Maya could only watch in silence as Carter fumbled around for something to say but couldn’t seem to find it.
For once since they met, the normally confident hockey player seemed to be completely lost.
She wrapped her arms across her chest and let out a long breath.
“You are unbelievable,” Maya said as she shook her head.
“You came up to me, lied to Ryan, humiliated both of us, and somehow managed to convince yourself that you were helping me.”
Carter uncomfortably rubbed the back of his neck.
“When you put it like that, it sounds terrible.”
“It sounds terrible because that’s exactly what it is.”
“I truly believed that I was doing the right thing.”
Maya stared at him for several seconds before speaking again.
“You do not get to dictate who I can and can’t speak to.”
“I was not trying to.”
“You went ahead and tried anyways!”
“I just… forget it.”
“No,” Maya responded firmly as she stepped towards him.
“Finish what you were going to say.”
Carter shifted his gaze to the crowded courtyard.
“I don’t know why I did this.”
Maya blinked.
“What?”
“I don’t know,” Carter admitted truthfully as he shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know,” Carter replied truthfully while shrugging his shoulders.
“I saw him talking to you, then I saw you smiling, and before I knew it, I was already walking towards you.”
Maya examined his face carefully.
He wasn’t joking.
He wasn’t even being sarcastic.
He looked truly puzzled by his actions.
She sighed yet again.
“Well,” Maya said while fixing her backpack’s strap, “whenever it was that compelled you to do that, don’t do it again.”
Carter glanced at her.
“I’ll try.”
“You’ll do much more than trying.”
“I’ll… succeed?”
“Much better.”
A smile played on the corners of Carter’s lips.
“Here it is.”
Maya frowned and asked, “What?”
“The tiny smile.”
“I absolutely wasn’t smiling.”
“You were.”
“For almost two seconds.” Find the original chapter at novelping.com.
“It was only one second.”
Carter pointed at her and said, “So you admit it.”
After realizing what she just said, Maya quickly diverted her gaze.
“I admit nothing,” she said resolutely.
Carter chuckled quietly.
“You totally fell for that one.”
She rolled her eyes and said, “I have class in fifteen minutes.”
“So do I.”
“Then stop wasting my time.”
“I am literally walking with you.”
“You’re talking.”
“I usually do.”
“And that’s the problem.”
They walked toward the science building in an unexpectedly perfect synchronicity.
Silence followed for a few minutes.
Voices of other students reached them through the afternoon breeze.
There were groups of people crossing the campus lawn laughing and discussing their weekends.
Carter broke the silence first.
“You know…”
“What?” Maya responded to his pause.
“You never actually said that we aren’t a couple.”
She suddenly stopped so that he almost ran over her.
“Carter…” she began.
“Yeah?” he nervously replied.
“If you ever call me ‘babe,’ Carter, I will fail all your physics exams till the end of this semester.”
“But you won’t do that!”
“Do not try me. You need me in order to survive this course.”
“Not as much as I need you to pass it,” Carter responded.
She took another step closer to him.
“I will sacrifice my one recommendation letter just for this,” she said.
After a few seconds of staring at each other Carter nodded.
“Noted.”
“Good.” Maya turned around and walked away.
In a few seconds, Carter hurried to catch up with her.
“I still think that Ryan likes you.”
“Don’t care,” she said coolly without looking back.
“But you really should,” he argued, playing devil’s advocate.
“But I shouldn’t,” she argued back, still holding firm to her opinion.
“He definitely was flirting with you,” he said again, smirking.
“Carter.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just stop it. You’re frustrating me.”
“I get where you are coming from. Really, I do.”
Carter gave a dramatic sigh.
“I suppose we will have to agree to disagree.”
“We don’t.”
“We don’t what?”
“We don’t have to agree.”
He let out a laugh.
“So that’s the one I walked into.”
“So you did.”
Once they were at the science building, Maya was trying hard not to smile.
She wasn’t going to give Carter the satisfaction.
Unfortunately for her, he caught her anyway.
On the other side of the courtyard, Olivia was standing outside the student center, holding her iced coffee and looking in complete disbelief.
She had seen their whole exchange from beginning to end.
At first, she noticed Carter wrapping his arm around Maya.
Then, she observed how Maya pushed him away.
Lastly, she watched as they left the scene as if nothing had happened.
Olivia shook her head slowly.
“There is no way those two are just tutor and tutee.”
A familiar voice was heard behind her.
“I’ve said so for days.”
Olivia turned to see Ethan.
He had seen almost everything from the other end of the courtyard.
Olivia’s eyes grew wide.
“Really?”
She pointed at Carter and Maya.
“Tell me what’s going on with them!”
Ethan looked at his best friend and smiled.
“If only I knew!”
“You mean, you do not know?”
“Oh, I know exactly what is going on. Only problem is that Carter does not have any idea what is going on.”
Olivia giggled.
“They are both clueless?”
“Totally.”
She watched Maya leaving for the science building.
“I kind of feel sorry for them.”
Ethan chuckled.
“I do not.”
“Why not?”
“They are going to make this semester interesting.”