“Hey Little Genius!”

My sigh feels like it took my entire body.

Maybe I’ll deflate from how much air I just expelled.

I’m not little.

I don’t answer, just roll my eyes and keep moving books from my locker to my bag.

I tense when a large arm is thrown over my shoulder, pulling me into 6 feet 4 inches, 200 plus pounds of solid muscle.

Fuck

I still don’t understand the fluttering in my stomach at comes up every time this happens.

“Those are some big books Little Genius. Your bag is gonna be extra heavy today. Maybe you should let me handle that for ya.”

I look away from the inside of my locker in time to see the wall of muscle who has a hold of me wink.

At me.

What does that mean?

My head tilts in confusion.

I still don’t understand our interactions.

They are confusing.

He is confusing.

Nuka.

Large and muscular with skin that is a smooth beautiful warm, bronzy brown color, emphasized nicely by a pair of well fitted black combat pants and a very tight black tank top. He has a strong, angular face with high cheekbones, soulful dark brown eyes that remind me of dark chocolate, and full lips, all framed by naturally long black hair that looks like silk.

I wonder if it feels as soft and smooth as silk.

Huh…

That was an interesting tangent of thought.

Why does it feel like my face is on fire?

Fuck, I’m blushing.

I only blush around him.

I look back into my locker.

Maybe he won’t notice.

I zip up my bag and close my locker.

Before I can swing my bag up onto my shoulder, Nuka grabs it into his large hand.

His arm is still around my shoulder.

I don’t usually like it when people touch me, but I don’t want him to move his arm away.

“You meeting Indy at your car?”

I nod as we start walking down the hall.

I guess we’re going the same direction.

“If I ask what books you’re reading would you tell me? Or should I guess?”

His tone sounds like my older brothers’ sound sometimes.

He’s teasing me.

I think.

I can’t always tell.

I feel a frown form and my eyebrows furrow together.

He laughs and his arm tightens around me slightly, pulling me closer to his muscular body.

I feel my face heat up again.

“Don’t stress Little Genius. I’m just teasing. I’m not gonna force ya to talk if you don’t want to, ya should know that by now.”

There’s that wink again.

That’s nice.

It feels like so many people want to make me talk even if I don’t want to.

Nuka doesn’t make me feel like that.  

He’ll talk but I never feel like I have to respond verbally.

It makes me want to tell him things.

“The Iliad, in the original Greek.” I whisper, it’s quiet but I know he hears me.

He always hears me when I talk.

“Whoa! Greek now. Wasn’t it Cantonese not long ago? Your new nephew and brother-in-law speak it right? Am I remembering that right?”

I nod.

Jing and Zhen speak Cantonese, so it was easy to catch on.

“How many languages do you know now?”

I shrug one shoulder.

Honestly, I’m not actually sure how many languages I know. I just know them. I see or hear a language a few times and I understand it.

Words make sense.

People confuse me.

Like Nuka.

I can’t figure out why he keeps talking to me.

It all started about a month ago.