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Finals week was coming up. I had a massive art history exam to study for, and Rhys promised to help me study. Rhys, my best friend no matter what happened. We’d been through so much together over the past few years; he always had my back, and I always had his.
I met Rhys in the local bookstore down the street from our university – it was a favorite spot of ours. We went up to the counter of the coffee shop inside and ordered our typical drinks. For me, hot chocolate; for Rhys, black coffee. How he managed to choke that down, I had no idea.
We walked over to a table in the corner of the bookstore, near the classics section. We tended to sit over here a lot, due to the fact that we always had to write essays about famous classic novels in the literature class we had together.
“So what do you think is going to be on your exam?” Rhys asked, taking a sip of his coffee.
I shrugged. “Honestly, anything could be on that test. My professor is a witch,” I said. “We’ll discuss one thing in class, then the
next day, she’ll give us a pop quiz over an art piece we haven’t even talked about.”
Rhys chuckled. “Glad I decided to skip out on that class.”
“Prick,” I muttered under my breath.
He smirked and took another drink of his coffee, his lips curling over the rim of the mug. Rhys really was quite handsome, and so easy to talk to. I felt comfortable around him, hence why we were best friends. I couldn’t say that about my boyfriend – ex-boyfriend, Tamlin. Tamlin and I had been dating for about four months before he started acting like a total tool. He was suffocating and extremely possessive of me – not something I wanted to deal with. I was a strong young woman who didn’t need a man controlling every aspect of my life. He also didn’t agree with my dreams of being an art history major. So I broke up with him. He wasn’t too please about that.
Rhys set down his mug. “All right. How about I just look through your notes, find an interesting art detail that I want to learn about, and come up with questions for you to answer about that certain detail? Then you could teach me about it. That’s usually a good way to learn something – by teaching it to someone else.”
I pondered it over for a few seconds. It sounded like a good idea. “Sure,” I said. ”That could work.”
As Rhys reached for my notebook, I noticed a blond head out of the corner of my eye. I turned, and wouldn’t you know, it was the tool himself.
I quickly turned back to our table, trying to hide behind my textbooks. “Shit,” I whispered. Of course Tamlin would remember that I spent most of my time studying at this bookstore.
“Hey, Rhys?” I said. Rhys looked up from my notes and saw Tamlin walking towards our table. His eyes darkened. He knew how awful my relationship with Tamlin had been. I’d constantly complained to Rhys about our issues at our study sessions. Needless to say, Rhys was not a fan of Tamlin’s.
“I need you to pretend we’re dating.”
Rhys’s head jerked up. He scanned my face with wide eyes, but quickly regained his composure, feigning nonchalance. “And how would you like me to do that?” he asked.
Tamlin was getting closer to our table. I didn’t have much time to think about how to get rid of him. I scooted my chair closer to Rhys so that my thigh brushed against his. Rhys watched my every move, a dark eyebrow raised.
“Please don’t hate me for this,” I whispered before grabbing his face between my hands and pressing my lips against his. Rhys froze. His mouth unmoving beneath mine. I knew this was a bad idea. I should’ve come up with a different way to avoid Tamlin, but this was the first idea that popped into my head.
I started to lean back, regretting my decision, when Rhys’s hands grabbed my waist and pulled me closer. His lips started moving against mine, his tongue hesitantly touching the seam of my lips. I opened my mouth to him and his tongue darted in. I turned my head and deepened the kiss, my hands reaching around his head to grab the soft strands of his dark hair. I tugged and tugged until his lips moved along my jaw, open-mouthed kisses pressed against my throat. The strong hands on my waist slid down to rest against my backside, his fingers digging into the fabric of my jeans.
“Rhys,” I said breathlessly. He hummed against my throat, the vibrations sending a jolt through my body. “Rhys, I think he’s gone.”
Rhys placed a final kiss against my neck and squeezed my backside before leaning back in his chair.
He wrapped a strong arm around the back of my chair. “So how about that studying?” he asked smugly, a smirk forming on his swollen lips. Swollen because of me.
I had a feeling Rhys and I wouldn’t be just friends anymore.