Page 4 of Beauty and the Nerd

“Mmm, come here,” Emma said giving Ben a soft kiss as the day ended.

“You should head out first, so no one realizes that we’ve been in here together for the last thirty minutes.” Ben pressed a kiss to the top of her head. He wanted to walk out of the room with her and not look back, especially after this past week.

She’d let everyone think that she woke Monday morning recalling everything but the time surrounding the accident, which her doctor had no issue with considering her concussion.

He wasn’t thrilled with it, since it meant Carter was still in the clear for what he did to her, but it’d allowed her parents to relax their vigilance over her.

He’d spent most of Saturday evening at her place.

Her parents were going out for a business dinner, her dad grumbling about it after not being able to get home while Emma was in the hospital and not wanting to leave her alone at the house for it.

Ben was glad the man seemed relieved when he arrived, Emma having told them she’d be fine, and he was going to stop by to help her with more homework.

Then he’d stopped in on Sunday afternoon to help her finish the homework.

Not that they’d told the others it was already finished.

It gave them every night this week to spend time together while everyone else assumed they were still working on it.

Slowly, so it wouldn’t cause Emma more headaches.

She was still suffering from sporadic ones thanks to the concussion, and her doctor only released her to come back to school with the understanding that she was only to go to and from classes, then home, stopping if she felt a headache coming, and to immediately come back in if she grew dizzy or her vision began to blur as it had that first night.

“You’re coming over tonight, right?” she asked as she got up, wanting to go home with him rather than wait an hour or two for the others to finally get around to taking her home. Finals were next week, and she’d only been back at school for two days, leaving her a little behind.

“Just try and keep me away, Em,” he stated, kissing her hand before she left.

She grabbed a few things from her locker as the group came to meet her, and she let out a sigh rolling Carter’s hand off her shoulder as he attempted to pull her into his hold. “Carter, stop.”

She shook her head at the look he gave her, done with him and his attitude. “I’m tired, okay? I just want to go home.”

“Go home? Come on Emma, we’re heading out to the lake,” he said, and she knew precisely what was likely to happen there and wanted none of it.

“I can’t. I’m already behind in class thanks to the accident and I can’t afford to go out to the lake and watch you get drunk.”

She moved away from him and the others to head out to the parking lot.

There had to be someone else who could take her home.

She wasn’t allowed to drive yet, not after the concussion and with her broken arm.

Relief hit as she spotted Ben heading down the other set of steps and she moved quickly to reach him.

“Emma!” Carter shouted, his eyes narrowing when he saw her heading after Ben.

Ben stalled, hearing Carter yell Emma’s name. He spotted her moving towards him and turned to reach her, giving her a light smile, asking, “Hey, is everything okay?”

“Can you drive me home? They want to go the lake and I’m not going back there,” she said, her face slightly pale, and he nodded in complete understanding.

He guided her towards his car with a gentle hand to her back. “Sure, come on, baby.”

“Emma!” Carter shouted again, but she slipped into the front seat of Ben’s car ignoring him.

Ben moved around to his side, stopping only when he felt Carter grab his arm. “What?”

“Stay the hell away from my girlfriend, loser,” Carter said, and Ben pulled his arm out of his grasp, still wanting to slug him for what he’d done to Emma.

“Carter, leave him alone,” Emma said leaning over in the car to stare him down.

“I mean it. I don’t think you want anyone asking questions about the accident again or why I don’t want to be near you anymore, do you?

We’re done Carter. Accept it, or I’ll let Ben drive me to the police station right now to tell them the real reason I was injured. ”

“You’re not worth it, bitch,” Carter said, shoving Ben back against the doorframe before stalking away from them.

“You know what Emma?” he said loudly getting everyone’s attention in the lot.

“We’re not going to work out. I’d rather have a girlfriend that likes to have fun than a stuck up, stupid bitch like you. ”

“What the hell did you just call her?” Ben questioned, unable to stop himself. He was beyond pissed at the guy and nothing was going to stop him this time.

