Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 60851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60851 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
It worked. Dev chuckled, and the sound soothed the fire in Ewan’s belly. “Yeah, my neighbours are pretty great.”
Dev laced his fingers with Ewan’s, and they grinned at each other.
CHAPTER SEVEN
On Friday evening, Dev was in a state of extreme nervous excitement. He’d cleaned and tidied his room—even though there was barely anything out of place—and then showered, washing everything extra thoroughly in case things went in an unplanned direction.
His nerves made it hard for him to eat dinner, but the just-add-water instant-pasta thing he’d cooked wasn’t very appetising anyway. He forced some of it down and put the rest in the fridge for the next day, before heading back upstairs to the bathroom he shared with Dani, the girl who had the other room on the top floor.
Dev brushed his teeth, and his stomach clenched with a delicious thrill of anticipation as he imagined kissing Ewan again and thought about what else they were going to do. He rinsed and spat, then checked his watch. Ten minutes to go, assuming Ewan was on time. God, Dev hoped he would be on time, or he might go crazy waiting.
He went back downstairs to wait. Jez and Mac were in the middle of a Super Smash Bros. battle in the living room, their faces scrunched with concentration as their on-screen characters punched and kicked and jumped on each other.
“You wanna play?” Jez asked without taking his eyes off the screen. “You can join in if you want. We can take turns or play a three-player game instead.”
Normally, Dev would have said yes. He was into gaming, although he usually played more on his laptop than on a console, and it would have been a good opportunity to bond with his new housemates. “Thanks for the offer, but I can’t tonight.”
“Got plans?” Mac asked. “Oh, you fucker!” That was aimed at Jez who’d just kicked Mac’s character high in the air and sent him plunging into an abyss.
“Yeah. Ewan from next door is coming over. To study,” he added.
Jez and Mac’s game was over, so they both turned to look at him. A blush heated Dev’s cheeks.
“But you’re not on the same course, are you? Isn’t he a second year?” Mac frowned.
“Yes. He’s studying psychology, but he needs help with statistics.”
“Ugh, yeah. I get that,” Jez said. “I’m lucky Mac can help me with that stuff. I’m crap at the maths side of things too.”
“Yeah, well, you help me with the essays, so we’re even.” Mac bumped Jez’s shoulder, and they exchanged a smile full of casual affection.
The doorbell rang and Dev jumped up. “That’ll probably be him. Okay, have a good evening.”
“Gaming and beer.” Jez lifted his bottle and grinned at Dev. “It doesn’t get much better than this.”
“Have fun with the statistics,” Mac called after Dev as he left the room.
“Thanks.”
Dev’s hand was sweaty with nerves, and he fumbled with the handle as he pulled the front door open. “Hi.” He stood aside for Ewan. “Come in.”
“Hi.”
Ewan’s smile made Dev’s heart beat faster. Ewan was dressed casually in jeans and a hoodie with a zip down the front, and he had a bag slung on one shoulder.
Dev closed the door behind him. “After you.” He gestured to the stairs.
Up in Dev’s room, Ewan put his bag on Dev’s bed and got out a folder and a textbook. “I don’t have a particular stats assignment right now, but I thought maybe we can work through some of the chapters in this? I didn’t do Maths A Level, so there’s a lot of stuff I don’t really get. I’m hoping you can help me make sense of it.”
“Sure.” Dev was glad to have a framework; it would be hard to tutor Ewan from scratch without some guidelines. “Have a seat.”
“Oh, and I brought these too.” Ewan got out a couple of cans of Coke. “I thought about bringing beer, but it probably wouldn’t help my concentration. The caffeine will keep me awake. It’s been a long week. Do you want one?”
“Yeah, thanks.” Dev didn’t like beer, anyway. He found it bitter and didn’t understand the appeal at all. Coke was much nicer.
They settled down to work, and as Dev concentrated on figures, formulae, and graphs, his nerves faded. He knew where he was with numbers. They followed rules and were always predictable. He’d always loved the logic and pattern of mathematics. It was soothing, comforting almost, when the rest of the world didn’t always make sense.
Working through a chapter on probability density function, Ewan appeared to be getting it. Occasionally he’d ask Dev to explain something twice or work through an example with him. But soon he was managing the problems on his own, and Dev felt a rush of satisfaction at seeing him take the concepts Dev had explained and apply them himself.