Page 90 of Mud, Love, and Chemistry

The guilt punches me again. “Is everything ready?”

“Mhm.” He nods, but doesn’t look at me.

With an exasperated sigh, I slide my backpack off my shoulder, and plop into a chair. I swivel the seat back and forth with my hands folded on my stomach. My gaze keeps unintentionally flicking to Sam, but he’s laser-focused on the computer. I can’t blame him for being mad.

“All set.” He slaps the desk and turns to me. “Sorry, I wanted to make sure it was actually going to work before everyone got here.” His brow furrows. “You okay?”

I give a tight smile and nod.

Still eyeing me suspiciously, he leans back in his chair, mimicking my posture. “I think this will be fun tonight.”

“I’m sure it will be.”

“I can’t wait to see what happens on the next test. The mid-term grades improved so well, I wonder if they’ll improve more or stay the same.” There’s a sparkle in his eye, like he’s excited to discover new data. Like a true scientist.

“Maybe if everyone gets A's, we won’t have to do these groups anymore.” As soon as the words leave my mouth, I regret them. Even more so when I see the hurt on Sam’s face. “I didn’t mean that. What I meant was?”

Sam holds up his hand. “Nah, I get it. This eats up a lot of time.” The hand that’s in the air floats back to run through his hair.

I wince at the defeat in his tone, but I nod. “Maybe we shouldn’t have any more impromptu meetings, then.”

He opens his mouth, but a knock at the door stops him. Getting up, he stalks past me to unlock it, but stops and bends down. “For the record, I don’t mind you eating up my time.” With a wink, he steps away to open the door.

I stare after him, my mouth hanging open at the audacity of his confession. I decide it’s best not to think too hard about it, especially right now when we’re supposed to be teaching, so I turn my attention to the class.

Charades is a huge hit. Between my awful rendition of compound molecules and Sam’s hilarious, yet strangely accurate, display of synthesis, we have the entire class rolling on the floor. Several students even ask us to do charades for another study group session.

As bad as my acting is, I enjoy myself quite a bit. It helps that Sam’s laugh is infectious. From the first muffled guffaw, I find it incredibly difficult to keep my composure. Half the time, I end up breaking character to laugh along with him.

But that’s not all I learn about him tonight.

I also notice he’s different when he’s laughing. Like, actually laughing. The kind where you can’t catch your breath and tears well in your eyes. When he laughs like that, his smile is brighter. I don’t know exactly how to describe it, but I know I haven’t seen him smile like that before, and it’s cute.

He’s cute. The whole session he’s been playful, fun, and a giant goofball that maybe I knew was in there, but haven’t paid attention to. I know Sam is funny. He’s clever, anyway, but I’m not familiar with that side of him. Now, I want to be.

By the time the last of our classmates are out the door, Sam and I are all packed up. He hikes his backpack onto his shoulder, giving me a grin. “We were a hit tonight.”

“Yeah, we certainly were something.” I shake my head. “At least you were, I don’t know what I was doing.”

He chuckles. “You did pretty good.”

“I made people laugh, but I don’t think that’s the point of these sessions, is it?” I crinkle my nose, making an exaggerated confused face.

Sam laughs harder, and I revel in the sound. “No, but I’m sure it’ll help some of them retain the information. They’ll come to a question on the next test about the molecular makeup of adrenaline, and all they’ll have to do is picture you doing jumping jacks and running around in circles.”

“Ugh.” I drop my face into my palm. “I hope no one got that on video.”

“Hey, maybe you’ll go viral.”

I remove my hand, looking up at Sam. “Ha, just what I need.”

He smiles sympathetically and sighs. “Brynn, I want you to know I meant what I said earlier about you taking up my time.”

My breath catches. “Oh?”

“I don’t mind. In fact, I think I enjoy it. Because of the sex, that is.”

A laugh bursts from me, but I quickly reel it in with a sharp inhale. “I’m sorry for taking off without saying goodbye Wednesday morning.”

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