Mutual Benefits Ch. 05 – First Time – by BashfulScribe..,

Mother could hold a grudge.

“What are you gonna tell Taylor?” Kevin asked as we walked together towards the front doors of the school. “You’re gonna need to think of a good way to put it. Saying, ‘hey Taylor, sorry, can’t study with you this week, my mommy grounded me’ isn’t gonna do wonders for your sex life with her.”

I shook my head. “Can you stop saying that please?” I asked him with an annoyed voice. “Especially in public. It’s really weird how you keep talking about that, especially when I’m not interested in her like that.”

“I’m trying to make jokes. Lighten up, dude.”

“How would you like it if I made jokes about you and, I dunno, Daniel?”

Kevin gave me a weird look. “Um, I’d say I’m not gay,” he said with a weirded out voice.

“Right, yeah. So it feels weird and alien, right?”

“Are you gay?” he interrupted.

“No, but-”

“Then it’s not the same thing.”

“But I’m trying to s-”

“No, I get it. It’s an analogy, super clever. I just don’t think it applies here. You get stupidly tongue-tied around her.”

“You’ve seen me interacting with her like twice at this point. I’m more comfortable around her when we’re just alone studying,” I pointed out.

“Whatever you say, dude,” he huffed.

“Why is this such a big deal to you?” I asked as we entered the school.

“I just feel like you’re either lying to me or yourself. I know you better than you know you, you know. I just wanna know why you feel the need to lie to me.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, Kevin. Whatever you say.”

We continued walking for a few more seconds before I decided to press the issue. “Doesn’t that mean she’s lying to you too? How often are you talking to her, anyway? You gotta know all eyes in the school are on her. Constantly.”

Kevin stopped walking as I babbled on. In a second, I noticed he stopped and turned back to see him intently looking somewhere else. I followed his gaze and noticed his friend Robyn, staring. Not at him… but at me.

I looked from side to side in awkward silence. People walked by us as she stood there, staring at me with some kind of distrusting expression. Eventually, she turned and practically ran away.

I turned to Kevin. “What the hell was that?”

Kevin turned to me and sported a massive shit-eating grin. “Oh Quinn, you wonderful bastard you…”

“What?! What did I do?” I sputtered.

Of course he never answered me. It was clear that our conversation rattled her somehow though. Was she maybe a friend of Taylor’s? Did she know something? Was the word getting out?

If so, it was getting out through Taylor herself. And worse yet, Kevin seemed to know something.

But that didn’t make sense. Taylor clearly didn’t want any of this getting out. Did someone else know…?

***

“Look, if this is about Bryce, I had nothing to do with it,” Morgan defended herself.

“No, I know, that was all Crystal. But I think some… rumors are spreading about Taylor and myself. Some, uh, untrue rumors.”

Morgan furrowed her brow. “Like what?”

“I don’t really want to go into that. Just… do you know something? Not that there’s anything to know, but, you know, did…” I trailed off.

Morgan was getting more confused by the second. “Huh?”

“Is… did Taylor talk to you about me or something? I know you look at the floor and don’t say anything when I’m brought up.”

Morgan’s expression returned from confusion to whatever her furrowed brow was trying to express, and she just stared off behind me. Was she… blushing? “No. Taylor didn’t say anything to me.”

“Do I need to know anything?”

“I’m not talking about you when my friends bring you up, so clearly I’m not bringing you up to strangers. If there are rumors going around, that sounds like a you problem.” She opened her locker hastily, despite clearly having all of her class supplies already. “Can you leave me be please?”

“Uh… yeah. Sorry,” I mumbled lamely, backing up instantly. I felt my cheeks burning as I walked away.

***

“What?” Taylor asked me, in a voice clearly louder than what the study period allowed. Most of the students, and Mrs. Li, looked up at us, but didn’t say a thing.

I shrugged bashfully. “I can’t do it. I have to go home immediately after school every day this week. It’s a… parents thing. I don’t have any control over it.”

“Well, can you make it end quicker or something?” Taylor asked.

“…That would mean I do have some control over it.”

Taylor rolled her eyes. “Quinn, finals are coming up soon. I don’t want to lose what I’ve, y’know, what I’ve got going. I don’t want to fail.”

I stayed silent for a bit before Taylor’s face darkened. “And you don’t want me to fail.”

I looked up at her with a weird expression. What did that mean…? “Are you…?” I managed.

She sighed and her face returned to normal. “No, I’m just… frustrated. With, like…” She looked around instead of continuing, clearly not wanting to continue the conversation.

I decided to take initiative. Raising my hand, I addressed Mrs. Li. “Could I have maybe two minutes in the hallway with Taylor? We just need to go over binomial distributions quickly, and I don’t want to disturb the class.”

Mrs. Li smiled slightly in acknowledgement, mouthing ‘go ahead’ and pointing to the door. I smiled back awkwardly, before turning to Taylor and motioning towards the door.

Once we were outside, I promptly shut the door and Taylor and I immediately started talking over each other. After a few seconds, Taylor held up a hand, attempting to shut me up, and pressed forward.

“Look Quinn, I’m just saying, this is like an ongoing contract thing. You agreed to help me out here, and like, you clearly want to, and I definitely don’t get this new unit, so… figure something out!”

It was my turn to speak. “I’m not a miracle worker, Taylor. You haven’t met my mother. Me coming home late is the reason I’m grounded…” I turned pink. “I mean, for lack of a better term… in the first place.” I felt like a child. I turned pinker still as I continued. “She probably won’t make an exception for the thing that got me grounded in the first place. Are you comfortable coming to my place?”

She bit her bottom lip in thought. “I mean, like, it’s not the most ideal situation, but it’ll have to do…” She whipped out her phone as I was about to continue. Did she really have to be glued to her phone every second?

“Okay, because second of all, I wanted to address you about a…” My phone vibrated. Confused, I looked at my phone and back to Taylor. Her face remained plain and emotionless, almost challenging, as I took my phone out of my pocket and read the message.

Plus, i wont be able to properly pay you if your at your place with kevin, so this is in your best interest too…

I looked up from my phone and couldn’t help but give Taylor a sarcastic smile. “That’s not exactly at the forefront of my mind, you know. Your education is still my top priority.”

Taylor smiled at me, shaking her head in the way she always did. “So are we good?”

“There is one more thing,” I confessed, looking around to make sure the hallway was empty around us before continuing. “I think the word about us is getting out,” I admitted in a low whisper.