The Tutor

Peter Andrews had the books for Lit101 under one arm and essays from Story104 in the other hand. His backpack was full of his own books and an essay for Professor Ritcher, which he was hoping would get him off the hook for any more until after mid-terms.

Shit, how did he manage to get this behind before mid-terms? Thank god it was Friday.

He rushed through the quad and out onto the pathway to the English building and took the twist around the big oak at about Mach three and managed to smack right into someone.

Peter, the guy he'd hit, the papers and books all went flying.

Shit.

"I'm sorry. Damn. Sorry."

"I. Oh. Damn. Shit. Sorry." Big brown eyes met his, a little stunned, a little stunning. The kid’s voice was soft, too.

He found himself stopping for a moment to take a nice long look. Oh, a freshman. Had to be. Sweet looking, too.

"It was my fault," he said, holding out his hand. "Peter. And I wasn't watching where I was going."

"Kai. I'm here for tutoring. World Lit." Lord that hand was warm.

He held on a little longer than necessary, but damn this was one cute freshman. World Lit. Wait a minute. "Hey, that's me!" He laughed and searched through the papers he'd dropped before remembering his notebook was in his rucksack. He pulled it out. "A fish of some kind. Koi? Right? Here it is. At two in the English building. I'm late, but you're headed in the wrong direction."

"Kai, but that's close. And these buildings are twisty." Long black hair, hawk-like nose, tanned skin -- the kid was hot, and the little edge of nerves was sweet as honey.

He nodded. "Kai. Got it. Sorry. I'm not so good with names, so I like to do word association, you know. Kai. Not the fish." He winked and got everything picked up. "How about we sort these out once we get to where we're going. The English building is the one with all the vines. It's the oldest building in the place except for the library. The study halls are pretty good, too. Quiet unless they're really busy." He looked the kid over and decided to take a chance -- it had been ages since he'd indulged in even a mild flirtation. "Of course my rooms aren't far from here and we're guaranteed a quiet spot there. If you wanted."

"Yeah? I.. I do better in quiet. Mid-terms? Are going to kick my butt."

"Well come on home with me then." He passed half the crap he was carrying over to Kai, not even bothering to sort his shit from Kai’s, and pointed west. "It's this way a couple blocks. And you're not going to make it if you're already stressing mid-terms."

"Yeah..." Those pretty eyes dropped. "That's what Dr. Hoover said."