Liz sighed heavily as she pushed aside the book she'd been studying for the past two hours. Rubbing her tired eyes, she glanced over at the clock. It was well past midnight, and she had a class at nine. With another sigh, she stretched and headed for the shower.
In High school she had been an honor student, but university was proving to be more of a challenge than she had expected. Her desire was to be a forensic scientist and join the police force, but with the stress and hassles of day to day life, and living alone in the house left to her by her grandmother, she just wasn't able to give her studies as much as she needed to.
Standing in the shower, letting the water run over her body, relaxing and letting the heat wash away all her cares, she thought a little about the offer her professor had made her a few days earlier. There was a guy in one of his other classes, a complete geek from what she understood, who was brilliant when it came to the subjects she was having trouble with, and was looking for a way to make a few extra dollars. He would make a great tutor, providing she could stand his company, and at this point, with finals only a matter of months away, she didn't see much of a choice. It was either the geek, or failure.
The next day after class, Liz went to her professor and swallowed her pride. She still didn't really want to do this, but what other choice did she have? She needed to pass this class to graduate. Mr. Kingston wrote down the guy's name, and his phone number for her to call and make the arrangements for herself. She looked at the slip of paper in disbelief. Wesley Quest, they had to be kidding. What kind of parent would dislike their child enough to give him a name like that? No wonder he turned out to be a geek. But still, she reasoned, in this case, it worked in her favor. She needed this geek to help her get her grades up.
Setting the piece of paper down on the desk beside the phone, Liz looked at the name again, shaking her head, trying to push away the mental image that had been building in her mind all afternoon. Some how all she could visualize was a short chubby guy, with thick glasses, and a really bad haircut, snorting when he laughed at his own less than humorous jokes. The idea had her quite perturbed. She had never considered herself a snob, but she had always managed to be one of the popular people, and made friends easily. For some reason, there was something about geeks that made her uncomfortable.
She picked up the phone and dialed the number, tapping her foot and waiting for some one to answer.
"Hello, Quest residence." The voice on the phone was smooth, almost sexy.
"Hi, this is Liz Macmillan, would I be able to speak to Wesley please?" she tried to keep her voice calm, but her hands were shaking.
"This is Wesley. You must be the girl Professor Kingston told me about. You're looking for a tutor?"
"Um. Yes I am. I am having trouble with chemistry and DNA. If you could help me get my grade up I would really appreciate it." Some how the image she had been building of him just didn't match his voice, but she figured she would not make a judgement until she saw him with her own eyes.
"Sure. I could help you with that. My fee is ten dollars a session, payable at the beginning of each session, and I can help you any day but Thursday. When would you like to start?"
Liz was a little stunned with how up front he was with her; she had not expected it at all. "Would tonight be too soon for you? I have a paper due in day after tomorrow and I could really use a descent mark."
He went silent, and for a moment she was worried he might not be able to help her so soon. "Sure, tonight would be fine. I can be there in about half an hour."
She breathed a sigh of relief as she gave him the address and said goodbye. She hadn't realized until that point just how much stress she had been under worrying about this next paper. Having a little help would make it much easier. Picking up the phone again, she ordered pizza, cooking not being one of her strong points, then headed for a quick shower.
Wesley and the pizza arrived at the same time, and for a moment she had the pizza delivery guy mixed up with Wesley. The pizza delivery guy looked just like the image she had built up of Wesley, and Wesley was nothing like what she had expected. He was a little taller than she was, with a full head of dark, shoulder length hair, pulled back in a tie, deep-set brown eyes and a wicked grin. This is the geek? She had to remind herself to lift her jaw up off the floor.
The smirk on Wesley's face as he walked into her living room with an arm full of books, made it more than obvious that he'd seen this reaction before, and quite enjoyed it. Setting the books on the table, he turned and held out his hand to her. "Hi. I'm Wes. You ready to study?"
She took his hand, surprised at how comfortable his touch made her feel. "Yes, I sure am, just give me a second to grab a drink and we can get started. Would you like something to drink?"
"Yes, thanks, what ever you're having is fine." As Liz vanished into the kitchen, Wesley quickly surveyed his surroundings. The home was much the same as when her grandmother had left it to her, and her tastes were simple, not cluttering her space with useless trinkets. It was clean, and well kept. Tasteful. An old piano in the corner caught his eye, as did the photographs the covered the top of it. He was looking at then when she came back into the room. Handing him his drink, she pointed out a few of the pictures, and named them. Her parents, her grandparents, her brother, and a few assorted relatives, but no friends or lovers seemed to have any place amongst them. Wesley wondered a little at that, but thought better than to ask about it.
Sitting side by side at the kitchen table, Liz showed him the requirements for the paper that was due in next. He looked over the paper than raised an eyebrow at her. "I'm not going to give you any answers Liz, but I will help you find them for yourself, and show you how to remember them. You'll never learn if I just give it to you."
Liz understood, and in a way she was relieved that he had that attitude. She needed to learn this stuff, not just look good on paper. The session went well into the night, neither of them paying much attention to the time, and both enjoying the learning as much as the company. When Wesley left a little after eleven, Liz remembered she hadn't given him his money, but had booked another study session for the following night and thought she would give it to him then.
The following evening, when Wesley arrived, Liz was finishing off the last of her take out Chinese dinner and rushing to get the table cleared off to make room for the books. He picked up a few things and followed her into the kitchen, more to take a look than to actually help. He was not surprised by what he found. The kitchen was spotless, basically because she never used it. The woman was brilliant in a lab, but probably couldn't boil water. He smiled a little at the image he got of her trying to cook, but once again, said nothing.
The studying went well into the night once again, but when Liz handed in her paper the following day, she was more than confident of a good grade. They had set up a plan for regular study times, Monday and Wednesday nights, but when Liz arrived home that night, she was a little disappointed with herself for not booking him to come over more often. With a sigh, she picked up the directory, contemplating if it would be pizza, chicken or Chinese tonight, though she really didn't feel like any of them.
There was a knock on the door, and with the directory still in her hands, she went to answer it. No sooner had she opened the door and Wesley pushed his way past her and headed for the kitchen, his arms willed with bags of groceries. She looked at him a little stunned. "Wes, I didn't book you for tonight."