The Dating Tutor (9 page)

Stretching her arms above her head, she gave another tired yawn before curling up on her side. Forcing all thoughts of exams and gym class from her mind, she willed herself to fall asleep.

After a few minutes, it started to work, but then her bedroom window slid open and a breeze swept over her exposed shoulder. She didn’t need to turn to know it was Alec. Wordlessly, she shifted in the bed to make room for him.

He scooted underneath the blankets to lie next to her and gave a shiver.  It was spring and the nights still got chilly…especially when one ran through the yard in nothing but boxers and a t-shirt.

Ellie held her silence, listening to him settle in. She smiled as she heard his teeth chatter together. Silly boy. He should have at least thrown a sweatshirt on before running out into the evening air. “Cold?” she finally asked.

“Very.” With another shiver, he slid his hand toward her. “Feel.”

His fingers suddenly brushed the back of her neck, sending an icy chill down her spine. A squeal escaped her before she could stamp it down. “Alec! You’re freezing. Stop that!”

He laughed and scooted closer. “But you’re so warm! Come on. Be nice. I raced through the cold to get here.” His arm wrapped around her shoulder, and he hugged himself to her back.

She inhaled sharply, but it wasn’t his shivering form that caused her to jump. It was the feel of his breath hot on the back of her neck, the pressure of his chest against her spine. Unable to help herself, she shifted back against him, cocooning herself in his body. As she did, she still gave a sound of protest at his cold hands as they wrapped around her wrists. “Stop,” she laughed.

“Okay. Okay.” Giving in, Alec became still. It was only then that he seemed to realize their close proximity. Any other time he’d crawled into her bed, they never touched. It wasn’t because they were nervous or afraid. It was just there’d been no reason to before. They’d gone to sleep and that was that. Now…

Now was a completely different situation. The sexual tension lingered in the air, enveloping them in a bubble of unvoiced emotions and passions. As silence settled over them, Alec let his fingers trail along her arm until his hand came to rest on her hip.

Ellie closed her eyes and attuned herself to the gentle sensation of his breath causing wisps of hair to flutter along her throat. She could feel the movement of his chest as he breathed, his body pressing to hers with each inhale. Steeling her nerves, she suddenly rolled onto her back so she could look up at him. “Kiss me.”

His eyes widened, and he pulled away. “Why?”

Being as close as she was, she could see his breath coming shorter, could see the fire in his eyes. It was obvious he wanted to kiss her and not just because she was conveniently on hand. He wanted
her
. The raw look in his eyes finally convinced her that his feelings were genuine. This wasn’t an act. It wasn’t simply a friend helping out a friend. Alec had feelings for her. Even so, she couldn’t bring herself to answer him truthfully. She was a coward where he was concerned.

Besides, there were only a few weeks left of school. What would happen to Jake if she suddenly showed up on Monday morning dating Alec? It wouldn’t be fair to him. All she had to do was wait until after graduation, and then they could all have what they wanted…at least she hoped.

Closing her eyes for a moment to prepare herself to tell yet another lie, she took a deep breath. When her lashes fluttered open, she said, “For practice. You promised to help me some more.”

If she hadn’t already been aware of his feelings for her, the injured look that flashed across his face would have been evidence enough to wizen her up. Feeling awful, she pretended not to notice. “So what do you say? No better time to practice than now. Right?”

She saw the hesitation in his eyes, but finally he nodded. “Yeah. Sure. Why not?” He visibly shook off the sting her words had created and lowered his eyes to her lips. He was close enough that all he had to do was lean down to place his face above hers.

She watched with anticipation as his mouth lowered closer and closer to her own. Then at the last second, she closed her eyes. The awaited touch of his lips to hers was like a slice of heaven. It was a million dollars. It was straight As on her final report card. It was a fully paid scholarship to the college of her choice. It was everything she could ever want.

With a soft sigh of pleasure, she opened her mouth under his and brought her hand up to the back of his neck. Her fingers slid through his hair, tangling in locks still wet from his shower.

What had started out very gentle and tentative quickly became heated. Alec’s tongue dipped into her mouth as his hand slid down her waist until it rested on her hip. He pulled her closer, his body shifting so that he was half on top of her.

Her heart pounded furiously in her chest as her hormones zinged through her being like fireworks. Stars burst behind her eyes; her body thrummed with the thrill of their closeness. Though she’d never been intimate like this with a boy before, she wasn’t nervous. This was Alec. This was what she wanted. As the fingers of her free hand trailed lightly along his waist, she shifted her hips to press them against his.

Alec groaned and deepened the kiss even further. His mouth pressed against hers with bruising force, his much larger body pressing her down into the mattress.

With tentative fingers, Ellie eased her hand under his shirt. She’d seen him topless hundreds of times, but she’d never had the opportunity to run her fingers over the toned muscles of his abdomen. She’d never had the urge to before now.

When her fingers made initial contact with his skin, Alec jumped with a startled gasp. The muscles of his stomach twitched against her fingers, bunching as she lightly stroked them.

She let out a breathless laugh against his mouth and playfully inched her fingers along the plains of his abdomen. “Ticklish?”

“Very,” he said on a groan.

With a giggle, she let her hand continue upward to caress along his pectoral muscles. When her fingers swept over a rough ridge of skin, she gave a small sound of surprise. Pulling her mouth slightly away from him, she said, “That’s the scar where you fell on our fence a couple years ago.”

He’d been hopping over the metal fence that surrounded her backyard when his shoelace got caught. He’d fallen chest first on a jagged piece of metal at the top that tore into his skin deep enough to leave a scar.

“Yeah,” he said distractedly. His mouth shifted to her jaw and he pressed a kiss just underneath her ear.

