Learning a Lesson – A Covenant Fanfic

by: .writer

Summary: When faced with failing his Calculus class, rebellious womanizer Reid Garwin persuades brilliant fellow student Nora Burke to help him pass his final exam. He fully expected her to fall in love with him - most girls did. What he didn't expect was that he would fall for her first. Rated T for language and mature situations.

A/N: First off, a WARNING: MATURE CONTENT AHEAD. Nothing major, just Reid and a bimbo...in a janitor's closet. Ahem. It's pretty recognizable, so just skip over it if you want.

We learn more about Nora here, and Reid begins behaving oddly. And naturally, we must be reminded about Reid's dastardly behavior. He's sort of a slut, you know. But I think y'all will like it.

If you like this, you probably like Reid. Soooo...go to my forums (yes, shiny forums) and discuss your affection for the blond Son in the Reid Fans Unite! Thread. I may even start a fan group. The address is: forums(.)anneisfiction(.)com (take out le parentheses)

As usual, for the inside scoop and info on my other writings (including some upcoming Covenant stuff) visit my website: www(.)anneisfiction(.)com

REVIEW PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE! They make me happy (and favs and alerts do too).

Disclaimer: I don't own The Covenant, or its characters and such. Original characters such as Nora Burke, Professor Ackley, Madison NoLastName, etc., belong to me.

Chapter Three

"So. Baby Boy. Tell me everything you know about Nora Burke."

Tyler looked at his best friend with a mixture of annoyance and amusement. "Damn. She's really getting to you, isn't she?"

Reid threw an empty Coke bottle at Tyler, who caught it and tossed it in the trash. Relaxing back onto his bed, Reid glared at Tyler, who smirked back. "She's not 'getting to me', idiot," Reid said, making air-quotes as he spoke. "I just want to know more about her."

Tyler snorted. "Whatever, dude. So what do you wanna know?"

The blond took a minute to think. "Um...her family. How about them?"

"Well," Tyler began, "I know her dad works for a pretty big company. He's an economist or something. Um...her mother's from Boston. Important family, old money. They--Nora's parents, I mean--spend most of their time in Boston. Nora lives here, though. Not in the dorms, her family has a house in town, not far from Pogue's place."

"And she lives there alone?" Reid asked.

Tyler shrugged. "I think she has a housekeeper who comes in a few times a week, but yeah."

"Why?" Reid didn't understand how anyone could live alone, but he was a people person.

With a laugh, Tyler flopped onto his bed and turned on the television. "Nora needs her space, if she wants to avoid smacking some poor idiot." Tyler smirked. "Like you."

"Shut up," was Reid's oh-so-witty retort.

As he exited his first class of the day, Reid was surprised when Caleb approached him, looking apologetic.

"Hey, Reid. Look, I'm sorry for how I was acting the other day. I was out of line." Caleb sounded sincere, but Reid was still trying to wrap his head around the oldest Son apologizing. Or, indeed, even realizing that he did something wrong.

"S'alright," Reid mumbled, feeling awkward. "Just stop acting like my mother, okay?"

Caleb nodded, his tense posture relaxing. He grinned. "You should thank Sarah. She really clued me in about how I was behaving. I believe her words were 'high-handed and condescending'."

Reid laughed. "That's about right. Damn. She's way out of your league, Danvers."

This caused Caleb to sober. "I know. She's incredible."

Reid knew where this was going. "Dude, don't even start with the lovey-dovey, worshipping bull. I only ate breakfast an hour ago."

Caleb gave the younger boy a shove.

Hands. Lips. Smooth, soft skin. Reid pressed closer to the girl and inhaled deeply, breathing in her scent.

"Reid," she murmured. "We're going to get caught."

"No, we're not," he assured her. "Trust me."

She giggled and reached up to unbutton his shirt. "Okay." She pushed his shirt off his shoulders, pulling his tie with it. With a quick movement, Reid yanked his T-shirt off and dropped it to the floor. It was soon joined by the girl's--her name was Madison, wasn't it?--own shirt.

Two minutes later, Reid was sliding his hands up Madison's back to unclasp her bra. Just as his fingers touched the red lace, his phone beeped.

