Bryce's arms slid around my shoulders. "You're working too hard."

"I've got a lot to do."

He hummed, his hands trailing down my arms. "Too busy to take a break?"

"Stop trying to coerce me with your flirting."

He tipped my forehead back, leaning down to kiss me. "Sorry, practice ran over. But I did do you a favor and shower first."

"I'm so honored."

He flopped down on the bed next to me, taking my notes in his hands. "Want me to quiz you?"

"No, it's okay. I guess I could use the break."

"Perfect." He leaned over, ready to kiss me again.

I held up my hand, pushing him away from me. "Something weird happened with Clayton earlier."

He groaned. "We really have to talk about him right now?"

"Yes. We do. Since you dragged me into tutoring him in the first place."

"Fine, fine." He reached over, turning on the TV. "What happened?"

"Do we really need to have Hairspray playing in the background of our conversation?"

"Yes. We do."

I shoved my notes off to the side, sidling up to Bryce as I let my head dip down onto his chest. "How're you feeling today?"

"No," Bryce said, shaking his head. "You told me this is a Clayton conversation. Pick one."

Stubborn, as always. "Okay, fine. Back to Clayton." I recounted my earlier tutoring session with him, how he just disappeared.

"So Jayden was there?" Bryce asked, his eyebrows wiggling.

"That's what you took from the story?"

His voice dropped. "I think there could be something there. Like a spark."

That was ... certainly unexcepted. "You think Clayton Johnson has a crush? On Jayden?"

"I know, I know. But you know Clayton. He's can be difficult at times."

"To put it lightly," I said, which earned me an eye roll from Bryce.

"But with Jayden," Bryce continued, "he just sort of eases up. Likes having him around. I'm telling you, there's something there."

I thought back to our earlier tutoring session, how Clayton had seemingly relaxed while Jayden was there. "He likes hanging around you, too."

Bryce shook his head. "This is different. I'm telling you."

"What's your theory then? Clayton left the tutoring session because he was too into his feels?"

"Oh no," Bryce said, with a shake of his head. "It's that weird thing you said about praise."

"What?"

Bryce paused, as though he was taking a moment to think about how to explain it. "You ever seen kid therapy?"

"I mean, I've been around it. At the hospital."

"It's Clayton's nightmare," Bryce said. "After everything that happened with his dad, they immediately whisked him off to one of those therapy centers. Maybe that works for some kids, but Clayton describes it as torture."

That still didn't explain anything. "And that relates to me how?"

"He's not a kid," Bryce pointed out. "He told you. When Clayton says something, there's weight behind it. Don't treat him like he's a kid in need of praise."

"How was I supposed to know that?"

"You have to be fluent in Clayton-ese."

Figures. "I was just trying to be nice."

"Clayton doesn't do nice," Bryce said, with a teasing smile. "You've got to out-insult him."

"That's not really my thing."

"I know. And I love you for it." And then he was kissing me.

"You're so impatient, you know that?"

"I don't want to talk about my friends anymore. I want you."

And that's how I ended up topless at 4 PM on a Thursday.

As I said, it's a short one, but contains some important info. How do we feel about the gossip session? Any juicy details you learned?

if an upload is ever late, just know it's because Bella won't let me leave the bed.

Teaser: We have our first 1-1 Jayden interaction, which should definitely be interesting.

This book will update again on Monday.