Page 45 of The Dangers of Daydreaming

In different beds, of course.

This wasnota romance novel’s only-one-bed situation. I think I needed to repeat that in my mind about seventeen more times.

“Hey, I’ve got something for you,” Finn said as he pressed the button for the elevator. It dinged immediately, and he held the doors back while I stepped in.

“Should I be nervous?”

“I hope not.” He chuckled as he reached into his back pocket. He drew out a little strip of laminated paper.

It was anAnne of Green Gablesbookmark. My eyes flicked up to his, and he seemed a little abashed. I swear his cheeks had a tinge of pink, which was usually my territory, being a redhead and all.

He gave it a little shake until I grabbed it. It was so… cute. The bookmark itself was a miniature Anne, with clear lamination around it. “It’s to make up for the dog-eared pages that one time. Plus, I just thought you’d like it.”

I think my mouth was hanging open in surprise. I shut it with a click of my teeth. “Thank you,” I said.

“You don’t need to sound so shocked. I’m a nice guy, Lucy,” he teased. But his eyes were on me in a very serious way, crinkles around them not from smiling but something more solemn.

“I know you are. I just didn’t expect a gift. I didn’t get you a gift.”

He laughed, and the elevator doors opened, letting us out. “What would we be celebrating if you had? Our six-day anniversary?”

“I just meant that… oh never mind. You ruin your nice-ness with stuff like that, you know.” I used the bookmark as a pointer to indicate his face.

“Balance,” he said decisively.

My eyes traced the cute bookmark so I didn’t have to look at him. “Why did you dog-ear all my pages anyway? You couldn’t have thought I would like that.”

“Oh, it was stupid.”

He left it at that, but I wasn’t letting it go so easily. I stayed quiet till he sighed.

“You’d been carrying around that book for weeks, so I looked it up online and got the summary of it so I could talk to you about it.” He stopped in front of a door and crossed his arms. “I found a bunch of popular quotes—page numbers too—and wrote them down… so when I chickened out on talking to you about the stuff in the book, I decided to mark them instead. I thought you’d notice and think I was so smart and we had so much in common. It was a long shot, and, like I said, stupid.” He unlocked his door and pushed it inwards.

I couldn’t move; I was too busy staring at him. “And instead, you got me marching up to the teacher and demanding you get detention for defacing my book.”

Finn crossed his arms, grinning at the memory. “Yeah, she held me back after class, and when I told her everything, let me off with some advice: to not include destruction of personal property in my attempts at getting your attention anymore.”

I laughed and shook my head. Mind-blowing. All this stuff about our past not being what I thought was blowing my mind.

He walked into the room and flicked the lights on, holding the door open with one hand until I was through. It was an exact mirror of mine and Lily’s: the bathroom just to the side when we walked in, two queen beds with a nightstand between them on the left and a dresser with a TV on the right. A large window filled most of the back wall, though the curtains were pulled over it right now.

There were differences, too, between this room and the one I’d occupied for the hour and a half since we’d gotten back from our afternoon exploring Avonlea village and relaxing on the beach. Sneakers were tossed off to the side of the dresser, a green jacket draped over the edge of the bed furthest from the door, and men’s deodorant on the bathroom counter.

I felt like I was intruding.

Studiously ignoring his eyes, I grabbed my bag from him and tossed it on the bed closest to the door.

“You mind if we switch, actually?” Finn asked.

“Oh, sure, of course. I just thought you were staying in that one.” I pointed at the jacket on the other bed.

“Yeah, I thought I’d sleep with the shades open and watch the stars, but if you’re here, I’d rather be in the other bed.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Why?”

He scratched the back of his neck. “Ah, in case there’s an intruder or something. I can’t help you if I’m behind you.”

I pressed my lips together. “You think there’s going to be an intruder?”

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