Chapter Seven

For the next two days, things between me and Tristan were too professional that even I was getting annoyed by it. We spoke only about Math and there wasn't a single conversation other than that. He used to pick me up from the library, I used to teach him, and then he drops me off at my house. It was like teaching a lifeless person and I found it really hard to focus.

"Okay, enough of this! Why are you being an extra Asshole for these past few days?" I broke the silence in the middle of teaching and he gave me a surprised look.

"Awww, are you missing our playful banter?" he smirked, leaning back against the chair and I pursued my lips into a thin line.

To be honest, I did kind of miss it.

"More like annoying banter. I mean, seriously, I'm the one who should be angry with you." I burst out in frustration, making him raise his eyebrows.

"Why are you angry with me?" he asked in a serious tone.

Fuck! I can't tell him that his rude comment from two days back hurt me. He would hardly remember it. He kept staring at my face, expecting a reply.

Say something, Riley!

"I...You...umm...how did you know where I live?" I asked, completely out of topic and he gave me a weird look.

"Are you mad because I know where you live?" he asked in disbelief and I shrugged in response.

"It's an invasion of my privacy."

"Fine, if you must know, I just happen to watch you walk home from school sometimes." He mumbled, scratching the back of his head, not meeting my gaze and I eyed him suspiciously, "I'm not stalking you or something, Jesus Christ. I have far better things to do than that." he added after a few seconds and I nodded silently.

"Right." I tucked my hair behind my ears and fixed my gaze to the notebook in front of me.

"God, you are so confusing." He stood up from his seat, running a hand through his hair, and kept pacing around his room.

"Me? You are the one who gets angry for no reason." I replied, getting out of my chair and he started breathing heavily.

"I'm angry because you still have that ad in the school newspaper."

"Why the fuck does that bother you so much?" I asked, not understanding the reason behind his anger.

He immediately came closer towards me, causing me to stumble back in shock but he caught me by my waist with his strong arms.

"Because," he looked deep into my eyes and swallowed hard, "I don't like to share, Adams." He whispered, fixing his gaze to my lips and I forgot how to breathe. My skin burned from where he was touching and my heart was racing wildly.

Fuck, I did not expect a response like that in that way.

"Breath," he smirked, letting go of me swiftly and I pushed my hair away from my face, trying to process what the hell just happened right now.

"Wh-why is that?" I asked in almost a whisper and felt the entire air around us filled with awkward sexual tension.

"I don't want your focus on any other student. I need good grades and I'm paying you to teach me exclusively." He shrugged casually.

"I don't think we discussed anything about being exclusive," I raised my eyebrows, folding my arms in front of my chest.

"We are discussing it now." He stated in a firm tone which shut me up. For some reason, I felt excited about the fact that he didn't want to share me with anyone else even if it was in a totally unromantic way.

Something was seriously wrong with me!

Ugh!

"Ummm...you do not touch me like that again, jerk," I replied, trying to change the topic and pulled down my hoodie.

"Or what? Are you going to hit me?" he smirked, stepping closer again and I couldn't understand why he was behaving this way and more importantly, I couldn't understand why my body was getting excited. This was a completely different side of him that I've never seen and it intrigued me. I couldn't escape his intense gaze which sent tingles down my spine.

I can't be doing this. Not with him.

Push him away, Riley.

My mind was screaming but my body didn't listen to me anymore as I kept backing towards the wall behind me.

"I will hit you, Tristan," I replied in a meek voice, causing him to chuckle.

"I would like to see you try." He stated in an intense tone and my mind went completely blank.

What has gotten into him?

"I'm not going to be intimidated by you if that's what you are trying to do here," I spoke, looking straight into his eyes. He blinked twice before, stepping back and let out a huge breath.

"Take down the ad. I'm serious," he replied and walked outside swiftly to God knows where. I took that opportunity to relax by sitting down and taking a few deep breaths myself, having no clue about his behavior.

"Shall we leave?" I heard his deep voice from behind and almost jumped from my seat. Only then I noticed that it was past 9 pm.

"Yeah, sure." I cleared my throat and collected my things to leave.

The ride back home was silent again and I kept replaying the events of tonight over and over again. Suddenly it struck me that it was Friday night.

"What about tomorrow?" I asked, breaking the silence and he gave me a confused look.

"It's Saturday and we didn't discuss weekends."

"Ah, yes! What time would you be available?"

"Morning and noon till 5 pm. I won't be available in the evening." I replied, remembering about the stupid party I had to attend because of Lucy.

He eyed me up and down for a few seconds before replying, "How about noon? Around 2?"

"Sounds good," I mumbled, looking outside the window.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked after a while, taking me by surprise.

"What do you mean?"

"Tutoring? Why do you need the money?" I was about to reply but he stopped me.

"And do not say Curiosity killed the cat." He rushed out before I could reply, making me laugh out loud.

"Yeah, I was going to say that." I sighed and looked over at him only to find him staring at me.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Like what?" he cleared his throat, peeling his gaze from me.

"Like you can't believe that I'm actually laughing or something. Like I'm some kind of an alien." I blurted out. He let out a small laugh, biting his lips.

Fuck, that was hot!

"That is one way to see it, Adams." He replied, pulling over to my house. I wasn't sure what he meant by that.

"So, truce?" he asked, holding out his hand just when I was about to get out and my lips curved into a small smile. I think this was the first time we had an actual proper conversation that didn't end up in a heated argument or with one of us walking away. I was about to shake his hand but he pulled it away, giving me a knowing look.

"Fine, I'll take down the ad." I rolled my eyes and he smirked, shaking my hand. I know it would be cliche to say this but I swear I felt jolts of pleasure rushing through my body when our hands touched.

Or it was just my virgin ass getting excited even at the tiniest of human contact.

"Night, Adams."

"Good night. Jerk!" I smiled and got out of his car with my backpack, hanging loosely on my shoulders. I couldn't stop smiling as I walked towards my house.

"Why are you blushing?" My dad asked me immediately as I stepped inside the house and my eyes went wide. I turned my head to the side and found him sitting on the couch, wiggling his eyebrows at me playfully.

"I'm not blushing, dad," I replied almost immediately and ran upstairs, not before hearing his deep laughter echoing through the house.

Fuck! Was I actually blushing?

If I was, I was definitely going to be in some deep trouble because...

Tristan Harris was so not the kind of guy to think about and blush.