AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The next day, I’m down in the Underground walking with Julie on the way to my shift. I pass an open door and find Derek alone inside a dressing room with a member of Costuming. A tall, lithe woman has her hands on his throat, fixing his cravat so it lays perfect beneath his sharp jaw.
She’s giggling and chattering on.
He turns and notices me paused there, transfixed.
I realize, a moment too late, that my jealousy is written across my face, plain as day.
I turn quickly and flee after Julie.
Later the next day, I meet Cal for dinner. I have half a mind to cancel, worried sick over the idea that Derek might join us, but when I arrive, the table is only set for two and Cal assures Ava no one else will be joining us. I discreetly wipe the bead of sweat from my brow. It’s only midweek and already I’m starting to doubt my ability to be around Derek without making a misstep. I try hard to completely ignore his presence altogether, but I never fully succeed. I end up finding excuses to turn around and look at him during my meet-and-greet shifts, or I cave during lunch and scan the perimeter of the cafeteria like a hawk, ignoring my food and waiting for him to make an appearance.
Cal usually offers me a glass of expensive wine with dinner, and I always accept. Tonight, though, I’m tempted to ask Ava to leave the bottle. Better yet, waterfall it into my open mouth, will you? Cal takes his wine very seriously. His selections are always thoughtful. This vintage was grown during the rainy season in Tuscany. I don’t tell him it could be gas station wine for all the difference I taste.
Tonight, especially, he’s raving about the bottle he’s selected, and I nod and hum when it seems appropriate, but my mind is not present. It seems to be completely absent this week.
He mumbles something.
I nod again. Yes, grapes. I taste them.
Then he catches my attention with his next comment.
“I’m so happy you’ll be there.”
Wait. What?
“Sorry, I spaced out. Did I just agree to something?”
He smiles, unperturbed by my lack of focus.
“I’m hosting a dinner party on Friday. I’d like you to come. You can bring Carrie.”
I open my mouth, scrolling through potential rejections in my head. Women in the ’50s didn’t know how good they had it. That hair-washing excuse? Brilliant.
“It’s settled then,” he says, refilling my glass. “You’ll be there.”I can’t go on. This week has lasted four hundred years. I’m barely sleeping. Caffeine has lost its effect on me. Every time I walk into my dorm room, that gift card taunts me. Eventually, I pass it off to one of the freshman girls, the first one I see out in the hallway.
“You. Here. Take this.”
I shove it into her hand, hard.
“Are you serious?” she asks, eyes wide. “Did I win some kind of sweepstakes?”
“Yes. Go.”
Get it out of my sight.
I feel better with it gone. I walk back into my room and am glad to find there’s one less thing to remind me of my old crush. I barely think of him at all as I slip into my pajamas and grab my book. I’ve forgotten he even exists as I reread one page three times before slamming the book shut and staring up at my ceiling, angry.
On Thursday, Derek rescues a toddler. I wish I were kidding.
Somehow, a little boy with rosy cheeks and chunky I-wanna-eat-’em-up thighs gets loose underneath the red rope that separates us from the crowd. Unaware of the potential danger, he beelines straight for the one death trap in the entire great hall: a decorative poker resting in front of the hearth.
“Ben! Benjamin!” His mom’s shouts are piercing as they echo off the walls.
Derek steps forward and scoops the boy up, inciting a wave of audible sighs—because duh, the whole image is peak adorableness.
The toddler’s mom comes barreling through the crowd, crying as she thanks Derek—who, by the way, didn’t really do all that much except confidently hold a child in his arms and look good while doing it.
It doesn’t matter. The story gets inflated. Did you hear Derek rescued some kid who fell from the second story of the castle? is the iteration I hear back at the dorm later, during the ice cream social I organized for my floor. I stand behind a table, doling out scoops while the freshman girls twitter on about the story as if it’s breaking news. They’re supposed to be bonding, I think, before realizing they are…over Derek and how “He’s not just handsome, he’s a hero!”
The next day, it gets worse.
After I finish taking a photo with a family, I step back and catch the bottom of my dress on my heel. The tulle gets stuck. I lose my balance and flinch in anticipation of my collision with the ground. Then, suddenly, arms swoop out to catch me, stopping my momentum so I end up horizontal in someone’s arms rather than on the floor.
