My Best Friend's Brother // Young Love Book 1 ✔️

My Best Friend's Brother Ch. 41

Chapter 41

"C'mon, El, this is easy. Even little kids can do this," Charlie says, making me feel a lot more terrible than I already do. He pushes the pen towards me.

I take it, scowling at him for insulting me. "Jerk," I mutter, trying to figure out the answer.

"Sodium chloride and water," he answered for me, since I gave up. "Neutralisation is basic stuff, El. How are you gonna fair during finals if you can't even do this?"

I lay my head on the table and close my eyes. Charlie flicks my nose, like the immature prick that he is. I turn my head the other way, so I that I don't have to look at him. He sighs and I open my eyes, brows furrowed.

"Okay, what's wrong? You've been acting grumpy this whole tutoring session," he noted, poking the back of my head. "Don't get me wrong, you're not a ray of sunshine either. You know what I mean."

I stare blankly at him, not sure of his point.

"Did you screw up your, uh, date with Andrew?"

"I never told you about that!" I say, giving him the stink eye.

Charlie doesn't meet my eyes and he bites his bottom lip nervously. "Just a guess," he replies timidly, which is really unusual for him.

"Sort of," I sigh, "I accidentally hit my glass of sparkling water. It spilt all over the table."

"At least, no one got hurt."

"It also dripped straight to his pants..."

"And..?"

"It made it look like he--"

"You idiot!" he yells as his laughter echoed in the room. And, as if that's not enough, he's banging his fist on the table too. "God, Elouise! Have I taught you nothing?"

I slap his arm, glancing at the other people who are trying to teach their peer. I smile apologetically at them, mouthing, "Sorry." Then, I turn to Charlie and I frown. "We're leaving."

After quickly packing up, we left the room in haste--I least, I did. Thankfully, his cackles slowly reduced to low chuckles. I really was glad that Charlie quietened down, but that didn't mean I wasn't annoyed at him. I thought that by admitting the fact that I messed up, he was going to give me something positive to look at. Instead, what did I get? Embarassment and shame.

Thanks a lot, Charlie.

As we walked home in silence, I briefly debated on whether or not I should put on my headphones. But, I thought better of it and just didn't bother. Glancing over at Charlie, I realised he was already staring at me with a goofy smile. I rolled my eyes. "Stop it," I warned, bumping him with my hip. "You're making me feel stupid."

"That's because you are," he retorted, eyes alight with cheekiness. "But seriously, what happened after?"

"Well, I said we could have a redo date."

He smirked. "Perhaps redo dates will be your always," he said, once again bursting out into hysterics.

This time, I swapped slapping him for shoving him. He stumbled back, but he didn't lose balance like I had hoped.

"Stop it, Charlie!" I shouted, my face red with irritation.

He didn't, so I just forced myself to walk faster. When that wasn't enough, I buried my hands deep in my pockets and contemplated putting a whole road between him and I. It was my best bet at the time.

In a flash, I went to go cross. I wanted to get away from Charlie as fast as I can. He was being an ass and he knew it. As I walked, I realised I did something wrong. You know what it was?