Sophia's P.O.V.

I periodically glanced at a blotchy painting behind Bryce's head as he talked, drifting off to distract myself from thinking of the awkward situation I was in.

Boys didn't always like me, but whenever they did, I found a way to make a fool of myself. It was a tendency of mine that I couldn't kick.

Right now, in this very moment, for example. A normal girl would've done something seductive, like flip her hair or give a little wink when a guy like Bryce shows them a sliver of attention. I couldn't be a normal girl though. 

Oh, no.

While reaching over to rest my elbow on the bookshelf, the side of my overall shorts snagged a sharp corner, hooking the fabric and keeping me in place. I leaned forward once, and I internally yelled at the sound of fabric ripping. I was too afraid to look at the damage. Resting my elbow there made me think that my little "freak out" at seeing him would win me some cool points.

Chill out. Focus on something other than the clothes...focus on Bryce.

No wait! Don't focus on him.

I was ahead of myself on that one. I began pinpointing little things about him as he told me about a class he left. I didn't pay that much attention to the words that came out his mouth, as so much as how he said it.

He elongated certain words with his East Coast accent, the long vowels and over pronunciation on specific letters made me get lost in the sound. Just the sound. The rugged, velvety sound of his voice alone traveled through me like wine. I couldn't get enough of it. If getting intoxicated off a voice was possible, his voice would be one of them.

Soon enough, Bryce caught on to what I was doing. He blinked at me, biting the corner of his lip to stop the smile. "What is it? Is there something in my teeth?"

"No, no. That's not it." I boomed, moving closer to touch his arm. I snatched it back, not letting myself get too comfortable with him. "Sorry."

"You don't have to say sorry."

"I know—sorry." I shut my eyes, covering half of my face with my hand. "I'll stop talking now. Forget I ever existed."

Bryce laughed. His laugh sounded better with my eyes were closed, as strange and stupid as that might seem. It was the center of my attention, surrounding me in the darkness.

"You're such a weirdo, Sophia."

My hand fell from my face. I shrugged at his comment and suppressed a gasp at the tear I heard. I flattened a hand against the tear and mustered a small grin, praying that I could play this off.

"Thank you? I guess. I've been called worse. And usually not in English. You should really see my Tío on my moms side after he's had a few bottles. No one is safe because he suddenly thinks he's a stand-up comedian. I'm typically the butt-end of his jokes though."

"It's not an insult, Sophia," he stated. His lip returned tucked under his top row of teeth. I held my breath while he released his lower lip, slowly. "I like you being a weirdo...I like you."

I coughed, spit lodging my airway.

"Are you okay?" He reached for my wrist.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just choking on your bullshit." I cleared my throat. "I'm fine now though. I thought I was heading for the white light for a second, but now I've recovered."

He dropped my wrist, a puzzled look gracing his face. "I'm not kidding."

"Neither was I." I countered. "I'm also not that gullible."

"I never said you were."

"You didn't, but your actions said it for you. Maybe you should try that out on the freshman girls. You might get more luck with them. I think I know ten girls who would gladly go for you."

Bryce stepped back, perching up on the edge of the table behind him. The playful gleam in his eyes was still there, if not brighter than before. "I appreciate the offer, but I don't need your help. I'm doing fine on my own."

"Which, I must say, is astonishing." I paused. "Not because you're bad-looking or anything, that's not the problem—"

"Are you admitting that you're attracted to me?" The corner of his eyes tightened as a smile began.

My face heated up. Why did I say that?!

"No—I mean yes," I backtracked. "No, that's not what I was going to say."

"You sure? Because it sounds like that's where you were heading." He beamed and raised up off the table. "Are you trying to come on to me, Sophia? Is this a sexual advance I'm witnessing right now?"

He was mocking me. That smug grin on his face told me that, loud and clear.

"No." I grumbled, bringing my hand up to stop him from getting anywhere near me. My boiling blood rushed to my face. "I was going to say that even though you aren't really ugly," I reworded, "you are bad at flirting."

"I beg to differ." He snorted.

"I'm just calling it as I see it." I eased backwards, completely forgetting what was wrong with my outfit. I yelped again at the terrifying noise it produced.

Bryce walked around me, creeping in closer. His hand brush off my own that was settled on the rip.

