A Hope and a Chance(75)
Author: Jennifer Foor

It wasn’t that either of us didn’t want to. Chance begged me most nights to come to bed with him, but school had me so overwhelmed. Chance was such a smart person and he loved school. I was determined not to disappoint him. The problem was that it took all of my extra time, even after my study sessions with him to understand anything I was supposed to know already.

This morning seemed like all the other mornings, except Chance was already in the kitchen. His ornery smile was flashing across his face, making me want to burst out in laughter. “Good morning, sunshine,” he said while still grinning.

“What’s with you, and where is everyone else?” I asked.

Chance leaned into me and gently rubbed his nose against mine, before pressing his lips over mine. “They had to go Christmas shopping. We’re all alone.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him again. “Well I wonder what we could do all day.”

Chance picked me up and sat me on top of the counter. He moved toward the fridge and started gathering items. “I am going to make you breakfast first. Then I plan on spending the rest of our day helping you study, in bed of course.”

“I don’t know how much I can learn if we’re in bed, Chance. To be perfectly honest with you I don’t think I can concentrate on anything other than you.”

He continued to gather ingredients for our breakfast. “Oh, we will study. I promise you’ll be fully prepared for those finals. I have a plan.” He seemed sure of himself.

“A study plan? You’ve really thought about this haven’t you?” I asked.

“Buffy sent me a text this morning saying that she and Mark decided to go out shopping last minute. I knew you had to study, but I miss you, so I implemented a plan so we could be together and study at the same time. Aren’t you curious about the plan?” He asked.

I started swinging my feet while sitting on the counter. Chance didn’t have his face to me, but I knew he was smiling. He was dancing around as something fried in the pan in front of him.

“Okay fine! What is the plan, since I can tell that you’re busting to tell me?”

Chance spun around, caging me in with his hands on either side. “So this is how it works. You will be thoroughly quizzed on all courses. When you pass all of the questions on each subject, I will remove one article of clothing. If you fail a topic, the clothes go back on. So, in order for you to have some of me today, you have to be prepared for all of your finals.” Chance had a huge grin on his face. He bit down on his lip while he waited for my response, still only inches from my face.

“What if I cheat?” I taunted.

“Not possible! This study proposition is fool proof. When you get your answers right you can have me, otherwise you get none of this.” He laughed as he pointed from his head to his feet.

I rolled my eyes. It sounded like a good plan and it was possible it would motivate me to try hard. I was in. “Alright. We can study your way.”

“Perfect.” Chance turned around and put two pieces of toast and some eggs on a plate. “Here, you need to eat before we get started.”

I took a fork and put my eggs inside of the toast to make a sandwich. I loved watching the yolk run out of the sides then later dipping it. Chance curled his lip up as he held his toast up and gently dipped it into his egg.

“You do realize that mine tastes exactly the same as yours does?” I asked.

“Whatever. It’s just weird. I prefer to dip. It seems more classy.”

I laughed. “Oh yeah, because eating an egg with toast is so classy. You’re ridiculous.”

“You love my quirks, Hope.” He stuck out his tongue at me then put his plate in the dishwasher. “When you’re ready to be schooled by all of my wisdom, head on over, baby.”

“Maybe I will, or maybe I won’t.” I teased.

“Oh, I know you will. You can’t resist this.” He lifted his shirt revealing his rock hard abdomen. I felt like licking my lips, but would have only let him know he was right about me not resisting. “See you soon.” I watched him walk toward the pool house.

I grabbed my plate and cleaned it before heading up to my room to change my clothes. Chance had acted so cocky about me not being able to resist that I decided to get a shower. The longer I took, the more impatient he would become. I knew that he was ultimately helping me, but I wanted to be the one who was irresistible.

When I got out of the shower I looked out the window toward the pool house. I could see Chance standing at the door. Just as I went to turn away, he waved to me.

“Son of a bitch! How did he know?” I said to myself.

Obviously, he knew me too well. I took the towel off my head to brush my hair before heading in my room and putting on a cotton sweat suit. By the time I finally made it to the pool house Chance was sprawled out on the couch. The textbooks were in front of him with paper surrounding them.

“There she is….Mrs. I always know what Chance is thinking and there is no way he has the upper hand on me,” he cackled out.

“Shut up!” I said as I ran over and jumped on top of him. “You still want me, so who cares?”

“True. How about you hop off of me so we can get serious up in here.” He put on a game face, avoiding eye contact with me.

I rolled my eyes again. “Fine.” I removed myself from Chance’s magnificent body and sat down next to him. He pointed to the chair across from where he was; the chair where it all started.

“Get over there and do not get up until we’re finished. Got it?”

I shook my head and laughed as I headed over to the chair, as if he were punishing me.

A friend of mine at Penn State used to use this study plan with his girlfriend, except she was the one testing him. He said she never let him tease his way out of studying. Hope hated to study, and she would be the first person to admit it.

Once she sat down and stopped trying to argue her way out of it, I grabbed the first book and began with the questions.

For her math class she did all right, but didn’t answer enough questions correctly on the first time around. She got frustrated a few times, so I grabbed the notes that she’d taken and taught her little things to remember the answers easier. When she appeared like she understood it better, I quizzed her again. This time she only missed one question, which in turn required me to remove one article of clothing. It was a wise choice for me to layer up too. When I removed the t-shirt to show that I had an undershirt underneath, she wasn’t pleased.