of chips when we walk in. Dr. Green pauses his lecture and waits for us to take our seats.

For twenty minutes, he talks, giving us all the relevant information for today’s lab. My grades are decent. I pull Bs and Cs, thanks in large part to sharing most of my classes with Liam. He keeps me in check with school, and I like to think I’ve helped him learn to cut loose a little. Freshman year, when we got to Valley, he’d never had a drop of alcohol, and he spent every night studying.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with either of those things, but it’s college—you have to live a little.

When Dr. Green finishes, Liam nods toward my bag on the floor. “We’ve got this. Just make it look like you’re feverishly taking notes.”

“We?”

At my question, Daisy steps up to our table. She pushes a lock of dark blonde hair behind one ear. “Hi.”

“Stuck with us again, huh?” Liam asks, shooting her a charming grin.

She eats it right up, dropping her gaze to the floor with a smile. “Yeah. My partner must have dropped the class.”

Liam grabs an extra stool and sets it next to her. “You’re our partner now.”

“Thank you.” She moves like a scared rabbit, perching herself on the very edge of the seat. I’m not sure I’d heard her say a single word all semester that wasn’t a direct response to a question until two days ago when Dr. Green put her in our group. She’s smart, though. Our professor always calls on her when no one else knows the answer.

She’s pretty cute. The shy, quiet thing she has going on is a whole vibe.

My buddy is into it, too. I can tell. They’re perfect for one another: Barbie and Ken, brainy, introvert edition. Liam’s a good guy, the best, actually. If anyone can make her feel at ease, it’s him. That’s probably why Dr. Green put her at our table.

“How should we break up the work?” she asks as she leans forward and reads the lab handout. Her nails are painted a bright, fiery red. That makes me smile. They’re so much bolder than anything else about her.

“It’s just you and me today,” Liam says and tilts his head toward me. “Jordan needs to finish a paper. Is that cool?”

Her gaze slides over to me briefly, not meeting mine before she pins another shy smile at Liam. “Perfect.”

As planned, I start on my paper while the two of them work on the lab. I sneak a glance at them huddled together, smiling and laughing like physics is a freaking blast. Her cheeks are pink with a flush, and she looks at Liam like he’s the freaking moon and stars.

I’m closing in on three pages and reading over it again to check for errors when they finish the lab.

“Done?” Liam asks me as they clean up the lab supplies.

“Yeah. I just need a closing sentence to wrap it up.”

“What’s the paper about?” Daisy’s voice almost blends in with the noise of the classroom. She’s so quiet, but she’s talking a little more today.

“Time management.” Liam snorts as he responds for me. Okay, it’s kind of funny. Still, I glare at him.

“You had to write a paper on time management? For what class?”

“Technical writing. It’s tips and tricks, that kind of thing. We drew out of a hat for topics.”

She nods slowly. “Maybe you should end it with a cautionary tale of what happens when you don’t have good time management, and you have to finish assignments during other classes.”

Liam chuckles softly. Damn, is this girl burning me?

“Maybe I was sick yesterday or at a funeral.”

“Were you?”

I huff a laugh and grin at her. “No.”

The three of us pack up to leave. Liam has to haul ass across campus to meet with his adviser, but I take my time and walk out with Daisy. Even the way she moves is gentle and unassuming. She side-eyes me when I fall into step beside her.

“Thanks for today. I’m sorry you had to pick up my slack.”

She regards me carefully, like she isn’t sure if I’m being genuine or not. I don’t even know why I’m apologizing. They still finished early, even without my help.