Page 29 of Finding My Forever

I stood, grabbed my purse, and followed her out to the sidewalk. We backtracked in the direction of the park while I did my best to maintain my breathing. I could not pass out right before meeting him again. I would remain calm and collected.

“There they are.”

Shoot.

My heart rate tripled until I was confident it would burst out of my chest.

Sophia looked at me out of the corner of her eye. “April. Calm down.”

I gave a slight nod and counted as high as I needed to regain my composure.

We were about twenty yards away when I went into cheerleader mode. I could do this. I performed in front of thousands. Meeting two guys was a breeze compared to that.

I pasted a smile on and tossed my hair.

“There she is.” Sophia looked over her shoulder and winked.

We were too close to react.

“We meet again, ladies.”

Liam was all charm. Judging by the fact he wasn’t weirded out by my invitation, he was a lady’s man.

“Yeah, hi.” I fought to remain calm. I couldn’t blush, if I did my cheeks ended up matching my hair. Not a good look.

Liam’s friend, the one who had been pulling him away earlier, looked much more relaxed. “I’m Elijah. Nice to meet you guys.”

Luckily, he didn’t extend his hand. I always found it awkward when people our age did that. He was just an inch or two shorter than Liam and looked much more the part of an artistic NYU student. He wore a black crew neck sweater with black jeans, and of course, a black beanie pulled over his dark hair.

“I’m Sophia and this is April.”

Now that the introductions were out of the way I realized we were taking up the majority of the sidewalk. I scooted toward the buildings and they followed.

“Are you both theater students?”

Elijah nodded. “Yeah, we’re in a play this semester. That’s why we had to hurry away earlier. I didn’t mean to be rude, but we couldn’t be late.”

My head did a weird thing between a nod and a shake. “No problem. I understand.”

He smiled back at me, and I was relieved he was nicer than before.

“So, what brings you two to the city?” Liam slid his hands into the pocket of his jeans and tilted his head forward, looking genuinely interested. But knowing he was an actor made me question his movements. Maybe he was acting now.

“We won a national competition and the prize, besides the scholarship money, was a trip here to attend the award ceremony,” I explained.

Elijah and Liam looked at each other in a weird, coded way.

“You’re high-schoolers?” Elijah said with a smirk.

“Yes, we’re seniors.” I didn’t understand what the big deal was.

Liam nudged him. “Dude, we’re freshmen. Not that big of a difference.”

“Are you guys eighteen?” Elijah asked, ignoring Liam.

Sophia narrowed her eyes. “Why does that matter?”

“Nah, it doesn’t,” he finally smiled, “I’m just giving you guys a hard time.”