“It’s true, the girl’s as dumb as rocks but we all get why you’re still tutoring her. Hoping to get a little action, aren’t you? She’s not worth it, hotness only goes so far after all,” Carter stated, and Ben shook his head at him.

“You know nothing about Emma. So why don’t you stop running your moronic mouth and leave her alone as she asked, huh?

You want to know why she doesn’t want to go to the lake with you?

Try the fact that the last time she was there, you put her in the hospital after having a car accident, from which she’s barely started to recover.

Get over yourself and realize that sometimes, other people come first,” Ben said before stalking back to the car as the others watching the interaction laughed at Carter.

“Thank you,” Emma said softly as they pulled out of the lot, waiting until they were out of sight before leaning over to kiss his cheek.

“I wanted to slug him, but I knew that wouldn’t help you right now, baby.” He slid his hand behind her head to kiss her lips when they stopped at a light. “Let’s get you home so you can relax.”

“Sounds great.” She sighed softly, leaning back into the seat watching him drive.

It was nice to be able to ride in the car with him without worrying about his intentions.

She knew that he was attracted to her, very attracted to her, but he wasn’t pushing them into anything, which allowed her some comfort when it came to taking him up to her bedroom when they got there.

Her mom was back at work after staying with her the past week, her dad wishing he could, but his workload was insane after being given another sales rep’s area on top of his own.

They’d overlapped cities, but not clients they saw, so now, her dad was gone nearly twice as long as he used to be, and her mom, hating being away from him, started going out to meet him on weekends more since Emma was old enough to stay on her own.

Emma closed the door behind them, sitting her bag down on the desk. She took his hand and walked them over to the full-size bed, laying down as she took off the sling. Ben slipped onto the bed with her and brushed the hair from her face, kissing her forehead gently over the bruise.

“This is what I want.” She looked up at him as he slid closer to her, letting her rest her injured arm on his side. “I don’t want to pretend to date someone else. I’m tired of caring about what people will say Ben. You’re what I want.”

“Em, you know I want that too.” He met her gaze with a smile and soft kiss.

“I don’t need the credit next semester for the tutor center.

My applications are in, so it won’t help or hurt anything to not have one more semester of it.

We can just let people think that this grew from there and no one will question our escapes from school this past semester.

You can show people how utterly brilliant you are, show them the paper you sent in for the program if you’re not ready to show them your story.

I know you’re going to be chosen as one of the winners.

Your paper and your work there were too good for them to ignore.

The bigger awards have some amazing prizes attached to them and with one, your schooling will be paid for. ”

“Not everyone is as biased as you are Ben, they don’t look at my writing in the same light.” She couldn’t help but smile fully at his encouragement. That was what she wanted behind her, she just didn’t know how it would go for them once they left school.

She didn’t want to think about that right now though, not at all after the accident and everything that happened. She wanted to focus on them, on being together and happy—at least for now.

“They should be—your talent is incredible Emma. They already recognized that with your spot in the summer program. I can see you there going forward, letting your talent take you places the people around here would never begin to go.” His sweet words put hope into her heart.

“That’s what you deserve Em, not a life here with the likes of some Carter wannabe.

You can’t let them keep you boxed into this place. ”

“I love how much you believe in me,” she said lifting her lips to his.

“I love you.” The words fell from his lips when she pulled back, one hand cupping her head as he gently traced his knuckle along her cheek and down her face with the other.

She gasped, her jaw dropping slightly. “Ben! No one’s ever said that to me before.”

“I’m kind of glad about that,” he said with a smile kissing her softly. “I like the thought of being your first.”

“Me too.” She leaned up to get rid of her sweater before letting his warmth keep her comfortable as she settled back into his hold. “I’ve never said it or anything like it to anyone before, never felt it before,” she added as he pulled her closer to him, letting his hands caress her.

“You don’t have to Em, not if it doesn’t feel right or if you don’t feel the…”