Make It Count

by Megan Erickson

  Kat pulled her eyes away from his abdomen and raised them to his face. He had stopped chuckling now, but hadn’t wiped the grin off of his face.

  He gave her a wink as he walked past her into the bathroom. “Next time, I’ll hold your hand and we’ll get through it together, Kat.”

  As the bathroom door shut behind him, Kat frowned at her hands, because yeah, it might make her thirteen, but she loved when a boyfriend held her hand.

  She sighed and walked back to Max’s bedroom. He was still asleep, but woke up as she dressed.

  “What’re ya doin’?” he mumbled sleepily.

  “I’m headed back to my place. I have some things I need to get done today.”

  He rubbed his eyes. “You okay walking back?”

  “Yep, I’m fine.”

  “Good. Call me later.” The bed creaked as he rolled over. By the time she closed his door behind her, he was asleep again.

  She trotted down the stairs and pulled on her coat as Alec emerged from the kitchen, a piece of toast stuck between his teeth. His hair was damp and he wore his glasses.

  Maybe he was hotter with his glasses on. They were kind of stylish, with thick, rectangular frames. They framed his face well. She needed to see comparison pictures or something. Maybe she could take pictures on her cell phone and then put it to vote among her roommates . . .

  “Kat?”

  How long had she been staring at his face? Ooops. “Uh . . . yeah?”

  Alec gave her a strange look and shoved the rest of his toast in his mouth. “I asked if you were heading home?”

  “Oh, yeah, I am.”

  He gestured toward the door and pulled his car keys from his pocket. “I can give you a ride.”

  “You don’t have to do that.”

  He shrugged and opened up the door, waving her out. “I’m heading there anyway. I have a meeting.”

  “Well okay. Thanks.”

  Alec’s car was the definition of a junker. There were splotches of rust among the brown paint, and the whole vehicle vibrated violently while they idled at a stop sign. When Kat pointed questioningly at a notepad with scrawled numbers on it, he explained his gas gauge didn’t work, and he kept track of his mileage on paper.

  She reached for the radio dial, but he waved his hand over the instrument panel. “Yeah . . . uh . . . it doesn’t work.”

  “You can’t listen to the radio?”

  “No. Well, at least, not usually. Sometimes when the moon is full and the stars align and I sit at just the right angle, I can get some gospel station.”

  “Silence sounds like the better alternative, then.”

  “Listening to music while driving is overrated.”

  She lifted an eyebrow at him. “Really?”

  The corner of his mouth lifted in a small smile. “No, not really. Driving without it sucks and it’s boring.”

  She laughed, and they lapsed into silence. Memories of the night before swirled in her head, but she clenched her jaw before she said something stupid like, where’d you learn to dance like that or jeez, how about this weather. She bit her lip as he pulled into a parking lot outside her apartment.

  “This is it, right?” he asked, gazing up at the building.

  “Yep. Thanks for the ride.” She climbed out of the car.

  “No problem, Kat.”

  She gave him a wave as she made her way into her building, aware of his car still idling in the parking lot, and the skin on the back of her neck tingling, like he’d branded her with his lips.

  She rubbed the spot with a wince and opened her front door. Shanna looked up at her from her video game. Again.

  Kat nodded at her and walked into her bedroom. Tara was tacking some pictures of her family on the wall. She gestured toward a box in front of Kat’s closet. “That came for you today.”

  Kat took off her coat and checked the return address label. “Oh good, my mom found my stuff.” She peeled off the packing tape and opened the flaps. On top of a pile of clothing sat a pair of almost pristine ballet shoes. She shoved the box over to Tara’s side of the room with a grunt. “It’s for you, actually.”

  “For me?” Tara said, dropping her pictures onto her bed.

  “Well, for Amy. My mom shipped all my old ballet stuff. I mean, I realize it’s, like, ten years old or something, but a lot of these things I never used, so . . .”

  Tara was already rummaging through the box. “Kat, I can’t believe you. This stuff is gorgeous.” She pulled out a light pink leotard with ivory trim. “Amy is going to look adorable in this stuff.”

