XOXO, Violet by Ginger Li
4Violet
What just happened? I thought I’d be cool this time.
We’d studied DNA in bio earlier this year. Perhaps I was born with a defective gene that made me incapable of talking to members of the opposite sex. Was that even a thing? I placed my lunch down, wishing I were anyone but me.
A hand snaked over my plate, reaching for one of my tacos.
“Hey,” I cried, tugging my food away. “Hands off.”
But it was too late. Wes took a big bite before making a face. “I can’t believe you’d rather eat this than a carne asada taco.”
“You’re seriously criticizing a stolen meal? Give me that.” I grabbed the taco out of his hand. “It’s delicious. Plus, fish is ten point five times healthier than beef.”
I’d cut red meat and pork from my diet early freshman year. It broke my mother’s heart because so many classic Filipino dishes involved beef and pork, but she understood my desire to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle. Now my entire family ate more chicken and tofu, which, thankfully, even my burger-loving twin didn’t mind.
Wes cocked his head and gave me a sly smile. “Wow. I’ve never known someone to be so precise with their made-up facts. Ten point five?”
A smile tugged at my lips, but I held it at bay, determined to remain annoyed at him for eating my food. “What are you? Some sort of taco thief and mathematics Neanderthal? Decimals matter.”
“Clearly.”
His gaze held onto mine and I swallowed hard. Wes’s unruly blond hair, striking blue eyes, and perpetual flirty smile made him one of the most sought-after guys at East Beach High. But I knew better than to fall under his spell.
I let out a huff. “Come on, Ash. Back me up here. Tell your friend how important decimals are.”
Asher raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I guess so.”
Olivia stared at both of us as if we were crazy. “Are we actually discussing decimals?” She got to her feet and slipped on a pair of sunglasses. “That’s my sign to leave. I have to meet someone before French class.”
“I’ll head out with you.” Piper grabbed her bag.
“Wait up, I’m tagging along too.” Asher eyed Wesley and me. “You two coming?”
I shook my head. “I still have a taco to finish.”
“And I’ll keep Violet company.” Wes reached for my food again, and I slapped his hand away. Hard. Growing up with two brothers, I’d learned early to protect what was mine.
“Not going to happen. Try stealing another girl’s food, buddy.”
Laughing, Wes raised both hands in defeat. “Ouch. Got it. You’re serious about your food.”
Darn straight I was.
As Asher, Olivia, and Piper walked away, I glanced over at Wes, surprised that he’d stayed. While he and I had made leaps and bounds from when we first met, we weren’t exactly the closest of friends.
Wes placed his hands behind his head and lay across several rows of bleacher seats. I eyed his relaxed form with jealousy. How must it feel to be so comfortable in one’s own skin?
He raised his arms and stretched, causing the hem of his shirt to rise, revealing a patch of smooth, tanned skin.
Something fluttered inside like the delicate wings of a butterfly.
“Intrigued by what you see?”
“Who…me…no.” Intelligent words escaped me and I tore my eyes from his waist and looked away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t looking.” Much.
Wes opened one bright blue eye and smirked. “Liar.”
“Am not.”
He closed his eyes again. “Okay. Maybe you weren’t looking at me. But you were definitely looking at Chase. How long have you liked him?”
My cheeks burned. Was I that obvious? Did everyone know? Even worse, did Chase know? Doubts whizzed around in my head like fungus gnats, and my heart began to race.
No. Not again. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.Struggling to keep my breathing steady, I closed my eyes and dropped my face to my shaky hands.
A warm hand rubbed circles on my back. “You’re okay, Violet. You’re safe. I’m sorry. I was only teasing.”
Normally, even the mere thought of someone as good-looking as Wesley touching me would have sent me into freak-out mode. But since I was already there, I allowed him to comfort me for a moment longer before pulling away. Fear crawled its way out of my gut, and I tried desperately to push it back down, hating how vulnerable and exposed I felt. “I better go.”
Wes reached out as if to touch my arm but then pulled it away. “No stay, please. I wouldn’t have said anything if I knew you’d—”
“Freak out? Don’t worry about it. I’m fine.” I tried to laugh, but it felt like sandpaper scraping against my throat. “It’s just another of my weird quirks. I’m shy, awkward, and have panic attacks.” When I was younger, I used to get them more often. This was the first one in over a year.
Wesley’s eyes darted over my face. “Shoot. This is going all wrong. I wanted to ask for your help.”
Now it was my turn to look surprised. “What could the great Wesley Stirling possibly need my help with?”
He blew out a breath. “Math. Well, precalc, to be precise.” Wesley pulled several crumpled sheets of paper from his backpack and offered them to me.
I cautiously flipped through the pages. Yikes. It was a bloodbath. Wes hadn’t answered a single question correctly, not even the “gimme” ones at the start that teachers gave to boost their students’ morale.
“This is my third failing quiz grade. And that’s after getting extra help from Mrs. Lamb. If my GPA isn’t at least a C minus by spring, I won’t be able to join swim team, so I need a tutor.”
Gone was the cocky water polo player I’d met earlier in the year. In his place sat a guy who looked like someone had kicked his puppy, stolen his car, and eaten his ice cream.
“Okay. I’ll do it.” As I handed back his test papers, I briefly debated hugging him. The poor guy sure looked like he could use one. But this was Wes we were talking about, and we weren’t that close. So instead, I settled on a friendly pat on the arm.
