Tip Five; hand necklace. That is all.

I lift a hand to push the glasses further up my nose and stare dumbly at the words on the screen.

What the fuck does this shit mean?

My brow furrows when I move to the next page and the confusion inside me just grows.

The door of my bedroom opens and Asher slips inside before shutting the door with a click behind his back.

A raise a brow, "What are you doing here?"

"I have a lesson."

I blink and finally notice the pile of books in his hand. "Oh, right. Umm." I look around the room, all my own shit taking up the space on the bed and more shit on the desk. "We'll work on the floor."

Asher walks closer and takes a seat on my bed, the mattress jostling from the interruption.

"Or the bed." I mutter and lean up on my knees to begin clearing some space for him.

I collect the pile of papers for my assignment and shove them in my notebook before closing my laptop and leaning over the side of the bed to place it all on the floor.

A groan hits the air and I freeze, realising my back is to Asher.

And my ass is up in the air.

Fuck, my ass is in Asher's face and all I'm wearing is a pair of gym shorts.

"Ivy-"

I move rapidly, the mattress bouncing under me as I move back to a seated position, avoiding Asher's eyes.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to -" I pause, "do that."

He chuckles, and I see his head shake from the corner of my eye. "You're so innocent."

A scoff rips out of me, "yeah I know, I'm naive."

I can feel his eyes on me but I do everything in my power to ignore him. "I didn't say that." He murmurs.

I don't reply, shifting so my legs criss cross under me, my knee hitting the bedside table.

"What do you need to work on?"

He huffs, "I'm not talking about my tutoring lessons."

My brows draw in. "What?"

"I have to make up for yesterday."

Shock and something I can't name renders me speechless. "You-" I clear my throat. "You don't have to do that."

"I made a promise."

"Asher, you don't have to continue, I'm giving you an out."

He practically glares at me. "I don't want an out. I told you I would teach you everything you wanted to know and I'm not the type of guy to break a promise."

"Asher." I sigh, "look-"

"You said you wanted to know about kissing?" He cuts me off.

I blush. Like an idiot. Again. The heat in my cheeks only has my embarrassment skyrocketing.

"Aren't I meant to be tutoring you?"

He shrugs, "we can do it after."

I concede. "Okay."

"What do you know already, tell me what you've done?"

I glance away, not wanting to look at him as I spill my guts. "Not a lot, I-" I roll my eyes at myself. "I never wanted to date growing up, I didn't care and now I feel like I'm being left behind."

"That's not a bad thing Ivy, everyone works at their own pace."

I give him a glare that has no heat in it. "Oh yeah, when did you have your first kiss?"

A blush seems to light up his cheeks and he clears his throat. "That's not-"

I raise a brow.

"I think I was eight. But it doesn't count."

"Okay first proper kiss then?"

He rolls his eyes. "Twelve. Everyone-" he cuts off when he sees my face. "When did you have your first proper kiss."

I scrunch my nose up. "Nineteen." I mutter, "proper and otherwise."

"That's not bad, Ivy."

"I've only kissed two-" I cut myself off, "well, three guys."

"I'm guessing I'm the third?"

I nod.

He hums under his breath. "Okay, well then tell me what you know. How were the kisses?"

"Short. " I say quickly and think for a second, "boring, sloppy." I cringe.

"Do you have any other experiences? What about your books, movies?"

Even with all the books I've read. Real life did not compare.

"I watched some-" I stop myself from saying it and Asher tilt is his head at me.

"Watched?"

"YouTube."

He starts to grin and I whack his arm. "Don't laugh."

"I'm not laughing." He says as he laughs and shakes his head. "What do you mean YouTube?"

"You know the videos?"

He shakes his head.

"Of the blonde lady, and she teaches you how to kiss?"

"No."

"You never looked up how to kiss on YouTube?"

Asher, again, shakes his head. "No."

"What did you look up then when you got curious?"

He grins like a devil. "Porn."

I roll my eyes. "Well that's the extent of my knowledge. The video every twelve year old girl looks up when she's curious about how to kiss."

"Can you show me the video?"

I throw a pillow at his smug face. "No, I'm not showing you the video."

"Well all I have to do is look up how to kiss on YouTube and it'll come up right?"

I cross my arms and refuse to answer and he laughs, straitening from his lazy position. "Well come on then, let's practice."

"Now?"

He nods, "do you have somewhere to be?"

I shake my head slowly.

"Okay, well, you're going to have to get closer to me."

I look at the much needed space between us and purse my lips.

"You're practically falling off the bed to get away from me."

My eyes swing up to his, indignant. "I am not falling off the bed."

"Your knee is resting on your bedside table." He laughs under his breath. "I won't bite." He gives me a look, "not yet, anyway."

I move a fraction closer.

"Bit more." Asher prompts.

I move closer and closer until our thighs touch.

"Good girl."

I narrow my eyes. "I'm not a dog."

He laughs. "No, you are not." But he doesn't take his words back. "Okay, kiss me."

I swing my eyes to him, wide. "I thought you were teaching me?"

"I gotta see what level you're at."

"What level-" I sputter. "Asher, this is embarrassing."

"Ivy, stop thinking so hard and just kiss me."

"Maybe I should find someone else. I probably shouldn't be kissing my best friends brother in my bed."

"And I shouldn't be kissing my best friends little sister but here we are."

And then he kisses me.

I rear back after giving him a quick peck.

"Really?" He looks unimpressed.

"You said kiss, not make out."

"You know what I meant."

I narrow my eyes. "You're impossible. Incorrigible." I huff, "impossible."

"You already said that."

"Asher." I whine like a child.

