Page 37 of Call It Serendipity

She turns to face me, her expression grave. “It is getting pretty dark. Soon we really might be lost.”

The sun is low in the sky, streaks of gold cutting through the tops of the stalks. In this light, I can appreciate the complexities of Lucy’s eye color. There’s a rich, walnut hue to them, with flecks of amber. They’re absolutely mesmerizing.

“Jake? How close do you think we are to the end?”

This time, I notice that her voice waivers.

“It’s okay,” I assure her quickly, reaching out and rubbing my hands up and down her arms. “We’ll get out before dark.”

“What if we’re only like… halfway? All horror movies have cornfield scenes at night.”

“So does Field of Dreams,” I point out, hoping to get a little smile from her.

Not only do I get a smile, I get a laugh too.

“I’m not sure I would feel better if a bunch of dead baseball players started coming through the corn at us.”

She leans into my touch, so I wrap an arm around her and fold her into my embrace. Her temple settles against my collarbone, fitting against me like she belongs there.

“Do you really want me to get you out of here right now?” I ask softly. “I can.”

“How?” Her question is muffled by my sweater.

I jab my thumb back at the watchtower over my shoulder. “See how close that thing is?”

She looks up. “Yeah?”

“We make our own path to it.”

Lucy gasps. “We can’t do that.”

“Are you the kind of girl that follows every possible rule?” I grin down at her, fiddling with the knit of her sweater.

“Without rules, life would be chaos.”

“Haven’t you ever broken one that didn’t quite make sense?”

She gives me a look that says I should know better than to ask such an outlandish question.

“Luce,” I drawl. “Will you do me the honor of breaking this rule together?”

The wind rustles through the field around us while she thinks about my proposal. Still tucked against me, I can feel her body shiver in response.

“Yeah, get me out of here,” she mutters.

I don’t hesitate, turning to face the wooden structure acting as our guide, and tucking her in behind me. “Stay close.”

Her palms press against my back. “Okay, let’s go.”

Trying to move with minimal disruption of the stalks, I head in a straight line towards a guaranteed end to this field. If I don’t send them bending in the opposite way, they don’t fling back at Lucy.

But she doesn’t seem to mind my careful pace, staying so near, her hands remaining firmly set just beneath my shoulder blades.

“What if someone is up in the lookout post and catches us?” she whispers.

“No one is up there, I promise.” My eyes are set on the tower, guiding our path.

“If we get kicked out of Pumpkinville—” she cuts off her own thought with a snort. “How silly does that sound? I finally break a rule and become the person that got kicked out of Pumpkinville. That’s something that would happen to a teenager.”