Chapter Twelve
Iris
“Iris? Hello? Earth to Iris.”
I blinked back from tuning out Bailey’s excited ramble about going to Hawaii for spring break. Time was flying by far too fast. It seemed like the start of the semester just happened, and here we were at Spring Break already. It would be summer before I knew it. Across the table, she scowled at me while sipping at her cup of coffee.
“You were tuning me out, weren’t you?”
“I wasn’t,” I lied, forcing a smile on my face. “I was daydreaming about sandy beaches and warm ocean water.”
And Noah on the beach with me, shirtless. A shiver went up my spine.
I didn’t know what had come over me the other night, but it seemed like a good idea to do a Google image search of Noah. It turned out to be a horrible idea. Now, I all could do was imagine that well-muscled chest with tattoos and flat stomach with sharp hip bones that pointed in a very sinful direction.
I was turned on by a picture. Lame.
“It’ll be wonderful,” Bailey said, smiling dreamily. “My parents are buying me a first-class ticket there.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Of course, they would. Bailey’s parents had plenty of money to throw around, and they often threw it right at her.
“Cool,” I said. “That’ll be nice.”
“You should come with us!” she exclaimed then, squirming in her chair from excitement. “Wouldn’t that be nice? It would be so much fun.
A headache pounded. The last thing I wanted to do, even if I could afford to do it, was drink with Bailey and her new boy toy that wanted to follow her to Hawaii. The thought of alcohol made my stomach churn in nausea.
“I can’t go,” I said. “I can’t afford it. You know that.”
The smile on her face didn’t dampen at the news. She expected the reply because I never had any money left over for extravagant getaways. I could only afford the half hour drive back to my mother’s house on school breaks.
“Oh, right,” she said. “Well, I’ll collect a jar of sand for you.”
She bounced away from the table a second later to go to her morning class. I refilled my coffee mug with a sigh before perking up a little at the thought of going to Noah’s class.
At least he had stopped being such a jerk over the past week, in and out of class. We rarely even talked about class whenever we had our tutoring sessions. We just talked about whatever came to mind, and it was nice to have an adult conversation with someone else besides Bailey that didn’t involve money, schoolwork, or what douchebag was interested in Bailey that week.
There were only a few students at their desks when I entered. To my surprise, I spotted Jen sitting in the desk next to mine. Her friendly smile drew me close, and I found myself relaxing in her presence.
“I thought you were in the afternoon class,” I said, taking a seat next to her.
“I am, but I’m going to be leaving later this week to catch a flight back home. Professor Webber said I could come to the morning classes so I don’t miss any class time.” Jen smiled widely at me. “Do you have any plans for spring break?”
“Nothing yet. It won’t be crazy, though. I’ll probably just sleep in and be lazy and do homework.”
“That sounds exactly like my spring break.”
We shared a laugh before Noah entered through the classroom door. His eyes scanned along the desks before landing on me. A smile tugged at his lips when I met his gaze with my own smile.
“Nice to see you here on time,” he said. “Good way to set an example for the other students here.”
“You mean by not being late and actually doing my work?” I inquired innocently.
He chuckled at that, deep and husky, which instantly had my blood pumping through my veins. He took a seat at his desk in front of the classroom while he waited for the rest of the class to arrive.
“Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” Noah said once everyone was in the classroom. “What did we all think of this book?”
He held up his copy of the book that had tons of post-it notes poking out of it. I looked down at my own copy with a nervous glance. I loved Lady Chatterley’s Lover. I just didn’t want to openly discuss the sexual nature of it with Noah in front of a classroom full of giggling freshman who had yet to understand the beauty of this type of fiction. I’d be in heaven if I ever had the experience to write like Lawrence – so full of passion and sexual tension.
“A bit descriptive,” Jen volunteered. A faint blush filled her cheeks when Noah looked at her. “I mean, it was good. I liked the theme of personal relationships in there and the struggle to maintain them.”
Noah nodded. “You didn’t find his writing shameful, did you?”
“No,” she said, hesitantly. “I’m sure for back then it was. I read that they didn’t even print certain words back then.”
“They didn’t,” he agreed. “Certain words were considered too inappropriate. What did you think of the novel, Iris? This would be your third or fourth time reading it as a senior.”
I groaned inwardly when he used my first name. That alone made my stomach flutter, and the fact that everyone turned to look at me in surprise. Noah never used my first name in front of the class.
I looked up to find Noah staring me expectantly. Was that a teasing grin tugging at his lips? Or just an amused one? I shifted uncomfortably in my chair.
“I found it beautiful,” I said. “This type of novel I think represents the tension in a relationship. Lawrence hit on that perfectly, in my opinion.”
“The sexual acts did not make you uncomfortable?”
