Lucas was socially awkward at best, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew people talked about how he followed Heather around, and he knew that none of it was particularly kind to him. He knew Heather could’ve had an actual boyfriend if she’d wanted one, and he knew it wouldn’t have been him in a million years. He knew he was vaguely pathetic. But he liked it. He liked Heather. Just being around her was intoxicating, it always made his heart race and his mind fog up in the best kind of way. It was like being high, a little slow, a little stupid, and a lot happy.
“Psych sounds great!” he said, returning her smile brightly. And it did – especially if Heather kept flipping her hair like that while she copied his homework. And if she kept saying of course to him in that playful, vaguely flirtatious tone. He hesitated for a moment, then burst into speech.
“You know, if Psych’s hard for you, I can tutor you. I help Hannah with Psych all the time, I’m actually pretty good at it. It’s like, the one thing. Beyond, you know, computers. But you knew that, I mean, everyone kinda does. Um, so. My question. It’s just – in Psych the other day, we were talking about relationships remember? How your love map is formed, and the difference between, um, healthy and unhealthy. It just got me thinking. About you and me. Not that we’re in a relationship, but uh…” He paused, adjusting the books in his arms so they didn’t spill out. “I just – why me? Like, we weren’t friends before this year, you know? So… why me?”
Heather nudged him in the side at the generous offer. “So gonna take you up on that one, Luke. You’d look good with some elbow patches. My own personal teacher,” she joked with a wink, walking along towards the park and beginning to h u m under her breath.
Heather smiled genuinely, if a bit uncomfortably. This was the reason why she needed a guinea pig. And God, was Lucas the perfect one. Come on, Heather, you rehearsed this. But something shifted in her -- was it pity? Empathy?
Guilt? Whatever it was, it threw her script out the window.
Still, she kept her composure neatly intact, and Heather feigned confusion. “Incase you forgot, you’re the smart one,”She reminded him. “I don’t think I really get it. Why you, what? Why, you, to tutor me? Because you just offered, silly ... you might have to spell it out for me, Lucas. You're pretty much the brains of this operation, you know.”
A part of her hated edging him on like this, making him so uncomfortable when he was already halfway submerged in her, but other parts of her were stronger. She was curious. She was drunk on it. She wanted him to resist, even if just for the challenge.