A Lifetime's Worth

Chapter 2

Ariana just stood there. Unable to speak or move.Martha gave her a little nuzzle. 

"I'm sorry." Ariana gasped.

"Like I said, i's not your fault." He smiled. "I'm Parker, by the way, Parker Jonas." He added extending his hand.

 Ariana shook his proffered hand. "Ariana Vermont." She said. She hurriedly lowered her eyes as she realized she had been staring too long at him. 

"Come on in." He said to all of them. His apartment was small but it was beautiful. It had a lot of books. Books on crime and mystery, books on psychology, classic literature and obviously, a lot of books on Mathematics. From what Ariana could see, it had one other room other than the living room, which presumably was the bedroom, a tiny open kitchen. The whole living room smelled of pasta, which made Ariana smile. She loved pasta. It  was decorated with posters of T.V. shows, rock bands and a few photography related posters. Two couches were angled around the centre table. The open kitchen had a kind of mini-bar situation going on. Minus the bar. Only two high chairs were there. Parker himself didn't look a lot older than them.

"Please, sit." Parker said politely as he gestured towards the couch. The three of them sat on the couch with Lana in between Ariana and Martha. "So.." He began to say something.

"Well, I'm Lana Kaufman, and this is Martha Myers." Lana began halfway through his sentence. "And you already know her." She said casually motioning towards Ariana.

"Right. Of course" Parker said smiling towards me. His voice was hypnotizing. Like waves moving right through you. Hypnotizing you. "So what exactly are you looking for when you ask me to tutor you? Just a little bit of guidance or...?"

"I obviously want to make it to the Ivy Leagues. So does Martha." Lana interrupted again. Parker looked at Martha and she nodded.

"And you?" He asked Ariana.

"I...just..wanna pass." I said slowly. "I kinda suck at math." The whole meeting wasn't exactly going in a very positive direction for her as far as impressions were concerned, so she figured she'd at least be honest. Parker grinned. Ariana felt a kind of wieght lifting off of her. He probably did not hate her as much as she thought he did.

Lana and Martha continued speaking to him about advanced mathematics and colleges and other things that I hardly could grasp. Ariana's interest from the conversation slowly weared off. She looked around the apartment, noticing various things, and ultimately concluding that she actually loved what Parker had done to the place. His collection of books also had a few of her favourites, even a few books that she desperately wanted to read. The posters were probably designed by Parker himself as she hadn't seen anything like them ever before. Occassionaly Ariana caught Parker looking at her while still in conversation with Martha and Lana. He'd look away as soon as their eyes met. Eventually after their conversation ended Martha asked how often they had to come for lessons.

"For an hour after school? Will that be fine?" He asked.

"Everyday?" Ariana asked, trying to keep the dispair out of her voice.

"Oh, no! Twice a week will be enough. You can come along any other time too, if you have additional doubts or tests maybe. Just give me a call and I'll tell you when I'm free. Oh! Do feed your digits in my phone before you leave."