Page 81 of Trust Me Always

Fake but fun.

Okay. Cameron. Focus.

I give Alister an apologetic smile. “No, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to throw Brady’s name out earlier. I didn’t even realize I’d mentioned him until you did, but I have to say, I feel like my sorry might not seem like it means much because I can promise you it’s going to happen again. It’s just second nature to talk about my friends when I think about them, and I don’t want to have to try to censor myself around you. I want to be able to be your friend, Alister, but I think it’s fair for us both to understand that that might come with some hiccups.”

His eyes are pinned to mine, sharp and assessing, and I squirm a little.

“Like I said before, I have no interest in hurting you. I’m just doing what’s best for me.”

Alister just continues to stare.

“Let’s just get our work done, okay?” I mumble, pulling my laptop and notebook from my backpack and pretending I’m not a little uneasy now.

Maybe I was wrong.

Maybe it’s not so simple between us and we can’t be friends?—

The thought freezes in my mind, my eyes snapping up to his.

He sees the moment realization hits, that I finally figured out why he was so stuck after my little speech—my speech where I called Brady myfriend.

I rub my lips together anxiously, and his green eyes fly to the movement, holding for several long seconds.

Goose bumps pebble along my arms, making me glad it’s sweater weather these days. I don’t need him calling me out at the sight of them. Besides, I have a boyfriend and that would look bad.

I tug the sleeves of my hoodie over my hands and flip open my laptop.

A million years later, he does the same, and we jump right into phase two of our project.

Surprisingly—to me—Alister has a lot of good concepts when it comes to physical activities for learning, having come to our session today with ideas in mind. It’s obvious he’s been paying attention, understanding the importance this class holds for me.

We’ve been at it for a few hours already when we pause for a break. I sip on my second coffee of the day, smiling as Alister heads back to our table from the café’s front counter.

Alister sets down two toasted bagels and large ice waters, sliding in on my side of the booth this time. Without a word, he turns his laptop toward us and opens a new file, excited to show me what he’s come up with.

“So after I went over what I missed last week, I went back andread the text again. If I’m honest, I wasn’t really sure what it was trying to tell me, so I had to play around on Google a bit.”

“Oh?” I fight a smile, not really sure where this is about to go.

“Yeah. And it’s pretty interesting actually. I realized I’m the type of learner you’re looking to cater to.”

Attention officially caught, I shift in the booth, leaning my back against the wall so I can face him fully.

“Okay so, this is embarrassing, but I’m bad at school—as in I fail more than I pass, and it’s mostly because I pretty much hate everything about learning.”

A laugh leaves me, and Alister grins.

“I’m serious. The only reason I did any assignment in high school was to stay eligible. A 2.0, that’s it. I had a waiver one year because I couldn’t even manage to halfway pass.”

“I don’t love every class either, Alister, and I have to work pretty hard to get the grades I’m after.”

“Exactly.” He snaps his fingers, clicking on the document inside the folder he pulled up. “So what better way toexplore and engage, as you called it?—”

“Because that is what it’s called,” I laugh.

He grins. “Right, so what better way to explore and engage and test kids’ ability to learn than finding their point of interest? Because I can tell you right now, if a teacher ever told me to take a hundred yards of open field and split it between two teams, then find a way to get one team to the hundred using x, y, z, whatever the hell, I would have known exactly what to do.”

“Football brain.”