It was very annoying to be wrong, and I wasn’t too familiar with the sensation, but he was correct. “You got me.”
“I did,” Jason said, bragging just a bit. “And it’s Matt Smith.”
I frowned. “Why…why would you think that?”
“Suspenders,” Jason said in his cockiest voice. At least I hoped he couldn’t get any more cocky.
“I’m not wearing them,” I said.
“Yeah, but I saw you wearing suspenders three times this semester,” he said. “Do I win?”
I wasn’t sure how to feel about this. Not one bit. He was the oil to my water, sports channel to my SyFy, but… I exhaled in defeat. “Yeah, you win.”
He clapped his hands in delight. “What do I win?”
“You win a free lesson in Statistics,” I said, pushing the textbook over to him. “Distraction doesn’t work with me.”
“No, I’m beginning to notice that,” he said. But, to be fair, he took the textbook and began to read the definitions. He did it without moving his lips, so I started to wonder if I’d judged him wrong. “I had a crush on him for a while,” Jason said.
I was quiet for a moment, then said, “Me too.” I didn’t know why I was excited to reveal this about myself. It wasn’t like it meant anything.
He listened carefully while I explained the difference between averages, means, and medians, although the frown on his face creased his brow more and more with each one. When I tried to explain some of the models of data visualization, he stopped me right there and said it was too much and he wouldn’t remember it. So we focused on the simple things. I brought with me clusters of data, cleaned up and simple, and let him calculate the different outcomes. When I presented him with two different situations, he correctlyanswered whether the better metric would be the mean or the median, then spent the rest of the hour wearing a proud smirk, even though I hammered him with new things that seemed to pass through his head like a draft.
And when I shut the notebook, more tired than Jason, he leaned back across his bed. The muscled torso drew my attention, but I snapped my gaze to his eyes as soon as I had caught myself. Then again, the knowing look on his face told me he’d caught me looking, too.
“I’ve got that spare ticket toSeeds of Soulless,” he said. “If you’re free.”
“Are you sure your date cancelled?” I asked. Imagining going to the cinema only to have to walk back alone because his date showed up after all sounded like a very plausible nightmare.
“I’ll tell you this in percentages because I know you like them. One thousand percent,” he said.
I shook my head. “That’s not how percentages work.” But he wore that face again. “A joke?”
“See, you just get me,” Jason said, propping himself up again. “We should go soon if we want to make it on time.”
Apparently, I was going.
“Are you planning on putting on a shirt or something?” I asked.
He winked with mischief, then hopped up and crossed to the other side of the room. He opened hiswardrobe, looked through his stuff, then bent a little and pulled his sweatpants down his legs.
Air drained from my lungs as he stepped out of his sweatpants, lifted them, and folded them. He wore a pair of pastel pink boxer briefs, his ass a sculpted perfection. As he turned around, my gaze lingered on him. His crotch was enough to leave me breathless for another minute. Every line was visible, shadows deep and highlights long, where the fabric stretched and curved.
To be fair, Jason changed quickly. And I couldn’t hold it against him that he changed in front of me. We were in his room, and he was probably used to being naked around guys in locker rooms. Still, it made my heart hammer twice as fast as it should have, and the heat in his room was starting to be unbearable.
He popped into the bathroom and sprayed some extra cologne. God forbid he didn’t walk in a cloud of forest freshness.
“I’m ready,” he said.
I got up, lifting my backpack.
“You can leave that here,” he said. “Pick it up on the way back.”
I nodded, tucking the backpack under his desk and pushing my hands into my pockets. Jason picked up his jacket and mine, then led the way downstairs.
Taylor and a couple of other guys lounged on the sofas in the common room. A passing glance confirmed the inevitable. Nothing but sweatpants. Sweatpants everywhere.
Jason put his jacket on, then helped me with mine while standing behind me. His hands wrapped around me for the shortest of moments, and I had a clear idea of what it was like to be hugged by him.