Page 147 of Endless Anger
It was her decision to come back here, so I assume she has her reasons.
“I love how helpful you’ve gotten as an adult.” Quincy smiles, pushing her bangs from the frames of her glasses. “Mom will be so proud.”
Flipping my sketchbook shut, I stand and grab my jacket, shrugging into it. “I’m leaving.”
She gives me a half salute as I exit the office. Darkened, narrow halls lead me to a stairwell, and I come out through an emergency door, facing the Elysian Dorms. At night, their stone walls and gabled roofs look even creepier than usual.
Especially with the moon hanging high in the sky above them, looming like it’s waiting on something terrible to happen.
Knowing Avernia, it probably already has.
Erebus Hall is dead when I enter, which isn’t necessarily strange for this time of night but still something I note in the back of my mind. As an RA, I guess that’s technically part of my duties here, though I’ve been slacking the entire time I’ve been enrolled as a student.
In my room, I kick off my shoes and curl up on the bed with my laptop, streaming some horror anime and running my hands over Keats’s soft fur. He purrs, butting his head under my chin while we wait for Lucy.
Around eleven, I glance at my phone, noting the lack of calls and texts. It’s not unlike her to go a long time without messaging, because she just forgets to reply, but Foxe on the other hand is a bit of a red flag with how often he wants to keep in touch.
I could have just seen him, and he’d be texting again within minutes.
Another half hour creeps by, and I head to Lucy’s dorm down the hall. Flattening myself to the floor, I check for lights and shadows beneath the door and am met with neither.
I knock anyway. Just to check. And then I try for the handle; it turns easily, and I push the door open, swallowing over the knot in my throat.
“Luce?” I call out, though it’s immediately obvious she isn’t here.
Something vicious churns in the pit of my stomach. I glance around at the messy space, knowing she’d kill me if I tried to tidy up, so I keep my hands to myself.
Sitting on her bed, I bury my face in her pillow while I wait, inhaling the scent of coconut.
My heart aches, wanting to be near her already. Next time, Quincy can move her own shit.
Twenty more minutes pass, with me constantly checking my phone in the meantime. A collection of agate lines her desk above ecology textbooks, mostly brown and deep red rocks, just like the ones she collected when we were younger.
A small smile touches my mouth at how very little she’s changed since I first fell in love with her.
The smile freezes, and my bones become heavy.
Love?
I stare up at the ceiling, replaying every important moment from our childhood. The first time I can remember seeing her, registering her, and how our connection was instantaneous. Like our souls were aligned by fate, intertwined in the galaxy, and written in the stars.
Even when we were apart, it never felt like that shifted. Even when she hated me, wanted nothing to do with me, the tether was still bound between us, pulling taut until we came back together.
I never should’ve ditched her in the first place, but I meant what I said to her the other day.
She’s it for me. I’ll never leave her alone again.
After tonight, that is.
Frustration laces my body, making my muscles grow tight. I drive the heels of my hands into my eyes, annoyed with how neither she nor Foxe have shown up yet. If I’d known he was going to keep her out longer, I wouldn’t have been okay with him going at all.
But I knew she wanted to see Beckett, so I figured Foxe was better than nothing. He’d die for her as much as I would.
Tapping my fingers on my chest, I wait five more minutes. Then another five until I realize that maybe I’m still waiting because I don’t want to acknowledge a possible alternative.
My thumb hits Lucy’s name in my phone contacts, and a buzzingsound comes from across the room. Turning my head, I see a little black rectangle light up, and as the vibrating continues, it slips from the desk onto the floor.
She forgot her phone.