"Do you want to be taught or do you want to be known as lousy-"

I kiss him to shut him up, leaning up slightly on my knees so I can reach him without straining my neck. My hand moves to his jaw, skimming across the five o'clock shadow he'd let grow in and move my lips against his.

My fingers move towards his hair and I pull by accident, a grunt leaving his lips that I capture in my own.

I pull back, "sor-"

"Don't stop." He mutters and then his hand is on my neck and he's pulling me back into him, another curving around my waist like he wants to pull me further into his body.

"You're so bossy." I murmur against his lips and he grunts again, lifting me until I'm straddling his lap.

I jerk but the feel of his lips and his hands on me quickly overrides any self preservation I may have had.

This is what the books talk about. Is this what it was meant to be like all along?

We kiss for what feels like hours yet could only have been a few minutes, my eyes shut and riding the wave that is Asher Hudson.

He groans, "You have to stop grinding on me like that."

I pull back, my lips tingling and my eyes move to his lips, noticing how puffy and pink they are. I'm sure mine mirror his.

And then his words penetrate my thick skull and embarrassment comes crashing in.

Of course. He just wants help with his school work and in return he'll help a friend out. And here I am grinding on him like a bitch in heat.

Get ahold of yourself Ivy. He's Asher Hudson and your, you.

I slip off Asher's lap, clear my throat and drop my head, wiping my lips to give myself something to do to disguise the embarrassment before slipping back onto my side of the bed.

"Right. Sorry."

"Ivy."

I ignore his tone, not needing his pity right now. I already feel crap, I don't need to feel worse. I flip the book over. "Tell me what you need done, any assignments?"

It takes a second for him to answer but then a resigned sigh is leaving his lips and he's folding himself down on the floor beside me. "I need to-"

I'm not proud to admit that I tune him out, my own existential crises eating me from the inside and then I'm bouncing up from the floor. "I just remembered I gotta do. .  . Stuff. I have to go home." I aim for the door with quickening steps and Asher calls out, confusion coating his tone thickly.

"This is your house."

"Lock up when you leave." I say over my shoulder as I run from my problems.

I don't hear him reply or come after me as I race out of the house and into my car, driving towards the theatre.

My fingers bounce on the steering wheel like I'm an addict and I'm chasing a hit and I will myself to stop, tightening my grip on the wheel.

I don't know how I get from Asher's house to the theatre, can't remember a single turn, roundabout or stop but somehow I made it here in one piece.

I rip out of the vehicle and quickly lock it, ignoring the woman who's staring at me like I'm crazy.

I don't have the patience to tell her that I'm losing my ever fucking mind.

I try to walk calmly into the theatre, calming my pounding heart and then I wonder why the hell I'm running to Asher's sister about Asher.

Because she's my best friend and I just kissed her brother and now I need advice and I can't even talk to her about it. I've royally fucked up. I stop in the middle of the movie theatre, breathing out a slow breath.

Then I turn back for the exit.

"Ivy?"

My whole body stops and I turn towards Charlotte, forcing myself to smile at her.

Her face lights up and she gives me a grin back. "What are you doing here, finally applying for that job?" I blink and shake my head and her brows fall, her eyes sweeping me up and down like she can find the issue with one glance. "What's wrong?"

I bite my tongue but it doesn't last long before I'm moving closer towards the popcorn infested booth and drop my elbow onto the counter.

Thankfully it's dead quiet.

"Ivy?"

I just come out and say it. "You know how I was telling you about Dain-"

She nods, leaning forward to give me her full attention.

"And you said you wished there was a book or something out there to teach you how to do stuff." She finishes. "Are you writing a book?"

I huff a laugh and look at my best friend, shaking my head.

Her eyes widen. "Have you found a fuck buddy?"

My nose wrinkles at the name, but not the idea and I shake the thought from my head. "He's not a fuck buddy."

She jumps excitedly. "But you found a guy to teach you everything?"

I shrug and wince. "Kinda."

"It is a guy isn't it?" Her blonde hair starts to fall out of her ponytail with all her rapid movements. "It can be a girl, I don't mind. I can share you with another girl."

I shake my head at my best friend. "It's a guy."

She almost pouts and watches me closely. "Who is it?"

That's when I look away, trying to find the words to say I kissed your fucking brother.

"Oh I see."

My eyes swing up to meet hers and I think for a second she can see right through me, that she already knows.

"It's a secret lover, okay I'll let you keep it a secret." She winks, "but I expect all the details once anything happens."

I swallow and nod.

"So how'd this happen?"

"He approached me, heard something through the gossip mill," I fib and shrug, "asked me to tutor him and he'll help me out. Like a transaction."

"Easy as." Charlie shrugs, "what's the problem."

"The problem is that he's really cute." I rush out. "And I thought I could be impartial but he's really cute."

"Maybe you'll get a boyfriend out of it. What the big deal?"

He's your fucking brother and if you find out you'll never talk to me again.

I shake my head, "he was pretty adamant that we couldn't fall in love or anything like that. That it was just tutoring. For both of us."

Charlie shrugs, "do you think you could fall in love with him?"

"I didn't, when I agreed to this whole thing but now we've kissed and my heart does that weird thumping thing when you get a crush and my anxiety has gone through the roof. I don't have an appetite."

Her eyes widen, "oh damn, you've definitely got a crush. Remember when you liked Will and you guys went on a date and your anxiety was so high you couldn't eat anything for a week and then on the date you didn't eat either and he thought you were trying to be like on a diet or whatever but really you just couldn't eat cause you were so anxious."

I nod, not really fond of the memory. "He left half way through the date and said I needed help."

She winces. "Sorry." She shakes her head. "Maybe just take it slow then and if you feel yourself starting to become too attached, pull back or you know talk to him."

Her manager comes out of the back room and Charlie's eyes widen. "Gotta go, catch me up later."