"W-what are you doing?"

"You keep freaking-out about this thread that's caught. It's not that big." He kneeled to the floor. He had to lean in a little to come to eye level with the tear near my waist. My body went rigged, standing straight up. I was hyper-aware at the space that decreased when he unhooked the fabric from the sharp corner and bit the three loose threads off

with
his
teeth.

He didn't need to do that, but he did. If I wasn't blushing to my scalp before, I was now. There was nothing appealing about what he had done, but with how fast everything happened, I didn't get a chance to let my heart beat catch up with the rest of me.

I peeked down at him, still on his knees next to me. I quite enjoyed the sight of him like that, peering at me with his left-hand hovering over my hip – not close enough to touch me, but close enough for me to feel his warmth.

"Thank you." I tried to mimic his husky voice, but I lacked the luxurious complexity. I sounded more like a mouse. There was no conviction, no confidence. It was a mix between a whimper and a hiccup.

A whiccup.

The last time I had done a "whiccup" I ended up in a tragic love affair. I didn't want a repeat of Remy or a revisit to how awful relationships could make me feel. My heart had only recently been patched back up. Partially.

For my own safety, I stepped away from Bryce. Distance was supposed to make this pain in my chest lessen, but it didn't. I frowned at what I'd done. I wanted to believe the love-struck girl that rented a room in my brain and messed with my life-choices.

The less logical part of me wanted to believe that Bryce wasn't wrong for me in every way possible, despite allegedly having ties with illegal activities. Besides that, he could be better than Remy could've ever been. I was wishing for a miracle if I was delirious enough to think that could happen.  

I had learned that sometimes heartbreaks map out the fate of your life, erasing different possible paths in the fear of adding another dent or fracture to your battered soul. I hadn't figured out what Bryce's motives were...besides for wanting to sleep with me. That was clear. He wouldn't be at the library on a Wednesday, talking to me if it weren't for the fact that he wanted to get in my pants like all the other girls before me.

It was too soon to see where he was going with this. If he was serious, if he was willing to win me over, or if I was only a short-term distraction. Bryce was a completely new, uncharted route my faint-hearted self couldn't take on.

Prying off his fake player façade was something that required patience. Patience that I didn't know how to obtain. My patience was okay when I wasn't overly challenged. But I caved in fast, last time I checked.

On top of that, I wasn't nice to Bryce. I rejected him twice already.

Call me crazy, but I secretly wished he was mean to me. This would be a lot easier if he was a jerk upfront. I could forget about him by tomorrow if he wasn't like this to me.

Frankly, it didn't matter if he was mean to me or not. He'd get bored of me and this little cat and mouse game would disintegrate into thin air. I would be left with the broken pieces, forced to put them back together all over again.

This route - the route that avoided Bryce - was for the best. I would be thanking myself in the future for backing out of this situation.

I stuffed my hands into my overall pockets, taking another step away from him for safe measures. Surprisingly, I could still feel him all around me – the heat above my hip didn't decrease. It was like he marked the skin underneath. "I came here with a friend. We're supposed to be working on an essay." I explained. "I should go back and find him."

Bryce stood up, squinting at me. Whatever I was feeling, I knew he was feeling it, too. But there was something else bubbling, something darker, inside of him that I didn't know how to read.

"Wait." Bryce said, looping an arm around my waist and rotating me to face him before I could leave. He did it so fast that I nearly lost my breath when he appeared inches from my face. The roles were reversed now. I was the one looking up at him. I wasn't complaining.

"Yes? What is it?" I asked.

"I know you said you don't want to go to my friend's party. I get that. Parties are overcrowded. They're annoying. They usually consist of loud drunk people that get too handsy on the dance floor."

I nodded, blinking at his hand calmly on my hip. "Correct."

He kept his hand in place, not catching on to my hint. "So, what are you exactly doing on Sunday?"

"Again with this question?" I smirked. "It's my birthday."

His eyes widened. "It is? I didn't know that. You should've said that. Are you doing anything for your birthday?"

"Yeah. I'm staying at my mom's place for most of the morning, helping her set up for this family dinner she wants in my honor on Monday. But at night, I'm going to a carnival with my friends. After that, I'm thinking of crashing at my friend's loft to watch movies."

