Page 100 of Wish You Were Mine
Then I exhaled slowly and drove away, telling myself I was doing the right thing.
Even if every cell in my body was screaming for me to call and ask her to come back.
I walked into the science building after lunch, my bag slung over one shoulder and the ghost of last night still trailing behind me.
No texts from Lucy. No accidental run-ins on the quad. Not even a glimpse of her across the dining hall.
And for some reason, the silence had me more in my head than I cared to admit. Which was probably totally ridiculous, since I knew she was busy with classes and training.
But still… Had I said too much?
Maybe I shouldn’t have opened up about my mom. My family’s losses.
It had felt natural in the moment. Needed. But now, with the daylight sharp and responsibilities settling in again, it was hard not to question whether I’d just trauma-dumped on her and crossed some kind of line.
Not necessarily professionally, but personally. Had I made her uncomfortable? Scared her off?
Which was probably a stupid thing for me to worry about since I should betryingto scare her away.
This whole thing, whatever it was between us, didn’t have a future. It couldn’t. I knew that. Had reminded myself of it a hundred times.
And yet, whenever we were alone…when it was just her and me, like at Ky’s party…it was like none of those rules applied. We were just two people talking. Laughing. Connecting.
I climbed the stairs to the second floor, slowing as I neared the lab.
And there she was.
Just like the first week of classes, Lucy stood outside the door. Looking breathtaking as usual, arms crossed lightly over her notebook, her blonde hair falling over one shoulder in a braid.
Waiting for me.
No—waiting for the class she had with me.
“Hey,” I said, my chest doing that tightening thing around my heart again.
“Hey,” she echoed, a small smile lifting her lips.
I fumbled for my key card, trying to act like unlocking a door wasn’t suddenly the most complicated task in the world. After a little more fumbling, the lock finally beeped open, and I gestured for Lucy to step inside ahead of me.
She headed toward her usual table, and I cleared my throat, needing something to say that wasn’tYou look really good todayorI haven’t stopped thinking about you since you left my house.
“I, uh, talked to Evan this morning,” I said instead. “He owns The Garden. He’s a friend of Theo’s, actually. Said they can definitely cater the party.”
Her face lit up. “Oh, that’s awesome!”
I nodded. “And I also texted my friend Kiara—she owns the bakery next door. She’d be happy to make whatever kind of cake you want. She’s got a ton of examples on her social media pages if you want to browse through them.”
“Wow,” she said, her eyebrows lifting. “How did you already get all that figured out? Because I’m pretty sure I’ve been stuck in the just-thinking-about-it phase for, like, three weeks.”
“I just sent a couple of texts.” I shrugged. “It was easy.”
“Well, thank you.” Her smile was warm. “You’re amazing.”
Before I could say anything back—or worse, grin like a total idiot—a student walked in. Both of us straightened like we’d been caught doing something we shouldn’t. Which, technically, we hadn’t. But the way my heart jumped said otherwise.
Lucy busied herself, pulling out her lab manual. I walked over to the front desk and opened mine, pretending like my thoughts weren’t still back on the way she’d just looked at me.
More students filtered in. I grabbed my phone, trying to act casual as I typed out a quick message.