  “I thought so. Anyway, I asked Mom to ship it so you could take it home for spring break. I hope some of it fits.”

  Tara dropped a pair of ballet shoes she’d been ogling and launched herself at Kat. “You’re the sweetest, Kitty-Kat.”

  Kat wrapped her arms around her friend’s waist and squeezed. Tara was the best big sister she’d ever met, sacrificing so much to help her family. If Kat could help in any way, she would in a heartbeat. “Anytime, Tare-bear.”

  Tara released her and tilted her head toward her wall. “You busy? Can you help me with these pictures on my wall? I think they look stupid, all up in a row. You have your side of the bedroom decorated so cool. Arrange mine for me.”

  Kat cast an eye over to her side of the room. Her comforter was a lavender with light yellow piping and she’d incorporated those colors around her space, finding different shades of purple and yellow frames to display her pictures. She had even managed to save up from her summer job filing paperwork for her dad to buy a purple laptop.

  Now comparing her side of the room to Tara’s, hers did look more organized. But that’s how she needed things to be.

  “Okay,” she said, taking the pictures from Tara she’d ripped off the wall. She leaned back, treating the wall as a canvas, and started layering the pictures into a big grouping on the wall. Tara’s family was beautiful, all blond and happy. Kat smiled at a picture of Amy, clutching a Nutcracker doll last Christmas. Beside it, Kat tacked up a picture of Tara crossing a 5K finish line. “So, are you nervous about your race?” she asked. Tara planned to run her first marathon over spring break in March.

  “Yes!” Tara said. “I’m excited but freaking out at the same time. Did I tell you that I ordered one of those 26.2 stickers for my car already so I can slap it on right after I cross the finish line?”

  “When I see those stickers on cars when I’m driving, I think, ‘Oh, there’s a completely insane person,’ ” Kat said.

  Tara laughed. “Yeah, I know I’m crazy. Actually, after we’re finished here, I’d planned to go for a run. Wanna come?”

  Kat shot her a look out of the corner of her eye. “You know that question gets a perma-no from me.”

  “I know, but I think you’d like it. Clears your head. Just flushes everything out and refreshes it.”

  “Sounds like a plumbing problem.”

  “Kat—“

  “Thanks for asking, honest. But I’m gonna say no.”

  Tara sighed. “Fine.”

  Kat smoothed a corner of a photo with Amy and her twin, Natalie. “Alec likes to run.”

  “Oh?” Tara said, her tone a little too smug for Kat’s taste.

  She shot her friend a glare. “Just making conversation.”

  “I think you’re talking about what’s on your mind.”

  Kat ignored the comment and stepped back, eyeing the collage of pictures on Tara’s wall. “What do you think?” She overlapped the photos so they looked like one massive shiny heart.

  “It looks awesome!” Tara clapped her hands. “You’re so good at this stuff.”

  “I’ll take care of the decorating for the two of us, and you take care of the amazing physical achievements,” Kat said, walking back to her side of the room to unload her book bag. Tara followed her. “So, are we going to discuss last night?”

  “What’s there to discuss?”

  “Um . . . you grinding your ass on Alec.”
/>   Kat turned a glare onto her friend. “There was no ass grinding. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Tara folded her arms over her chest. “Really.”

  “Yes, really.”

  “You both looked pretty flushed when you came back—”

  “Well, it’s only normal for a guy to get hard while dancing with a girl—”

  “A-ha!” Tara shouted. “You had to be close enough to feel that! Unless he’s got a foot-long shlong, which I highly doubt—”

  “Oh my God, we’re not discussing Alec’s anything.” Kat pointed a finger at Tara, who remained silent. Then Kat groaned. “Who am I kidding? I saw him in his underwear this morning and that image is going to be ingrained in my brain forever. Along with you saying the word shlong. What’s with that word?”

  Tara shrugged. “It rhymed with foot-long.”

  “Whatever, if he can get me to pass this statistics class, I’ll do anything with his foot-long that he wants.”

  Tara snorted. “I’ll be sure to tell him that.”

