Honey to Soothe the Itch Read Online Free PDF Page B

her backpack. She fished through the lint under her laptop, catching only a pen and the corner of her wallet. Wads of paper and a few stray coins filled the bag’s recesses, but her pills were nowhere to be found.
    At lunch, she’d emptied all the pockets and stacked her stuff on one of the ugly lounge chairs in the student center. No pill bottle then, either.
    Not that she trusted herself to be thorough. No meds equaled a super-sized portion of “flighty” and a bottomless cup of “hyperactive.” She dug her hand into her stupid pack again.
    Gavin sat across from her with his palms flush against the coffee shop table. She slapped down a notebook and the table wobbled, a loud clunk popping from its uneven feet. His hands jerked up and he leaned back, frowning.
    Do you want help with your chemistry or not ? he signed, his hands moving through the American Sign Language with quick precision.
    “Yes.” She looked directly at him so he could see her lips clearly, knowing full well she’d also narrowed her eyes, even though she didn’t mean to. Tonight, patience wasn’t one of his virtues and his behavior wasn’t helping her make sense of her attention deficit world.
    She needed his help, too. This close to finals, if she didn’t figure out her assignments, she’d fail another class. The University would kick her out. She knew it.
    Gavin’s shoulders slumped and he crossed his arms—his way of giving her the silent treatment. He’d frowned about twenty minutes into the first problem when it became clear that helping her would take all night. He didn’t have to remind her by shifting around in his chair and tapping his finger on his elbow when her mind strayed. How was she supposed to focus on homework without her attention meds? Rysa pulled a crumpled five dollar bill out of her bag and dropped it next to her notebooks.
    He scowled this time, his gaze following her hand as it dipped into the bag again. She could tell by the way his neck tensed that he wanted to sigh, but sighing made guys look pathetic and Gavin wasn’t one to diminish his manliness.
    Her lips bunched up. He had no right to act like a jerk because she’d lost her meds and wasn’t tracking her homework. It’s not like he always understood his class work. She’d helped him with Human and Environmental Policies last semester. He’d been a chore, no matter how much she tried. For a guy who was pre-med, he sure had issues understanding the bigger picture. 
    Did I mess up your evening ? she signed, her hands working as fast as his through the ASL. A flick of the bag’s straps and it plopped onto the floor next to her feet. “Were you sexting with that sophomore again?” This time she didn’t look at him. His hearing aids worked just fine.
    He stared, his expression flat. Gavin usually had the laidback calm of someone who’d just finished a good workout. Women found it charming. The boy had more contacts in his phone than the University had numbers in its database.
    She slapped the table when he groaned and her calculator slipped off a book, jarring her chai. A splash plopped onto her Chemistry Principles syllabus. Steam rose off the course description as if she’d dropped acid on it, not hot tea.
    Gavin’s pointer finger twitched. Isn’t it a little late to be popping stim meds ?
    A yellow stain spread across the syllabus and her attention snapped to the paper. The liquid ate away the words and they bled onto the tabletop, destroyed by her impulsiveness. She blotted at them, blinking.
    “Rysa?” Annoyance worked across his features in little tics.
    He signed something. She didn’t catch it.
    He sniffed and the titanium in his ears flickered with the light from the television behind her head. She’d sat with her back to the little café’s screen for a reason. News crawls and no meds didn’t mix well.
    This morning, when she came down to the kitchen, her mom had been watching the news. A suburban Chicago mall exploded last night. On