I paled at the question. I didn’t know what sort of cruel game Noah was playing at, but he clearly enjoyed it from the way he leant up against his desk while waiting for me to talk.
“No,” I garbled out, “not really. The entire theme was discovering that sex was not so…shameful.”
Giggles erupted in the classroom. My cheeks flared hotly, and thankfully Noah didn’t push it any further. I attempted a few notes throughout the hour, but I always found my eyes lingering on Noah.
I didn’t know what to make of our relationship. It certainly crossed some lines at times, I believed, but Noah never once made any moves on me. He always remained distant, but close enough to tease.
My mind floated to the descriptions in the book. I couldn’t help but imagine having myself wrapped up in someone like Noah Webber’s arms. He knew his way around the bedroom, too, from what I gathered online. There were several accounts of women talking about the time they had spent in his bedroom. He never committed to anyone.
Instead, he seemed to enjoy the attention – except for attention from the press towards the end of his career. Gone were those cheerful grins that could melt anyone into a puddle. Shadows danced across his face after the second ACL tear. It made him dark and brooding in the public sphere of opinion. It warranted more attention from women, which didn’t surprise me. We were famous for trying to fix the broken bad boy.
I shook those thoughts away when Noah glanced in my direction with that same grin tugging at his lips. I was treading back in that dangerous and choppy sea again. I needed to get out of it if I planned on surviving our tutoring sessions. Once class was over, I gathered my books and stuffed them into my backpack.
“I’ll see you around before spring break,” Jen said, smiling. “Maybe we could hang out if you’re going to be around the weekend after break?”
“I should be,” I said, returning the smile. “I’ll text you if I’m around that weekend.”
Jen bid me goodbye before slipping out for her next class. I waited until everyone was out of the classroom before walking up to Noah as he zipped up his messenger bag. He looked up. For a moment, I was paralyzed under those sparkling eyes that reminded me of a hot summer day in front of the ocean.
“Are we still on for tutoring?” I managed to ask in a calm voice. “Or am I doing better now?”
“That’s part of your way to earn a passing grade in this class,” Noah said. He looked me up and down in a way that made my skin feel hot. “Good job in the discussion today. I get the feeling that you are a fan of D.H. Lawrence.”
I shrugged self-consciously. “He’s one of the best, in my opinion,” I replied. “If I could write like him, I wouldn’t be in this classroom. I’d be out there writing. No offense.”
“None taken,” Noah said, laughing. “Well, you did good today. I can’t wait to read your response to some of the passages in here.”
I swallowed thickly. The entire novel was about sex, and I had written my paper in a way that would arouse his interest just for my own amusement and revenge. Surely, Noah knew that, but he stilled glanced down at my paper in curiosity. I couldn’t help the words that tumbled out next.
“It’s all about sex. What hot blooded male doesn’t like to read a woman’s response to sex?”
Horror filled me. I looked away with hot cheeks when Noah glanced up at me with a husky laugh.
“I guess I will be learning a few things then,” he said.
The timbre of his voice caused heat to sear through my lower belly. I blinked against the sensation before slipping my arms into the straps of my backpack.
“Consider it your education then,” I said.
Something similar to desire sparked in Noah’s eyes. I started in the direction of the classroom door before he could formulate a reply.
“Don’t miss our tutoring session this evening,” he called out to me. “I don’t want to give you a failing grade, despite how interesting this paper will be.”
I turned with my hand on the doorknob. There was no such thing as getting in the last word when it came to Noah. I’d realized that over the past month. He was confident in that way. Instead of offering a reply, I merely smiled at him before stepping out of the classroom to head in the direction of the doors.
I didn’t know what was coming over me, but it gave me a thrill, and I never wanted it to end.
The buzz of my phone interrupted my thoughts of what Noah’s face looked like when I shut the door on him. I answered it without even looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?”
“You’re gonna have to come to Hawaii with me,” Bailey said. “Especially with the letter I found tucked in our doorframe when I got back to our apartment.”
Dread coiled itself in my stomach, and it completely chased away the exchange I’d just had with Noah.
“What letter?”
“A letter from management. The entire apartment building is going to be fumigated while we are on spring break. Everyone has to be out.”
“You’re shitting me.” I groaned, rubbing at my face. “It seriously says we have to be out of the building?”
“Yep,” she said. “The entire spring break they will be fumigating the apartments. You better figure out what you’re going to do because they won’t let you stay here. I already asked about it. They were firm that you couldn’t stay.”
She hung up without waiting for a response. The only place I had left to go to was my mother’s house. My good mood soured instantly at the thought of going back there. I wanted to relax – not pick up after someone and clean the entire time. I had nowhere to go.
“Great,” I snapped out, stomping down the sidewalk in the direction of my next class. “What am I going to do now? Where am I going to go?”