Chapter 89 The Nerd And The Bully (B)

• The study session had been Linda's idea, a pretext to get Adrian alone, though she wasn't entirely sure why. She had spent the better part of the day replaying the scene she had witnessed between him and Brittany, her mind fixating on the way his hands had moved, the confidence in his touch. It was a side of Adrian she had never considered, and it both intrigued and unsettled her. By the time she invited him to her private study nook in the library, her intentions were a tangled mess of curiosity, desire, and a strange need to prove something-to herself, to him, or perhaps to the school.
• Adrian arrived promptly, his usual backpack slung over his shoulders, looking every bit the studious nerd she had always known. But today, Linda saw him differently. She noticed the way his glasses framed his sharp features, the slight flush in his cheeks when he caught her staring. The study nook was tucked away in a quiet corner of the library, a small, dimly lit space with a plush couch and a desk cluttered with books. It was private, intimate, and Linda felt her heart race as she gestured for him to sit.
• "Thanks for coming," she said, her voice softer than she intended. "I thought we could go over the material for the history exam together."