“Look at me,” he says, a hint of anguish leaking into his tone. I glance up, and his honey-hued eyes lock with mine, holding me in place. “Your smile’s beautiful. Don’t hide it.”
His gaze drops to my mouth and my breath catches in my throat. “I don’t understand. If it’smyname, why can’t you tell me what it is?”
Parker sighs. “Why can’t you enjoy what you have now? Live in the moment. If you spend too much time focusingon the future, you might miss what’s happening here in the present.” My phone chimes again, and I pull it from my pocket. An unread message from Silas illuminates the screen.
“Do you need to get that?” Parker asks.
Shaking my head, I place the phone face down on the table. “It’s my—a guy I used to know. We’re not friends anymore.”
“I don’t mind,” he says, tilting his head.
I pick up my phone and read the message from Silas:
About to leave for work. Message when I’m back.
I roll my eyes. He’s always had a way with words. I type a quick reply and put my phone in my lap.
“All good?” Parker says.
I search for a hint of intrigue or jealousy, but I find none in his earnest gaze. “We’re planning to meet up for the first time in a while and… I’m kind of terrified.”
“Why?” he asks.
It should feel strange talking about Silas with Parker butsomehowI know I could talk to him about anything. I look down at my fingers, curling the edge of my phone case away from the screen. “The last time I saw him, I thought he was going to ask me out but instead he cut me out of his life.” A hard mass forms beneath my ribs, and I let out a deep breath. “But that was months ago. I’m fine.”
“It’s okay if you’re not,” Parker says.
“No, I am. It’s just—he was the first person to… see me, you know?” I peer up at Parker, that pained expression still creasing the corners of his eyes.
“Was he the first person to see you, or was he the first person you let in?”
I exhale. “I don’t know.”
“Well, he’s an idiot,” Parker says. He has a talent for making my problems blow away, like dry leaves in an autumn breeze. “And I know I can’t tell you much, but seeing as I knoweverythingabout you, I can tell you that you’re much happier without him.”
I roll my eyes. “I thought you weren’t supposed to tell me things about my future.”
“You’re right, I shouldn’t.” His eyes light, a roguish smirk on his face. “But I’m slightly biased on this one. Poor old Glenn.”
“Ha. Maybe you don’t know as much as you think. His name is Silas,” I say, and Parker’s brows twitch. “What?”
He searches my face. “When I first met you, you said you’d recently broken up with a guy called Glenn. You said you got together at the start of college.”
“Well, I’m sorry to disappoint, but Silas and I were never dating, and there’s definitely no Glenn. I will keep an eye out for this mysterious stranger, though.”
“Maybe you go through a few before you get recruited,” Parker says, imitating sincerity.
I’m tempted to slap the wide, dimpled grin off his face. “What are you implying?”
“Nothing,” he says, holding his hands up in the air. “Like I said, you don’t want to have any regrets.”
I blow out a breath. “You make Neurovida sound like a life sentence.”
“Not at all. I loved it there, and you will too. But things change when you get recruited. You’ll spend every minute mastering time travel. There isn’t time for anything else.”
Every minute? “What—” My hands still. I’d thoughtof Neurovida as an extracurricular activity, but the way Parker’s talking about it now… “Was I not studying psychology while I was at Neurovida?”
“No. Like I said, Neurovida’s a full-time gig. Even if you have a degree, you sign it away before you walk in the door, so there’d be no record of it.”