  Chapter Seven

  KAT SKIPPED—YEP, SHE was skipping like a giddy ten-year-old—out of her statistics class, a quiz paper clutched in her fist. She barely felt the cold as she made her way to the library for her second study session with Alec. When she reached their table, he was already there, head bent over a book. She slammed the paper down on top of his book, startling him.

  “Ooooh yeah, read that Mr. Smart Alec! Who’s the genius now?” She placed her fists on her hips, elbows out, and grinned triumphantly down at him.

  Circled at the top of the paper in red ink, was 7/10. Yeah, it was a 70 percent, technically a C. And there were only ten questions. But it was a heck of an improvement over 2/10.

  Alec looked at the paper and then up at her, a prideful smile splitting his face. “Way to go. See, I told you we could bring these grades up.”

  Kat squealed and clapped her hands, again reverting back to her ten-year-old self, knowing Alec wouldn’t mock her. She wasn’t used to this—this whole idea of being proud of herself for grades. She hadn’t realized what a high it was to work hard and see the benefits. She could get addicted to this. And to those prideful smiles on Alec’s face.

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said, plopping down in the seat across from him. “I got this tutor. He actually doesn’t help me at all. I can do statistics blindfolded. But I feel bad for him and I want to make sure he feels important.”

  Alec rolled his eyes. “What a sucker.”

  Kat reached into her backpack, pulled out a candy bar, and handed it to Alec, knowing it was his favorite. “Yep, he is.” Then she winked.

  His answering wink and the small moan he made as he bit into his chocolate-caramel goodness made her gut lurch. First in a positive way because she liked both. A lot. Then in a negative way because she had no business flirting with Alec.

  Why did he have to be so charming and nice? Right now, a stray lock of hair grazed his forehead, having escaped from its pomade pompadour prison. Her hands twitched to reach out and smooth it back.

  “So, I know your major is criminal justice, but what do you want to do?” Kat asked.

  Alec stuffed the rest of the candy bar in his mouth, chewed and swallowed. “Lawyer, and possibly judge.”

  “Is that something you always wanted to do?”

  He paused. “Yeah. Pretty much. And it’s a job that pays well. Mom and I never had a lot of money so . . .” his voice trailed off and he waved his hand as if to push the conversation away. “Anyway, so you have a test coming up, right?”

  Kat blinked at the change in subject. “Um . . . yeah. I have the midterm in a month.”

  He smiled softly. “I say let’s make a bet. If you get a B or above, I buy you dinner.”

  Kat wiggled in her seat and grinned wickedly, rubbing her hands together. “You’re on.”

  They broke out their notebooks and began to go over the notes from that morning’s class. Kat yawned. She had been up late the night before, and was coming down from the high of her improved quiz score.

  She was finding it hard to pay attention.

  “So, in this problem, we first need to find the mean difference in the population between the male student absences and female students absences.” Alec explained. “How do we do that?”

  Kat stared at her notes, but her handwriting wasn’t neat and the numbers on the page kept jumping around. She knew if she stayed silent long enough, Alec would answer for her.

  But he didn’t this time.

  She cringed because sometimes the letters on the page in front of her looked disjointed and the numbers didn’t match up. Add in the words from this statistic problem and the whole thing was a jumble. She couldn’t remember what the mean was. Or the difference. And the mean difference just sounded cruel.

  Alec paused, his finger on the paper. He looked at her and furrowed his brow. Cripes, she felt stupid.

  “Um . . .” she said.

  Alec squinted his eyes, studying her face.

  “Um . . .” she repeated.

  He had mercy on her. Finally. “Right here,” he tapped the page. “We subtract the boys’ absences—fifteen—from the girls’ absences—ten. So it’s five.”

  So, she couldn’t subtract ten from fifteen? How embarrassing. But as always, she was a master at the coverup. “Right!” she laughed, but it was fake, and Alec didn’t even crack a smile. “Yep. Sorry. Long day.”

  He slowly leaned back. “Okay, you want to take a break from studying and get a coffee or something?”

  “Yeah, that would be great.”

