Firsts & Lasts

First Fling.

TW: mention of domestic abuse/violence
Christian

Nova and I have been working on our speeches for the past three hours. Luckily, the guys are out tonight so they weren't here to be shouting downstairs as we did our work. Whenever Nova comes over to do work and they are home, I tell them to shut the fuck up. I don't threaten them with anything, they just listen.

The focused red head in front of me plops a pretzel into her mouth as she reads an article. We like working together and I'm happy to notice that she doesn't get as distracted by my presence anymore. Of course, I don't talk much while we work, but still.

Her forehead crinkles like she has just read something confusing. She probably has. She begins to move her lips in a whisper. She then proceeds to use a finger to point at the screen while she reads. She's trying. Normally, she would have gave up on the first try. I've been pushing her to reread the material before giving up completely. I also showed her different methods on how she could read it to have a better understanding of what she's reading.

I smile a bit as she continues to reread the paragraph or sentence. I want to say something but I don't in fear of shifting her focus to me. I checked her speech when she got here and she's actually done a good amount of work. I have no doubt she won't be struggling to do it at the last minute like last time. That is considering she keeps working at the rate that she is.

She lets out a small snort and then turns her computer to me. "Look, it says here that there's no harm in a sixteen year old boy being friends with his female teacher because he said, and I quote, 'doesn't find her attractive enough'. Like enough? What the hell does that mean? Boys are so weird!" She finishes. I can't help but grin. I gave her the idea of researching the topic that she is and I'm glad she stuck to it.

"Dude definitely wants some teacher tits." I say with a chuckle. Novalee looks up at me, unamused. She grabs one of my pillows and chucks it at me. I catch it before it hits my face. "What the hell was that for?" I furrow my brows. She crosses her arms over her chest. "That was disgusting, Christian. Don't say things like that." She frowns, now attempting to throw a pretzel at my face.

I catch it in my mouth.

A smile grows on her face and her eyes light up like she just fed her dog a treat and he caught it. "Oh my god, your reflexes are quick!" I shoot her a wink as I swallow the dry pretzel. We don't eat those here but Novalee likes them so Xander always buys them for her when he goes grocery shopping.

She pokes her chin out at me. "How's your speech coming along?" She asks. I flip my laptop to show her my work. "I'm filling out the outline." I explain. Her mouth gapes open as her eyes scan the screen. Okay, she might be a little bit behind compared to me, but she's still doing very good.

"Why are you like a stupid-little-big genius?" She says quickly. I narrow my eyes at her. "You just used two paradoxes in one sentence." Her forehead crinkles again as she stares at me blankly. She's confused again. "Para- what? English, Christian!" She snaps her fingers at me like I'm a child.

I grab her hand within mine to stop her snaps. I place it down on her lap. "A paradox is like a contradicting statement. You called me big and little and then stupid and genius. So, you contradicted yourself twice, babe." I explain. She looks off to the side like she's taking in what I just said. She nods her head slowly. "Oh."

She smiles, but it fades quickly. "Where did you learn that?" She asks, looking back at me. I chuckle softly. She reminds me of Rhys sometimes. They're both a little slow, not dumb though. Well, maybe Rhys is just dumb.

"English class. Didn't you?" I tilt my head slightly as I ask her this. She looks away from me for just a second, before looking back with a newfound smile on her face. "Yeah! I just forgot what it was for a second. Paradox? Oh yeah, duhh. I was confusing it with something else." She chuckles.