Ice Cold Love

Part 24

Amelia's POV

"For God's sake Conner, no. I've already explained hypothesis testing three times. You chose to not listen, so I'm not explaining it again."

Teaching Conner wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, it was much, much worse.

The first time wasn't this bad. I had been on edge, and while he'd clearly had no problem acting like nothing had happened, my skin crawled at the sight of him, and anxiety buzzed through my whole being. If Lily hadn't agreed to accompany me, I don't know what I would have done at the time. The two hours I spent tutoring him were torturous, and it soon became evident why he was failing to begin with.

With midterms soon approaching, Professor Anderson instructed me to have at least 2 lessons a week with Conner, if not more. I realised then that I would have to do something about how I felt around the man; I couldn't ask Lily to babysit us for four hours a week. Conner had been decent enough throughout the first lesson, and there was nothing he could do to me in a library filled with people.

It took me another anxiety inducing lesson with him to assure myself that nothing could go wrong, and since I was comfortable enough around him to not fear having a panic attack of some kind, I stopped asking Lily to accompany me.

Today, however, was the worst tutoring session by far. Conner had arrived half an hour late, and the bloody cut that he sported on his nose told me that he was coming from hockey practice. He was in an irritable mood, and while he was physically present, it seemed his mind was a million miles away. I slammed my laptop shut, having had enough with him.

He quietly sighed and rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands as I hastily shoved my things into my bag, but he didn't stop me. In fact, he didn't so much as look up at me as I stormed away and his reaction, or lack of it, only infuriated me more.

How much ruder could someone get? First, he wasted my time by showing up late, then when he did choose to finally grace me with his presence, he ignored every word I said. To top it off, he demanded I explain things over and over again, but didn't bother listening when I did. I was muttering very creative insults when my phone rang, and I had to take a deep breath before I answered.

"Hey girlie, when are you finishing up?" Lily chirped. Lily seemed energetic, and it made me wince.

"Now, why?" I mumbled back, unable to reciprocate Lily's cheerfulness.

"Harvey's Lounge in 10," she ordered from the other side, and without waiting for a response, she hung up. I rolled my eyes as I got into my car, but I couldn't stop the small smile that crept its way onto my lips. If this wasn't typical Lily, I don't know what was.

Harvey's Lounge wasn't too far from campus. It was a small retro-themed restaurant that Lily told me she stumbled upon one very drunken night when she was a freshman, and it quickly became her go-to place whenever she wanted to eat-out near Bondside.

I was still a bit grouchy from dealing with Conner in the library, but my mood had lightened on the way. Harvey's Lounge was really something. From the outside, it looked like an abandoned studio with its boarded windows, almost crumbling bricks, and unstable scaffolding. But, when you walked through the door that was hanging on its hinges and passed through the curtain, it was like entering a completely different world.

I couldn't help stopping at the entrance to appreciate it all. Blue and purple LED's lined the walls and ceiling, illuminating the room. It had a classic black and white checkered floor and red leather booths. The wall at the far end was covered in vintage posters of bands, artists, athletes, and even a few movies. There were two pool tables in the back and a small space was reserved for people that wanted to dance to whatever the jukebox offered.