  Alec seemed lost in thought as they gathered their bags and headed out of the library. He glanced at her several times out of the corner of his eye. Kat ignored the looks and focused on her second biggest gripe—after her brain—which was the cold. The icy rain had dulled to a bone-chilling mist.

  But at least it took her mind off of the failed library study session.

  “We should be able to use something for transportation around campus. Like little enclosed golf carts or those Zipcars. Something with heat.” Kat wrapped her peacoat tighter around her body. “Ah! I know. Segways with umbrellas. Then we would be protected from rain and sun. Dual purpose.” She hummed thoughtfully to herself. “Covered Segways. Gosh, I’m a genius.”

  Alec seemed to jerk out of his thoughts and raised an eyebrow at her.

  “It’s necessary,” she explained. “This misting rain or whatever is making my hair frizz.”

  Alec’s eyes roamed her head and then returned to her face. “I don’t think it looks any different.”

  “What? Are you blind? My hair is all kinky from the humidity. And these little whispies of hair around my temples look awful and drive me nuts.”

  “Whispies? Are we speaking the same language?”

  Kat shrugged. “Um, probably not. This is Kat-speak.” She rolled her eyes dramatically and waved her hand in a circle. “I thought you were supposed to be smart. Keep up, Alec.”

  He stared at her for a minute and then started laughing. That wasn’t the first time she’d surprised him into laughter. She liked it. It made her feel clever. She’d never felt clever in her life.

  “Hey, since when are you two friends?” The familiar voice of Max—oh right, she needed the reminder she had a boyfriend—reached her as Alec held open the door to the campus coffee shop.

  She turned around to see Max grinning, striding toward them. “And making Zuk laugh? Wow, Kat, that’s a tough thing to do.” When he reached them, he slung his arm around her shoulders and guided her inside. He turned to wink at Alec, who still held open the door. “Thanks, buddy.”

  Kat tried to crane her neck to watch if Alec followed them inside, but she couldn’t see over Max’s massive shoulder. She faced ahead and bit her lip, letting Max lead her to a table. He took her bag from her shoulder and looped the strap over her chair for her, then gave her a swift kiss on her cheek. “I’ll get your mocha for you, babe,” he said, then
left to stand in line at the counter. Alec appeared at his side, and their heads bent as they talked.

  Sometimes Max could be so nice. Sure, he made comments every once in a while that made her feel dumb. But nowhere near the level previous boyfriends did. And there were times he treated her like a queen.

  But Alec never made her feel dumb . . .

  No. No. She could not do this. She would not be sucked into some weird love triangle like some teenage rom com. She was twenty years old, for goodness sakes, and Alec was her tutor. At most, a friend. That’s it. She smacked her palm on the table for emphasis, and then looked around, hoping no one noticed her lips moving like a crazy person.

  “Hey, you okay?” Max appeared over her shoulder and nodded toward her palm. “Did you smack the table?”

  “Um . . . yeah. I did. There was a fly. Black one. Wicked huge,” Kat made up, reaching for her coffee as Max took the seat next to her. “I missed it though.”

  Max twisted his head from side to side, front and back. “I don’t see it. Let me know if you do. I’m a pretty good fly swatter.”

  Kat had no idea why that was such a stunning claim to fame. She pictured Max armed in a beekeeper outfit, but skintight of course, since he liked to show off his muscles. He had a fly-swatter extension in each hand and several cans of insect killer in a handy-dandy tool belt around his waist. He flailed wildly with his swatter hands, yelling, “Vanquish!” as flies the size of bats swarmed him, breathing fire-

  “Hey.” Alec appeared at her other side and sat down, breaking her out of her dragon/fly hybrid-infested fantasy.

  “Kat said there’s flies buzzing around,” Max said.

  Alec blinked at Max and then looked at Kat. She widened her eyes at him.

  Alec’s lips twitched and he took a sip of his chocolate milk, probably to cover his grin. “I’ll be on the lookout.”

  Max nodded and then scanned the room again. The laughter bubbled up in Kat’s throat and she sighed loudly to stuff it down. Max ignored her, intent on his fly-hunting mission and Alec was doing the opposite, staring at her intently.

  Yep, despite her best intentions, she was in a romcom.