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“No worries. I better get going,” he says, sitting up. “Got my cousin’s bachelor party tonight.”

“The wedding is soon, right?”

“Two weekends from now.”

“I’ll do it,” I blurt, as Axel rises from my bed.

“Do what?” he asks, rolling his sleeves to reveal his tanned forearms.

“I’ll be your date to your cousin’s wedding,” I say, standing across from him now.

“What about Thanksgiving with Ben?”

I suck in my lips and swallow. “Realistically speaking, I don’t think Ben and I will be back together by then. This has admittedly been a bigger challenge than I’d anticipated.”

“I mean, I’d love for you to come to my cousin’s wedding, but it’s kind of a big ask.”

“Nah.” I grin. “It’s what any good partner would do in this situation. Besides, going could give me an excuse to add another item to my—sorry,our—bucket list. Attend an Arab wedding—bonus event.”

“Yeah?” A wide smile lights up his face.

“Yeah.”

“Awesome. I can’t wait to show you off.”

Before I can reply, Axel is already halfway down the stairs.

After I hear the front door close, I open my laptop and print off calendars. Between tutoring Ben twice a week and going on elaborate dates with Axel and filming TikToks for him, my calendar is filling up faster than Eli does at Armstrong & Wong’s Chinese Canadian buffet.

I’m going to need to keep track of all these social engagements and commitments if I want to pull this off and continue to keep my grades up.

As the calendar pages print, I find a blank page in my notebook and write a note to myself. A little reminder.Stop fantasizing about kissing Axel. Ben is endgame.I skim through my notebook to find Axel’s signature still missing from the contract. Biting back a smile, I tell myself I’ll get him to sign it the next time we’re together.

CHAPTER TEN

It’s Thursday afternoon and I’m waiting at the library for Ben to show up for our second tutoring session. Technically, I’m breaking one of the contractual agreements by not driving Axel home twice this week, but to be fair, he still hasn’t signed the damn thing, so I figure there’s some wiggle room. I even slid a copy of the contract into his locker on Monday and it somehow ended up back in my notebook by lunch—unsigned. It’s like trying to nail down a worm.

“Hey.” Ben greets me at the table, slightly out of breath. We’ve started to say hi to one another in the halls again, but only when he’s not withher, which is sus since I say hi to him when Axel’s by my side.

“You’re late,” I say as he pulls up the chair next to mine. A musky scent trails from his body.

I must be making a face because he asks, “Do I smell? I had to run here.”

“Where were you?”

“Over on the football field watching Olivia’s cheer practice.”

Of course he was. I find it so odd that he talks to me about Olivia because, one, he dumped me for her and, two, if heisusing this tutoring as an excuse to get closer, why remind me about the girl he left me for? “Does your girlfriend still not know I’m tutoring you?”

“I’ll tell her next week after I ace the quiz. That way I’ll have proof that I’m working with you because I need to and not…”

“Not what?” I turn my head swiftly, locking my eyes on his with deep intensity. “Because you want to?”

“I didn’t say that.” Ben looks away and unzips his backpack.

“You were about to.”

“But I stopped myself because I knew it sounded…” His voice trails off and he sighs before his eyes meet mine again. “I need your help. That’s true. I just don’t want her to think it’s an excuse to spend time with you.”