Touchdown Boy

Chapter Twenty-eight

Tom really was trying to pay attention to what Ms. Mitchell was talking about in her PowerPoint presentation. It was Earth and Space after all; this was his thing. But right now the class was learning the earth aspects of the subject. They wouldn't get to the space part until second semester, much to Tom's dismay. But it was the last class of the day and Tom's willpower to focus on the class was slowly draining. The fact that Addison was sitting next to him at their shared lab desk was not helping his concentration either.

The thing was that she wasn't even trying to distract Tom. He just couldn't help but look over at her throughout the period. He began to notice her habits, like how she bit down on her lip when she scribbled notes insanely fast because Ms. Mitchell was about to change the slide; or how she furrowed her eyebrows when she didn't fully understand something in the lecture; or how she looked down at her notebook to avoid eye contact with the teacher when she asked a question, even though Tom was sure she knew the answer and was just too shy to raise her hand. When Addison directed her gaze downward, her hair fell from behind her ear, creating a black veil that shielded her from the rest of the world. Tom was tempted to reach out and tuck it back behind her ear so she wasn't hiding her beautiful face, but thankfully he had enough self-control to restrain himself, since he wasn't sure that Addison would appreciate the gesture.

When she tucked the hair back herself she glanced over at Tom and noticed him staring at her. He quickly looked towards the front of the classroom and pretended to be intrigued by plate tectonics. After a few seconds passed Tom figured it was safe to look back at Addison. She had resumed her note taking and had a small smirk on her face. He knew he shouldn't be embarrassed that she had caught him, especially now that he was her boyfriend, but he didn't want to be one of those cliché love struck protagonists of a Young Adult novel who obsesses over the hard-to-get, smart, and spunky heroine. But Tom somehow always found himself acting like a cliché when he was with Addison. Not that he was love struck or anything; he just liked the way he felt around Addison. He could be himself, but at the same time be a better version of himself, a version that was good enough to be Addison's boyfriend.

Tom sighed and looked back towards Ms. Mitchell's presentation. He knew that he wasn't really boyfriend material for Addison; he was only pretending to be. Hell, he wasn't even friend material at this point. All because of the stupid fucking bet he agreed to.

The final bell rang, jarring Tom from his thoughts. Ms. Mitchell continued to talk over the sound of chairs screeching and students packing up their things, until she gave up and waved a hand at the class dismissively.

"Text you later?" Addison said. Tom looked over at her. She was standing next to him, one hand clutching her backpack strap that was slung over her shoulder. Tom nodded distractedly. A wave of guilt washed over him as she kissed him goodbye on the cheek and left the classroom.

Tom began to pack up his own things under the scrutiny of Ms. Mitchell since he was one of the only students left in the classroom. He headed out the classroom door, turning to wave goodbye to his teacher, which caused him to run into Mark in the hallway.

"Dumbass," Mark rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Do you not look where you're going anymore and just rely on Addison to lead you through the school? Where is she anyway? You practically never leave her side anymore." Mark peered around Tom, as if Addison was hiding behind his tall frame. Tom fidgeted under his friend's gaze.

"I need to talk to you," Tom muttered. He clutched Mark's arm and dragged him to the nearest bathroom. The wooden door swung shut behind them with a thud and Tom let go of his friend's arm. He began to pace across the bathroom tiles, running a hand through his hair in frustration. Mark just stood near the bathroom wall, a nervous look on his face as he watched his best friend have what appeared to be a nervous breakdown.