Page 18 of Campus Crush
Bear.
BigBear88:
It was worth it. They looked happy.
PeachyKeen:
I’m docking your allowance.
ELEVEN
Foster stared at the math problem like it was written in ancient hieroglyphics, his pencil gripped so tightly I was amazed it hadn’t snapped.
Math wasn’t always the easiest subject for some people, but his struggles weren’t from a lack of intelligence. He was sharp in conversation, quick-witted, and had a great memory when it came to real-world examples. But the moment numbers came into play, it was like his brain short-circuited.
His jaw clenched, and then he set the pencil down and dropped his face in his hands, his elbows resting on the table. “I don’t know. I don’t know,” he said again louder, defeat suffusing every ounce of his voice and body.
We’d been stuck in the same frustrating loop for two sessions now, and neither of us knew how to break it.
I was honestly astounded by how much he was struggling and how he’d even made it to the college level without understanding some of the basics.
“How have you gotten past math before?” I asked him.
He grabbed the back of his neck, and I tried to ignore the way his biceps bulged.
“Honestly, I’ve kind of avoided it as much as possible. As far as college level classes, I pushed them off as long as I could. In high school, I had…friends who helped me out.”
The way he hesitated on friends made me think maybe they were more.
“Girls,” I clarified.
He smiled sheepishly, but there was still a hint of shame in his eyes. “Sometimes, yeah. Not that I’m proud of that. They would offer and I would accept their help.”
His smile fell. “My dad…he’s kind of a prominent figure in our community where I grew up in Bozeman.”
“Hold up. You grew up in Bozeman and you didn’t go to MSU?” I was shocked. There was a lot of pride in our state schools. Since Montana State University was in Bozeman, it surprised me that he’d come to Clark Fork University instead.
He chuckled. “Everyone in my family has gone to CFU. So that’s why I came here. Plus, a friend of mine was part of the group that restarted the hockey team here, and I really wanted to be a part of that—help it grow and get established.”
He had done just that. I might have tried to avoid him as much as possible because of what happened freshman year, but it was impossible to deny the impact he’d had on the sports community here at CFU.
He leaned forward, and I pretended like my breath didn’t catch at the close proximity and the way his subtle cologne wafted into the air. “Why don’t you like me?” he asked.
“I like you just fine,” I said, brushing off his question as much as I could and focusing back on the task at hand.
But his hand covered the sheet we’d been working on, and when I looked up, his blue eyes caught my gaze. Once again, my breath caught and it was infuriating that my body still responded to him, despite the humiliation he’d once made me feel.
Maybe I should go to campus health and see if I was developing asthma or something.
“Abby, did I do or say something that offended you?”
Now I was struggling to breathe for a whole different reason. I couldn’t possibly tell him the truth. It was embarrassing enough that I had to remember it, but to say it out loud… absolutely not.
“No, of course not.”
“When I walked in here you were talking to that other tutor girl and you had this big, gorgeous smile on your face. How come you don’t smile like that with me?”
I knew we were at a higher elevation here in the mountains, but it felt like the air thinned instantly at his question. Did he just call my smile gorgeous?
