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Right then, buttery brown eyes shift to mine, catching mine on her, and her head falls against the headrest.
“Hey Noah?” She grins, licking the hint of salt on her lips.
My eyes follow the path of her tongue. “Yeah?”
Humor lines her voice as she says, “You might want to drive.”
My eyes jerk up, my head snapping forward, and sure enough, I miss the light, the green turning back to red before I can even take my foot off the brake.
I look her way again, and that smile appears, the soft, warm one she’s known to awards me with, her laughter light and airy, a glint of something else scripted in her eyes.
I squeeze her knee, needing to touch her, watching and loving the light pink that spreads across her silky skin. My heart beats faster, knowing something as simple as my hand on her skin earns this reaction from her.
“Come with me to the football gala.”
She smiles. “A gala? Sounds fancy.”
“It is. Black tie and ballgown. The whole bit.”
“When is it?”
“January.”
“January…” She trails off. “That’s two months from now.”
Slowly, I nod. “Yeah. It is. Tell me you’ll come, write it on that calendar of yours?”
Ari bites her lip, her voice low. “You already know the answer.”
I hope to God I do.
When the light turns green, again, I press the pedal, smiling to myself when a soft sigh slips from her.
I’m in love with her, and if I’m right, which I hope to hell I am, she’s on her way to loving me right back.
If she could, I’d need nothing else.
Just her.
Chapter 31
Arianna
* * *
“I have training in ten. Coach has some meetings, so my days all messed up. I have film after this and practice at four.”
“Sounds like a fun one for you.” I grin at the screen. “I’m on my way to a mandatory lecture about Endless possibilities here at Avix U.” I mimic the campaign speech my professor showed us today.
“Hey, you might just come out with a major,” Noah teases.
“That would be devastating, I already told you my life plan.” I laugh. “But bright side, this’ll be the easiest A I’ll ever get.”
“There you go.” He nods at someone as they walk into the locker room, facing the screen once more. “I should go before people start stripping.”
“Or you could leave me on the line.”
He shoots a little warning glare my way and I smile.
“Call me later?”
“You know I will.”
We hang up, and I push to my feet.
Heading into the lecture hall, I put my phone on silent, jumping when a hand reaches out, gripping onto my shoulders from behind.
I look up to find Chase.
“Hey.” I smile, but a frown quickly replaces it. “Don’t you have training right now?”
He shakes his head, falling in line beside me. “Nope. I have a check-in after this, to go over grades and shit, but nothing else until film.” He bumps his shoulder with mine. “Trust me, I tried to get out of this thing.”
“I bet.” I chuckle, then we’re quiet as we fall into the long line of students.
We take seats beside each other in the middle of the room, and for the next forty-five minutes, we listen to people talk about how the choices we make now will help shape our futures.
It’s kind of boring, borderline common sense, but they do introduce a ton of career options that aren’t necessarily spelled out in the course listings.
On our way out, I turn to Chase. “I’m meeting Cameron for a few minutes at the café, did you want to come?”
He nods, but then shakes his head, and stops in his tracks. “Can we talk?”
“Yeah, what’s up?” I turn to face him.
“No, I mean can we talk, talk.” He stares pointedly. “About everything. About…”
He can’t even say the word ‘us,’ and I’m sure as hell not going to be the one to say it.
“I want to explain. Apologize,” he pushes on.
“It’s okay, you don’t have to.” I shake my head. “I don’t need to hear it anymore. I get it, I do.”
It’s the truth. The fact of the matter is I forgave Chase, for all of it. I don’t really know when it happened, but it did, and it’s not that he felt he needed forgiveness, I don’t know if he did or didn’t. It’s also not because he did something that should require my forgiveness, because that’s not necessarily the truth either.
We were consenting adults, both aware of what we were doing, both free of expectations and repercussions.
I knew in the back of my mind, he could never truly be mine. I’d known it all along, I just allowed myself not to care that night. He offered me something I had wanted for so long, and so with greedy hands, I accepted, consequences be damned.
That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt when the high wore off and reality swept in with the morning tide, washing away the memory we made in the sand only hours before.
