Page 89 of Heartland

An hour later I’m cruising around campus on foot, a small gift bag in my hand, optimism in my heart.

But I can’t find Chastity. I risked running into Kaitlyn by stopping at the dorm, asking the person at the desk to buzz upstairs. No answer. Then I checked the coffee shop, where Rickie and I ran into her that one time with Ellie.

No dice.

So now it’s almost ten, and I’m running out of places to look. Desperate now, I try the library that stays open until midnight. It’s starting to empty out for the night, so it’s easy enough to scan the tables.

By the time I’ve made it up to the second floor, I’ve almost given up. But then I spot her. She’s leaning over her notebook, pencil in hand, and Ellie is sitting opposite her, chin propped in her hand, explaining something.

They’re doing algebra again. Without me.

“Whoa there, ladies,” I say, dropping the bag onto the table. “Are you doing math right now?”

Both of them look up at me with big, guilty eyes. “Hi, Hot Farm Boy. Chastity has a little quiz tomorrow. That’s all.”

“A quiz?” I plunk down in the chair beside Chastity and look at her for the first time in days. It takes me a minute, because I can’t help but drink her in. She’s wearing a soft-looking blue sweater that matches her eyes, and a long skirt I’ve never seen before.

“I thought I was the algebra tutor,” I say, and it comes out sounding bossy as fuck. “Are you firing me?”

Chastity’s eyes widen. “You think I can’t pass a quiz without your help?”

“Didn’t say that.” We’re having a stare-down, apparently. “But you know I like to help.”

Across the table, Ellie is shoving things into her bag. “Look how late it’s gotten! I’d better go!” she chirps. “Don’t skip problems thirty-one and thirty-two, Chastity. Those look like something you might see on the quiz. Night, guys!”

Two seconds later, she disappears.

“You scared off Ellie,” Chastity whispers.

“I didn’tscareher off,” I correct. “I’m not intimidating. I am, however, your algebra tutor. Ellie knows this.”

“It’s not a permanent position,” Chastity snaps. “You can’t just chase away my friend.”

We’re still locked in eye-to-eye combat, which is really no hardship for me. I could look at Chastity all day. “Chasing away your friend was not my intention,” I say softly. “And if I did, I apologize. But I came here tonight because I didn’t know what else to do. Not talking to you isn’t working for me. So I bought you a prepaid phone.” I give the gift bag a poke. “But I guess that won’t even be helpful if you won’t answer it.”

“You got me a phone?” Chastity squeaks.

“Yes! Which you clearly need.” I reach inside the bag and pull it out. Then I hand it to her. “Consider it your early Christmas gift. This saves me the trouble of trying to figure out what to get for a really good friend who’s currently not speaking to me.”

Chastity gives me a guilty look. Then she runs a thumb over the shiny surface of the phone, the way most people would gaze upon a treasure. “You shouldn’t have,” she says softly. “Thank you.”

“It’s returnable, in case you really hated this idea. But it didn’t cost as much as I thought, and there’s no monthly bill, and…” I realize I’m arguing all the wrong points. The phone doesn’t matter. “Look, I can tell that I’ve made you uncomfortable. But it didn’t used to be like that. We weren’t uncomfortable.”

Chastity looks up at me. “I know.”

“So that’s why I came looking for you. Is it really asking too much for me to sit here and help you with a few algebra problems? Maybe we could remember what this is supposed to be like. And if we do okay at that, we can talk about our other problem.”

“Our other problem?” she asks.

I’d been referring to the fact that I want her so badly I ache. But first things first. “Never mind that. Can we do some algebra?”

“Okay,” she says stiffly.

“Thank you. Now finish number thirty, so we can get to the tricky ones.”

She gives me a sharp look and picks up her pencil. “Yessir. Is there anything else you require?”

“Uh…” I swallow suddenly. I don’t think Chastity meant for that to sound sexual. But it absolutely did. “I think you should just do the problem. Time’s a wasting.”