Wow. I let my hand linger on his bicep for a moment, tracing the outline of his muscles with my fingers. Wes was seriously muscular. Of course, it shouldn’t have come as a surprise because I’d gone to water polo matches with Piper and Olivia before, so I knew how much swimming they did. But still…
Side note: Have you ever seen a water polo player’s uniform?Then you know what I’m talking about. Nothing’s left to the imagination. Still, it was one thing to look at someone’s muscles and something entirely different to feel said muscles beneath your hand. Normally, I didn’t appreciate brawny guys, hence Chase being my ideal. But Wes’s muscles were surprisingly nice. I gave his arm another firm squeeze, and a jolt of electricity zipped through me.
Very nice.
“Um, are you done there, Violet? Or do you want to keep feeling up my arm? Because you can go hog wild if you want. I’ve got two.” Seeing his eyebrows rise, I yanked my hand away.
Oh. My. Goodness. Could this day get any more embarrassing? I cleared my throat, trying to give my cheeks some time to cool down from their nuclear state. What were we talking about again? Muscles? Tiny water polo uniforms? No, wait. It was tests! That’s right.
I forced myself to look Wes straight in the eyes. “Look, I might not be great at this whole normal functioning human thing, but I can factor and graph algebraic expressions with the best of them.”
Wes’s mouth tugged up on one side. “I know. Mrs. Lamb recommended you.”
“She did?” I squealed and clasped my hands together. “I love her. She was my Algebra Two teacher and the faculty advisor for the math team. Not that I’m part of it or anything. I’m not that good at math. I mean, I’m good. Just not that good. Did you know one of our team members competed on the US high school math team? Personally, I’d much rather learn about science. Especially plants. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with worshipping at the altar of mathematics. Math makes the world go round. Well, that and gravity.”
Oh dear. I clamped my mouth shut. It had just happened again. I’d done a big fat brain dump, right in front of a hot guy.
Wes coughed, trying to suppress a laugh. “Thank you, Violet. That was both informative and entertaining. And just so you know, if you do tutor me, I promise not to take advantage of our friendship. I’d pay you, of course.”
My shoulders relaxed slightly. “Oh no. I couldn’t take your money. This would be one friend helping another. After all, who am I to deprive our swim team of one of its star athletes?”
Wesley crossed his arms over his chest, the action only highlighting his extraordinary muscles. Judging by his smirk, he knew exactly how dangerous his guns were. “Actually, I wasn’t thinking of paying you with money. I wanted to offer my services in return.”
“Your…services? What services are we talking about here? Like a car-washing service?” Images of a shirtless Wesley scrubbing my beat-up old truck invaded my thoughts.
Ack!What was I doing? Put a shirt on him, Violet!
A wicked gleam lit up his eyes and he leaned in closer. “You tutor me in math, and in return, I’ll teach you how to get a date with Chase.”
I jerked back. “No way. You’re kidding me, right?” Why was Wes even suggesting this? He must have realized I was missing the how-to-be-a-normal-teenager gene. This had to be some kind of joke. Only I wasn’t laughing. I grabbed my bag and raced down the bleachers, fuming.
My phone buzzed twice, and after pushing aside pens and notebooks, I pulled it out of my bag.
Wes: I’m totally serious.
Wes: Let me help you with Chase.
Me: Haha. Very funny. There’s no way you could get me a date with Chase.
Wes: But what if I could?
I barkedout a humorless laugh before typing my response.
Me: Then you’d be a miracle worker.
Wes: I’ve had girlfriends throw that label my way before.
Me: Ew. Gross. I don’t want to know why.
Wes: Because I give quality back massages. Why? What were you thinking?
Me: *Eye-roll emoji*
Wes: Please, Violet? Give me a chance. When I’m done with you, Chase won’t know what hit him.
I chewed on my lip.Even if Wesley was being serious, his proposal was absurd. I’d spent three years trying and failing to get Chase to notice me and Wes thought he could just swoop in and do better?
And yet…
Who better to help me than someone as charming as Wes? I glanced back and saw him still standing on the bleacher steps, watching me.
The guy merely had to breathe, and girls were drawn to him, as evidenced by the perky blond girl now approaching him. Ugh. I turned around and kept walking. It wasn’t fair. Wes was like some freaking super flower attracting pollinating insects.
Me: You don’t have to do this.
Wes: I know. But I want to help. As a friend.
Wes: Plus, when you’re as popular as me, it’s important to give back to the community.
I snickered.Okay, the guy could be funny. Maybe we could make this work. Maybe he could turn me into the alluring flower.
Me: Fine. Teach me your ways, oh charming one.
Wes: Charming one? I like it. How about we meet after school to sort out the details of our arrangement?
Me: Can’t. Micah’s picking me up and dropping me off at work.
Wes: Tell him I’ll take you. We can chat on the drive there. And if you’re free afterward, we could start tutoring tonight.
“So, what do you think?”
I turned around and found myself staring at a chest. Wesley’s chest, to be precise. He stood so close that I could feel the heat radiating from his body and smell his woodsy aftershave.
Buzz-buzz, baby. He was definitely putting out all the signals for pollination. But, unfortunately for him, I was one insect smart enough to realize what was happening. I took a step back.
“Please, Violet?” This time, there was no flirtatiousness in his voice, only a desperate vulnerability.
I folded my arms across my chest, trying to create some sort of barrier between us. “You know this is a ridiculous arrangement, right?”
“It won’t be once we both get what we want.”
I sighed. With my parents being teachers, I’d always believed in the power of education. Guess it was time to test that theory out. “Alright. You’ve got yourself a deal.” And without even thinking, I offered my hand to shake on our agreement.
Wes glanced at it with amusement before wrapping his long fingers around mine.
A spark of something danced over my skin, and two thoughts sprang to mind.
Wow, Wesley’s hand’s really warm.
Followed by, what in all that’s green and good have I gotten myself into?