He paused, praying to every deity he could think of that he had imagined it. When the beep repeated, louder this time, Reid stared up at the ceiling of the janitor's closet and groaned with frustration.

"Ignore it," Madison moaned against the curve of his shoulder. Her lips slid up the column of his neck to his ear. "They can leave a message."

Reid sighed and slid his hands back down to her hips, taking his time. "My friends don't leave messages. They keep calling." With a scowl, he released her and fished his phone out of his pocket.

"What?" he snarled when he flipped it open.

"My, my. So irritated," was the amused reply. Surprisingly, it wasn't Caleb, or Tyler, or even Pogue.

It was Nora.

"Why are you calling me?" he asked. Then, his eyes widened. "Shit!"

She laughed. "Oh, now you've remembered?"

"Our session. Yeah. Uh, I forgot." Reid turned his back on Madison, who was beginning to look annoyed. "Gonna kill me?"

"I might. I've been waiting for half an hour."

Reid winced. "I, um, got distracted."

"Is that right?" Her tone was losing it's amusement. "Look, Garwin, I've told you before. Don't waste my time."

"Aww, did ya miss me?" Reid teased, mentally crossing his fingers.

She snorted. Reid could just see her eye-roll. "I'll live."

The banter was interrupted by Madison. "Reid, I have class in half an hour. Are you gonna to get off the phone or what?"

Reid glanced at her over his shoulder. "Hold on, babe." Then, to Nora, "Are you still free? I've got a test in two days."

"You've got almost forty-five minutes, if you hurry."

Reid thought about it. On the one hand, he was in an enclosed space with a pretty girl who wanted him in her pants almost as much as he did...but he did have a test.

Besides, Madison was too easy. He liked a challenge these days. "I'll see you in five minutes."

He snapped the phone shut and turned around to see Madison glaring at him, her arms crossed over her bare midriff. "You're leaving?" she asked.

He shrugged, then bent down and snagged his T-shirt off the floor, yanking it on. Pulling on his oxford, but leaving it unbuttoned, he slung his tie around his neck and tossed Madison her shirt.

"Sorry, but I have somewhere to be." He turned to the door and opened it.

"But...Reid!" Madison's protests fell on deaf ears, until her accusation: "Is it another girl?"

Reid paused, halfway out the door. He cocked his head to the side, then answered. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

Madison's furious gasp was cut off by the door shutting behind him.

Before he entered the library, Reid paused to consider his appearance. He wanted to clean up a bit, but without half an hour, an iron, and a comb, there wasn't anything he could do. He shrugged and pushed the library door open.

When he reached Nora's table, she looked up from her notebook and raised an eyebrow. Her eyes ran from his untied shoes, to his untucked and unbuttoned shirt, and finally to his ruffled hair. Sliding her gaze back down to meet his eyes, she gave him a look.

"What?" he said, unaccountably defensive.

Her mouth twitched. "Nothing important. You just look rather...rumpled."

Reid felt his face go warm, then scowled as he realized he was blushing. What the hell? he mentally shrieked. I do not freakin' blush!

An actual smile was now spreading across Nora's face. Reid sniffed and took a seat.

"Sorry," he said after a minute. "For standing you up, I mean."

Nora had a look in her eyes that was making him slightly uneasy. "I'm sure you had an excellent reason. Where were you, anyway?"

Reid wasn't sure how he should answer this. On a gamble, he went with honesty. "With a girl."

Nora bit her lip. If he hadn't known better, Reid would have sworn she was trying not to giggle. "How surprising. Now, do you feel capable of focusing on mathematics, or are you still...distracted?" Her pointed tone of voice was coated with a layer of barely-contained amusement.

This entire scenario had Reid off-kilter. He was expecting at least some version of jealousy, or even annoyance that he wasted her time. Instead, she was practically laughing at him.

Without speaking or looking Nora in the eye, Reid pulled his textbook out of his bag and plunked it onto the desk. For some unknown reason, he was not relieved by Nora's lack of anger. As he flipped the pages, he wondered why this was.

A/N: As the author, I think I can confirm that Reid's got it bad. Of course, he doesn't know...yet. More Tyler in the next chapter! Now review, and go check out my website (yes, shameless plugging, but it's lonely over there).