He tilted his head, grinning in this boyish way that was almost unrecognizable. "What's the address?"

I scoffed. "You can't honestly be considering ditching a party."

"I didn't say I was considering it," he said. "But if the party starts to get boring or too crazy, would you be okay if I stopped by?"

"It's a free country. If you want to go to a public event, you can. I can't control what you do." I crossed my arms. "That's up to you, buddy."

"I wasn't talking about going to the carnival." He clarified, wigging a perfect brow.

I jumped back, narrowing my eyes at him. Maybe he would catch on to this second hint. "No, you can't. I'm actually a little offended that you brought that up so casually. Is that how you do it? It's that easy for you, isn't it?"

"I'm only asking to hang out. Why do you keep saying it like that? Like I do this for a living."

"Thankfully you don't. I know you're lying about you intentions."

Bryce spun around in a circle with his hands on his head. He looked back at me, dead on. "I'm not lying, Sophia. I wasn't implying anything. You thought that up on your own."

"I will admit that I've got an overactive imagination, but that was not something I made up just then. That was you. You did that weird eyebrow thingy." I pointed my index finger at his face. "You implied it with that move alone."

A soft, incoherent muffle exited out of his mouth. "It's a bad habit. I happens on its own. Okay? Is there anything I can do so you stop getting this idea that I'm implying something with each thing I do?"

I unfolded my arms. "Now that you mention it, actually yes. There is something."

"Good." He sighed in relief. "What is it?"

Bryce wasn't going to go for my suggestion. I didn't have time to go easy on him though. I left the offer on the table, seeing if he'd take a grab at it.

"We can be friends." I recommended. "If we're friends, I wouldn't mind if you asked to hang out. Matter of fact, I'm sure I could help - as a friend - to improve your Mr. Smooth act."

His brows knitted together, full on scorning me. "Friend?"

"Yes. Friend. But only platonic."

"Platonic?"

"Can you stop repeating one word? I know you know what platonic means."

"I do. I'm letting it sink in." He nodded, linking his two hands behind his back. "Platonic. Adjective. Meaning a relationship and/or friendship that is affectionate and intimate but never sexual."

I huffed. "Yup. That's it. Thanks dictionary."

Bryce stalked across the small distance I had worked so hard to create between us, making any form of a gap disappear in the blink of an eye. He towered over me, forcing me to crane my neck to look at him. His eyes looked hooded in this angle, staring at me with a faint glimmer in his gaze. "I can work with that. The whole friend thing, that is. As long as you can do it."

"Oh, trust me. I can."

"Then so can I," he proclaimed. Bryce's fingers latched on to my overalls belt loop, gently yanking me forward. "I'm just a little worried about you."

I soaked in the fiery sensation that shuddered down my spine and into the soles of my shoes. Drowned in his inviting voice, I was tempted to stand there, watching him a little longer. Enjoying his touch. Enjoying how our chests were barely tapping against each other.

Getting a grip on reality, I quickly snapped out of the heavy spell I was under and backpedaled, accidentally bumping into a chair. 

"I can definitely do this. I'm worried about you actually. Friend." I emphasized and stumbled off to the opposite end of the library.

I ran right past Nicolas and went straight to the restroom. The ladies restroom was made for multiple occupants, but I hurried to lock the door, closing me in. The click of the lock released stress off my shoulders, letting me breath for the first time since I nearly sprinted away from Bryce.

My cloudy eyes flashed to the reflection, stunned to see a blushing girl with deer-in-the-headlights eyes staring right back at me.  My head felt blank, too shell shocked to process the conversation, yet my heart was beating at a rapid speed, as if it would explode at any second out of exhaustion.

I couldn't tell if it was good sign or a bad sign. All I knew - and all I wanted to know - was that I liked it.

I liked the tingle that ran up from my wrist when I thought of how he had held it. I liked the fact that my cheeks were hurting from smiling at my own reflection for too long.

I liked it, whatever this feeling was.

A groan instantly shot out of me. "What the hell did I sign myself up for?"

+

a/n: thoughts so far? :)

Btw, I started a Tethered Hearts playlist on Spotify. You can find it by simply looking up "Tethered Hearts Playlist " or you can look up my real name: Sumeya Ali. Which is the name for the Spotify account.