Xavier and the Wolf (Legends of Pinewood 1)

12. You give him lavenders

I walked into school carrying an aromatic lavender plant with a golden bow, feeling like a complete fool. The longer I thought about it, the more this plant gift started to sound like a practical joke Boris orchestrated rather than an actual good idea. 

I hesitated and stalled at home for such a long time that I was running late for my tutoring session with Aquila. Already, I pictured Aquila's utterly confused face when I presented him with the plant, and I half considered gifting it to Mrs. Bennet or Mr. Murray or even Iris instead.

When I walked past Mr. Murray's office and saw the door was already open, I half intended to walk in and place the lavender plant on his desk. The moment I turned to the side, however, Aquila came walking out of the computer room. 

 He saw me, crossed his arms, and frowned. "You're late."

Busted.

I smiled awkwardly. "Yeah, I am. Sorry about that."

"Why do you have a lavender in a pot?"

"Oh, I, uh..." I stalled, glancing at the principal's office. I could still get out of it now and tell Aquila it was a gift for Mr. Murray. Then again, why did I care so much whether or not he liked the flowers? If he didn't, I'd just blame his uncle for pranking me. "I got these for you, as a thank you for helping me."

I jutted the pot in Aquila's direction, and much to my surprise, he accepted it from my hands. He brought the flowers close to his nose and breathed in deeply. A slow smile spread across his lips. Then he made eye-contact with me, seemed to realise again he wasn't alone, and scowled.

"This is better than what others got me, I suppose," he said. 

"What did others get you?"

Aquila wrinkled his nose. "Alcohol."

"And let me guess: you don't drink alcohol either?" 

I shot Aquila an amused smile, and I wasn't even surprised when Aquila shook his head, still looking absolutely disgusted at the idea of drinking.

"You can have them," Aquila said. "The bottles. You're insane enough to drink coffee. I'm sure you like beer, too."

I snorted. "I'm surprised you even accepted the gifts if you hate it that much."

"Boris would kill me if I didn't."

I could see that—I'd already heard Boris threaten him for being rude to me once. He'd said something about this being Aquila's last chance, so I decided I could push my luck and tease him a little. "Come on, aren't you even a little happy with being a hero and people getting you gifts?"

Aquila pressed his lips to a thin line. "I'm not a hero."

"Well, I was pretty damn glad you showed up when you did in the woods." I shrugged. "So, thanks again. For being there."

"Yeah, yeah."  With a growl, Aquila turned away from me. I swore I caught a tinge of red on his cheeks, which made me grin.

"Anyway, now that we're both here, let's start our tutoring session, right?" I pointed in the computer room's direction.

"... Fine."

Aquila and I walked to the room together. We took a seat at our regular table, in our regular seats opposite each other. I took my laptop out like I always did, and turned to Aquila.

"Are you still not interested in studying together?" I asked.

I expected a blunt 'no' but today it seemed I'd already lost Aquila's attention before ever even getting a second of it.