Something about this admission fueled her attraction to him. Her hand skimmed down his chest, along his abdomen, until she came to a scar on his hip. “This is where you took a hockey skate to the side. You had everyone so worried.” Her fingers traveled along the bumpy ridge of scar tissue as she spoke.

“Mmm-hmm…”

When his mouth returned to hers, she kissed him hard. Kissing him was so intimate, but realizing she knew his body down to his scars meant something deeper. She loved him. Every little detail. Every scar. Her hand moved to his newest injury - the gash on his eyebrow. She let her fingers travel gently along the puffy skin as she memorized every facet of his body with her fingertips. “The hockey game…”

Alec suddenly wrenched his mouth away from hers and sat up on his knees. Horror was written plainly across his face. “This is wrong.” He shook his head and slowly backed off of the bed. His eyes were on her as if he considered her to be a dangerous and unpredictable animal. “This is so, so wrong.”

Fear filling her, she sat up. “What…what’s wrong?” She took a deep, shaky breath in an attempt to even out her ragged exhales.

“This.” He waved a hand at her in what looked like disgust. “What are we doing?”

“We’re…we’re…” She swallowed nervously as she fought for an explanation that wouldn’t make her look awful. She couldn’t betray Jake with the truth. Not yet. She would give him until graduation. She’d promised herself that.

“This isn’t right,” Alec said with a harsh sound of frustration. “You’re someone else’s girlfriend.” He shook his head with a look of disappointment in his eyes. “You should have stopped this long before now. How long are you going to let this go, Ellie? You gonna ask me to take your virginity, too? Just so you know what you’re doing? How inappropriate are you going to let this get? I’m your best friend for God’s sake, not a…a…a booty call.”

He backed away from her, moving toward the window. “How do you think Jake would feel if he knew what we were doing? You think he’d be okay with me lying in bed with you, with your hands exploring my bare chest?”

She stared at him in silence. There was nothing she could say that wouldn’t expose Jake or possibly destroy their friendship. As she gazed at her visibly shaken best friend, she realized how awful she’d been to him. She’d been playing with his emotions. She’d been teasing and taunting him. Every action she’d done over the past few weeks had been hurtful to him. She hadn’t taken the time to discover how much so. “I’m…I’m sorry.” Tears welled in her eyes at the thought of losing him as her best friend. She needed him. She didn’t know what she would do without him in her life. “I’m so sorry, Alec.”

“I’m done,” he said in a low, tortured voice. “Okay? I’m done. I can’t do this anymore, Ellie.”

“Alec, don’t go.” Her voice trembled with the tears that threatened to well over. When he moved toward the window, a whimper escaped her. “Alec, please.”

He hoisted one leg out the window, then turned to look at her over his shoulder. “I just can’t be around you right now. I’m sorry.” With that, he disappeared into the night, leaving her alone with her misery.

As she stared at the space where Alec had been only moments before, the tears finally fell. They poured down her cheeks as sobs wracked her body in abrasive heaves. She drew her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them, succumbing to the complete misery that his absence had created. She’d made a complete mess of things and didn’t know how to make them better.

Chapter Ten

It was prom night. This was supposed to be one of the most magical nights of her life, yet Ellie couldn’t keep her eyes from staring glumly at the tabletop. The lavish decorations around her did nothing to pull her attention. The upbeat music only served to remind her of her depressed mood. She was surrounded by glitter and beauty and pure raw energy, yet she was miserable. “It’s been two weeks, and he still won’t even speak to me.”

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d gone two
days
without speaking to Alec. The past few weeks had been like torture. Every time she saw him in the halls at school, he turned and made a hasty retreat. He avoided her by staying indoors whenever he was home, only venturing out to get into his car when he went somewhere. He wouldn’t answer any of her texts either. She’d texted him over a dozen apologies but had yet to receive even a single word in return.

“We’re going to make this right,” Jake promised. One of his hands moved to cover hers, and he squeezed encouragingly. “
I’ll
make this right. This whole stupid thing was my idea. I’ll explain that to him.”

Her eyes widened in alarm. “No, Jake. You can’t… I don’t want…” She shook her head vehemently. “School is over next week. I can keep your secret until then.” She corrected her statement. “I
want
to keep your secret until then. I’m sure Alec will come around.”

Jake’s expression was sympathetic as he stared at her with uncertainty. “I feel like I’ve made a real mess of things.”

She rolled her eyes and offered him a weak smile. “You didn’t twist my arm. I went for the idea just as much as you did. We’re both guilty in this. Me more so, because I should have taken Alec’s feelings into account. I’m his best friend…or at least I was.”

“
Are
,” Jake said firmly. “You
are
his best friend.” He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face with a smile. “Friends fight. Then they make up. That’s what makes them friends.”

She nodded, feeling grateful for his positivity. “Yeah, I know. We’ve gotten into a few heated debates before and we were fine. We’ll work this out. In a few weeks, it will all just be a distant memory.” Despite these words, she felt tears spring to her eyes for what felt like the millionth time that week. Things might be sorted soon, but she missed her best friend terribly.

Jake opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by an announcement that blared through the DJ’s massive speaker system.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is time to announce our prom king!” Their principal slipped her hand in an envelope with dramatic flair. “And the boy you chose to represent Noble High as this year’s king is…Jake Phillips!”

Loud cheering erupted throughout the banquet hall. Sappy music poured through the speakers as if he had just been crowned Miss America. Students were suddenly surrounding their table, clapping Jake on the back.

“Jake,” the principal called out loudly, “get up here! Come accept your crown!”

With an apologetic look, Jake climbed to his feet and waved a hand in acknowledgement of the honor bestowed upon him. “I’m sorry,” he mouthed.

She shook this off with a wave of her hand and a reassuring smile, motioning for him to take the stage.

He nodded. Before he turned to make his way to the platform, his eyes lingered on something behind her.