Page 38 of A Thousand Second Chances

“No regrets!” she says brightly, and I know she means it. “I had a blast!”

Percy squints at her. “Really?”

“Hell yeah! Time loop or no time loop, it was great. Feel free to rope me into your adventures any time.”

She pats Percy’s arm affectionately, kisses me on the cheek, and bounces down the hall toward her room, her dreadlocks tumbling about her shoulders. It doesn’t escape my notice that she opts not to wait for me.

Percy stares after her. “Is sheeverin a bad mood?”

I snort, remembering her tirade from dinner. “Only when she’s pissed at me for doing something stupid. Or if she hits a snag while working on an art project. Either way, it never lasts long.”

“I’m not surprised.” He frowns. “I wish I could be that happy.”

The wistfulness in his voice sobers me quickly.Me too, I think but don’t say.Me too.

There’s an awkward pause. I don’t know what the hell I’m waiting for. I should head to my room—that’s what I’d intended to do when Quinn left. But something keeps my feet stuck to the floor. Maybe it’s the thought of Percy being unhappy.

Or maybe, a traitorous part of my mind whispers,you just want to be around him.

I shove the errant thought aside and shrug. “Guess that’s it for today.”

Percy opens his mouth, closes it, then blurts, “Doyouthink today was a fluke? That we’ll wake up tomorrow, and it’ll be Sunday, and this will all seem like a weird dream?”

I scratch the back of my neck as I consider how best to respond before opting for honesty. “Maybe. But I doubt it.”

Percy nods as if it’s the answer he expected. He turns to walk away, then pauses and looks back. “Thank you,” he says softly. “For standing up to Professor Oshkoff for me.”

I shrug, feeling too exposed. “I didn’t like sitting there while she chewed us out for something that doesn’t even matter.”

“Well, it mattered tome.”

There’s so much warmth in Percy’s eyes as he looks at me that I can barely stand it. I scream at my feet to leave, but they don’t listen, keeping me frozen in place.

Percy licks his lips, and my breath catches in my throat. “Look, Chris. I—”

The heat in his gaze sears me, threatening to burn me to ash, and it’s enough to snap me back to my senses. Time loop or not, I already know how this ends.

“Don’t,” I bite out.

Spinning away, I retreat to my room, shutting the door in my wake. Long after I’ve turned out the lights and crawled into bed, however, Percy’s crestfallen face continues to haunt my thoughts while I struggle to fall asleep.

eighteen

Percy

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I fumble for my phone, swiping the screen. The obnoxious noise cuts out, and I sink back into my mattress, trying to determine if I can safely ignore my alarm and go back to sleep. For a brief, glorious moment, I think I’m in my one-bedroom apartment, about to head to class. Then, the memories come rushing back.

That first emotional wreck of a Saturday while I retraced the disjointed fragments of my mom’s life as though that would bring us closer instead of reminding me of how much I’d lost.

Waking up to find myself forced to repeat the same horrible day over again.

Investigating the phenomenon, only to draw an enormous blank.

And throughout it all, Chris. The guy I’d almost come out for until my mom got sick, and my entire world came crashing down. The guy I’d pushed away, thinking it was for the best. Theguy who (understandably) hates my guts. Except for sometimes when it seems like maybe he doesn’t—like things between us aren’t quite as broken as they’d appeared.

Groaning, I force my eyes open and sit up. I stretch a trembling hand toward my phone where it rests on the nightstand, pausing to draw in a shaky breath.