AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Gavin wouldn’t let her shut the conversation down. “Well, maybe you can think about med school or nursing school. They need medical professionalseverywhere.”
Lilac couldn’t picture Pembroke as a doctor or a nurse—she had no personality to speak of. She knew Brielle and Pembroke bonded over all their TV shows and geeky movies, but she had never gotten into that herself, so she hadn’t been able to follow along. Still, those types of conversations seemed to be the only reason Pembroke ever came to life. Little help that would be in a medical emergency,though.
Pembroke nodded and Lilac decided to throw her a bone and pivot the discussion. “Well, good luck with whatever you decide.” She was more certain than ever now that she’d made the right decision. Sure, Minnesota was still a new place to move to, but Florida? Beaches and sunbathing, year-round heat and the cuddly cute tapir named Tildy. She was going to be living the dream—her childhood dream cometrue.
Gavin mumbled something about “trouble at 3:00,” and Lilac’s feet floated back to the floor. “Is it 3:00 already? I thought all our parents weren’t coming until after dinner anyway.” They were all coming for one last hurrah, a grade-wide graduation dinner and campus tour followed by the ceremony tomorrowmorning.
Brielle jumped to her feet, her attention drawn over her shoulder. “Right. Thanks for the heads-up. See you guys tomorrow!” She gathered up her tray andleft.
Lilac supposed Brielle might be so busy with her mom and sister’s arrival that she hadn’t planned to sit with them at dinner. All the better. Both sets of Lilac’s grandparents were coming and she knew that between them, her parents, and Gavin and his grandma, there wouldn’t be room for anymore.
“I hate that guy,” said Gavin, wiping his hands with his napkin and shaking hishead.
“What guy?” askedLilac.
Gavin nodded in Brielle’s direction and Lilac witnessed Brielle storming off angrily toward the cafeteria doors with a lanky, gangly guy in a Hershey’s T-shirt hot on her tail. “Oh. The ex?” said Lilac, only half-sure.
“Daniel…” said Pembroke, who stared alittletoo intensely after them as they vanished from sight.Ew, thought Lilac. Was Pembroke—Pembrokeof all people, who hadn’t so much as glanced at a boy in all her four years here—checking out that skin-and-bones jerk? That made for two women in Lilac’s circle with no taste. Not to mention, he was younger than them. Not her type at all. All her college relationships had been short and sweet—they’d scratched an itch, but they hadn’t really done much for her. But seeing as how the only older men in her social circle here were professors—which,no, despite any leers she may have detected coming from that way on occasion—it had been frat boys with commitment issues or nothing. Good thing she hadn’t cared about any of themcommitting.
“Why can’t he leave her alone? Honestly.” Gavin let out a breath as if Brielle’s love life affected him deeply. “He’s such anasshole.”
Pembroke’s face flushed and she stood, gathering her own tray. “Yeah,” she said, almost as an afterthought. “So I… I’m going to get ready for my dad,” she added, not meeting either Gavin’s or Lilac’seyes.
“See you later, sweetie,” said Gavin, as if she were a kindergartner. Not that Lilac could blame him. She often found herself acting like the tiny blonde-with-blue-streaks was a kid aswell.
“Bye,” said Lilac, and Pembroke mumbled her farewells before retreating to the dishwashing station to deposit herthings.
“So,” said Gavin, inching his chair back so he could pivot to face Lilac entirely, one elbow on the back of the chair, his other hand clasping hiswrist.
“So,” said Lilac, grinning and echoing hisposture.
Gavin batted his eyelashes. “When were you going to tellme?”
“I justdid.”
“Yeah, yousprungit on me. That’s cold,Li.”
Lilac pouted. “I just didn’t want to repeat myself,” she said, then turned to say, “¡Hola!¡Felicitaciones!”to a couple of other senior girls from her advanced Spanish classes who’d walked by and wished her thesame.
Gavin rolled his eyes at her as he waved and smiled at a group of guys and girls who sat down a table away. “Lilac Townsend, a woman of few words. Hates to have to repeat herself—especially when it comes to juicy gossip.” He didn’t drop the friendly, greeting smile off his face or even turn to look at Lilac the entire time hespoke.
“Stuff it,” said Lilac, who went to playfully slug his arm. Instead, she gave him a big hug. “I’m going to miss you, Gavvy.” She’d never call him that in front of the others. It was too embarrassing. But whenever she was alone with Gavin, she could feel her defensesmelting.
“I’ll miss you,” said Gavin, running a gentle hand down the length of her blonde hair. It came down to her mid-back when not tied up, though she usually preferred a bun. Today she hadn’t been dressed to impress. Just her school sweatshirt and pajama pants. She’d look smarter by the time her family arrived. The family who had shaken their heads and sighed but had all said, “That’s our Li” when she’d told them about Florida, as if “impulsive” and “reckless” were her middle names. Grandma Violet had put the blame all on “Daisy Francesca,” or “Aunt Frankie,” as she preferred Lilac to call her (she insisted so because she wanted to buck the Townsend-women-flower tradition), who had always been a wild, impetuous child, as her grandparents liked to remind her. Lilac liked that about Frankie,though.
“Am I… doing the right thing?” asked Lilac, almost afraid toask.
“You’re asking menow?” said Gavin, a hint of humor beneath his words. “Now that you’ve already gone and committed to it?” He winced as he said that, as if remembering that she’d committed to Minnesota, too, and he grabbed her by the upper arms, pushing her gently away. “Haveyoucommitted?”
“It’s all done,” said Lilac, struggling to meet his eyes. “I’ve burned my bridges in Minnesota—they weren’t happy to have to scramble to find someone else, and then there was the matter of the educational grant they’d offered me for taking the job last year, but Daddy paid it back and then some—and I have my plane ticket. I’m leaving Mondaymorning.”
“So you’ve known about this new job for a while,” said Gavin, pinching his lips into a straightline.
“No,” said Lilac, honestly. “It all went downyesterday.”
“Li,” said Gavin, shaking his head. “That’s…Wow.”
Lilac pulled away from him. “I knew you wouldn’tapprove.”
