Pretty in Plump

•EigHt•

"Marley Shay." William whispers. I turn to look at him and immediately flinch back when I see our close proximity.

"William." I return.

"How do you do number seven?" He asks.

"Very carefully."

"Not funny, Marley Shay." He rolls his eyes.

"I thought it was funny."

"I think the fact that my parents believe I need help is funny." William returns.

"No, I think that's a legitimate concern." I say seriously. William laughs anyways.

"Alright, you got me to laugh, now help me." He scoots closer to me on the couch and I remind myself to be cool. This was just "study-buddy time" and I had no need to be self-conscious.

William smells delicious.

I clear my throat to focus myself and compare my work to William before laughing. "William, I'm not kidding... you got 2+2 wrong. You must have been rushing." I try to hide my snicker at his obvious anger.

"I'm so dumb!"

"Didn't take a genius to figure that out." I smile and he elbows me playfully.

"Whatever, Marley Shay." He scrunches his nose as he fixes the math and I smile. William's hair fell in his face in gorgeous messy waves. His blue eyes were focused on his paper but his lips were parted as he tried to concentrate.

He's a cute nerd.

"Maybe you should come over every day after school." William mutters under his breath. I tense at the offer.

"I have a life."

Prolly the biggest lie I've ever told right there.

My comment must have come off a bit too sarcastic because William looks up, looking sorry. He opens his mouth to say something, and I realize I'm scowling at him. Dear lord, I'm a mess.

"I didn't mean to offend you, Marley Shay. I was being funny." He says the words gently and I swear my heart palpitates in my chest.

"I know, I'm sorry. I'm just on edge lately." I shrug.

"Is it because of Juniper?" William asks, turning to give me all of his attention.

"My dog? No... I just umm, I'm stressing." I look down at my feet to see my awful fuzzy socks that I'm addicted to.

"Marley Shay, you can talk to me about-"

"I'm okay." I lie. William frowns but nods and moves on to the next problem. I swallow my tension and sigh. "Sorry for snapping." I mumble.

"You're forgiven." William grins. "Do you want lemonade or something?" He offers. I nod.

"Lemonade sounds good." He smiles at my compliance.

"I'll be back." He walks off and I see his mother slip through the living room. She pauses when she sees me.

"Marley, how's it going?" She sits on a chair across from me. I tuck a loose hair behind my ear and smile.

To be quite honest, I was intimidated by William's mom. Helen was gorgeous, with a thin figure, tan skin, dark hair, and beautiful blue eyes- it was no wonder she made a beautiful baby like William. Her hands were slim and she carried herself like she knew she could handle anything.

That's a bit more than I could say about myself.

"It's good." I say simply. I hear William pouring our drinks in the kitchen. "William is easy to work with- he knows what he's doing." I shrug. Helen nods.