Page 15 of It Started with a Sunset
“Right? So I bought it, obviously, and I’ve taken pictures of me wearing it to do ordinary things—going grocery shopping, going for a jog alongside the lake, taking my car to get an oil change, standing in line at Bald Man Subs, having a game night with friends. I’ve got something like fifteen different pictures.
“Anyway, I’ve been setting a timer to go off every two hours so that I can send him another picture of me wearing the dress that he said I couldn’t wear anywhere. The one I’m sending now is of me wearing it under the fairy lights at the tri-town meet-up on Wednesday night at Lake Baldwin. I made sure to get lots of people wearing shorts and tank tops in the background.”
Avery’s laugh was loud enough that everyone in Admissions turned in her direction and smiled. Deja even stood up from her desk across the half wall to see what Avery was laughing at.
Summer raised herself from the chair just enough to see over the half wall to peek at Brock through the glass of his office. He nudged up those dark-framed glasses, then picked up his phone as her text came in. She saw the smile on his face as he opened her text and it made her smile. He just looked at it for a moment, then he touched the screen and started typing a message. She watched as he typed, then sat back down in her chair before he could get a chance to glance up and see her.
Then her phone dinged and she went into the text from Brock.
Brock:I was obviously wrong when I guessed how many places you could wear that dress. I stand corrected.
Summer:I’m always willing to help you stand corrected.
She smiled as she put her phone back in her pocket, and couldn’t wait until her timer went off again in two hours.
Then Avery sighed. “I have no excitement in my life.”
“You should come to a tri-town meet-up with me and Valeria. They’re every Wednesday and Saturday and they’re fun.”
“I can’t this week. Maybe next Saturday.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.” Summer looked around to make sure none of the dozen nearby student employees that Avery managed were close enough to hear. “Pavani is twelve days into recovery and she’s dying from boredom. Brock and I are in a competition to see who is going to put on the best presentation at Aquamoose Tracks, and I figure I need to do some research on my competition. So Pavani and I are going to sneak in here late tonight and see what we can dig up. Want to join us?”
Avery squealed and immediately put her hands over her mouth, eyes wide, probably worried that she just gave them away. Summer wasn’t sure she’d ever seen anyone so excited about joining her for a little adventure.
“Okay, meet us in the faculty parking lot tonight at eleven.”
* * *
As she stood waitingunder the street light in the faculty parking lot, Summer smiled when Pavani and Avery got out of their cars, both dressed in black clothes from head to toe. They both had their hair pulled back in ponytails, and Pavani was even wearing something that looked like a tool belt for someone in Special Ops. Avery held something in her hand that looked like it might be a black beanie. Tonight was going to be fun.
“And you’re sure you’ve recovered enough for this?” Summer asked Pavani.
“I am feeling pretty great, actually!” She lifted her shirt to show an ace bandage wrapping her torso. “My hubby put this around me, though, mostly so I would be reminded that I’m not one hundred percent yet and to not do anything too crazy. Isn’t he the cutest thing ever?”
Pavani and Avery didn’t seem to want to walk along the sidewalks leading to the Student Center like normal people. So, Summer led them as they snuck around in the shadows, hugging the sides of buildings that were away from the copious lights keeping the campus safe even at night, scurrying between buildings, talking in whispers, always checking for anyone out wandering in the dark.
“Can you just imagine how much Brock wouldnotbe doing this?” Pavani whispered. “I’m sure this breaks about a million rules.”
Summer chuckled just thinking of him doing something like this. They probably weren’t breaking any rules at all, but bringing that up wasn’t going to give Pavani and Avery the adventure they seemed to desperately need.
They walked past the light just in front of the Arnold Leadership building as quickly as she dared lead Pavani, which wasn’t very fast at all, then stopped in a dark nook just beside the main doors. “So,” Avery said, “what’s going on between you and Brock?”
“What? Nothing.”
“She’s lying,” Pavani whispered. “Don’t trust anything she says.”
Summer peeked out and saw a campus security guard’s back as he walked down the sidewalk they’d need to cross, so they were stuck for a minute. “Okay, I’ll share some truth. Neither of us has acknowledged anything. But...I don’t know. I’ve just been noticing lately how good-looking and adorable and sweet and crazy smart he is. And maybe, when we’re together working on Aquamoose Tracks together, there’s a spark. And when he moves in close, it’s a full-on electric charge.
“And I can tell he’s feeling it, too. And ladies, he has the most incredible scent. Every time I get close enough to breathe in the goodness, I try to figure out what it is, but I can’t. It’s clean and crisp and masculine all at the same time and …” She closed her eyes and relived the scent. “…amazing.”
“You are so gone for him, girl,” Avery said.
Summer glanced back out at their path, then turned back to her friends. “Maybe. I don’t know. But I’m not going to date him because we are coworkers and that’s reason enough not to right there.”
“Well, that,” Pavani whispered to Avery, “and the fact that she’s scared.”
“No way. Summer isn’t afraid of anything.”
