I nearly grimaced at his words. Good work. Lately, I had been slipping. I didn’t know if it was the stress of senior year, more distractions, or something else. Regardless, I didn’t like what was going on.
“I’m definitely going to try. My professor didn’t think so,” I muttered the last part, keeping my eyes on the tips of my black heels. I didn’t want to look him in the eyes. I felt incompetent enough. If he found out that I was falling behind in school he would certainly have something to say that I didn’t want to hear, even if it was true.
Tyler frowned slightly, tilting his head at me. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
I finally gazed up at him, looking surprised at his question. I didn’t expect him to figure out that I was upset, and I especially didn’t expect him to care enough to ask. Maybe he just felt obliged to, and he didn’t actually care. Regardless, it still meant something that he asked at all.
“Oh… nothing. Just a school thing,” I replied, shaking my head. I was nervous to say anything. It felt kind of pathetic for me to nearly bomb my rough draft like that, and I was sure that he would think the same thing. I was trying to impress him, not make him think that I was hopeless.
Tyler gave me a pointed look. “Come on. You would’ve mouthed off to me by now. Something is bothering you more than me,” he said, lifting his eyebrows at me and challenging me to prove him wrong.
I was at a loss for words. He was right. He could see right through me, and I was up against a wall. Maybe he wouldn’t be as harsh with me as usual. My professor was already hard enough on me. I didn’t need any more judgment piled on top of that.
“Fine. I got a C on a big assignment,” I said, starting off vague. If he wasn’t actually interested, he would leave things at that, and I wouldn’t have to expose myself even more.
“Okay. What assignment? People get C’s,” Tyler replied, motioning for me to tell him more.
I eyed him, wondering why he was so curious. I was surprised that he waved off me getting a C. I expected him to chastise me for not putting in enough effort. He seemed unfazed, though.
“A rough draft of a business plan my friends and I put together. It’s our final senior project,” I explained to him. I then glanced away, waiting for the snide comment about how I messed up something that came to him so easily. His business plan obviously worked out well.
“What did your professor say was wrong with it?” Tyler asked, his serious expression not wavering.
I didn’t expect our conversation to go this far. I thought that he would chew me out for being late, and then things would end like that for the day. However, we were actually still talking, and we weren’t snapping at each other. Today was very weird.
“He didn’t leave many detailed notes. There are just a lot of sections that need reworking. I honestly don’t know where to start,” I sighed as I shook my head. I didn’t really want to think about my business plan right now, but I needed to get a jumpstart on fixing it up so that I had some notes to bring up with Hannah and Nick when they returned from their conference.
Tyler remained quiet for a few seconds. He glanced around before looking back over at me.
“I can take a look at it,” he told me.
My eyes widened as they shifted up to peer at him. The last thing that I expected from him was for him to offer me help. He hadn’t been all that helpful when he tore apart my report. Now, he wanted to help me with my rough draft. I wondered if something had changed. Maybe we were both tired of fighting.
“Really? Aren’t you busy?” I asked him, figuring that he had better things to do other than help me out. I had work to do for my internship too, and I was sure that he would prefer me to focus on that instead of schoolwork.
Tyler merely motioned for me to follow him to his office. He headed to his desk, sitting in his chair and shrugging off his navy suit jacket to leave himself in a white button-down.
“Let’s see this business plan of yours,” he said, placing his hand out on the desk.
I sat down across from him and dug around in my bag to pull out my marked copy. I placed it in his hand before sitting up straight in my seat, watching him closely as he read over my rough draft. My eyes soon lingered to his chest and shoulders, admiring how the thin material of his shirt clung to his built body. If I stared hard enough, I could see the grooves of his biceps.