Page 21 of Keep Me Never
I get two whole steps when I spot her, lying on her back on the turf.
“Look—”
My head jerks to the side as Mason and Brady step up, both of their attention locked on the little blond.
“Okay, so,” Brady starts talking again. “I feel like I should say ifsheis the reason you’ve been ditching us, you are officially awarded a pass.” He grins, slowly sliding his eyes to mine. “But I also happen to know she’s been at lunch every day so, sorry, no pass.”
A low laugh leaves me, and I look back to the turf, my feet hesitating when I realize how much Iwantto walk over to her.
I shouldn’t. Nothing can happen between us.
Not that I’m saying I want it to but…even if I did, I couldn’t act on it, not with my life balancing on a busted route.
Mason clamps my shoulder, and when I look his way, his smile is hopeful. “Let’s go to pizza Sunday, just the boys. I’ve got that hundred-dollar gift card I won at the gala last year burning a hole in my pocket.”
I nod, my throat tight all of a sudden.
He gives me a little shove toward Paige, and I stand there until I can no longer hear their footsteps behind me.
With a deep breath, I meet the girl in the middle.
Paige
“Excuse me, miss, you didn’t happen to see a Certified Negativity Exorcist hanging around, did you?”
I smile when I hear him, but I keep my eyes closed, listening to his approach.
“She’s about as tall as a third grader and may or may not have a giant wet stain all across her back that she’s not aware of.”
A laugh bubbles out of me. “Oh, she’s aware. She can feel it soaking through her dress.” The sun disappears from the lids of my eyes, so I let them open and see Chase’s figure glowing with a halo of sunrays behind him. “I realized it a little too late and figured there was no point in messing up the juju when I was already screwed.”
“Juju?”
“Yep.” I lift my hands into the air, and after a moment, he wraps his around mine and hauls me to my feet. “The first rule of a CNE is to free the mind of all negative thoughts, be it with the rise of a new day or the fall of the current one—that’s a literal line straight from the handbook.”
He chuckles, but his shoulders are heavy, which is sad. The day has only started, and he already seems so…weighed down.
“Tell me something that you’re grateful for.”
His face falls, and he looks off. “Uh…”
“Don’t think too hard, just something simple. Like a right-now thought.” He shuffles on his feet, licking his lips and looking everywhere but at me.
“I’ll go first. I’m grateful that the girl in my dorm who steals my tea pod every day didn’t take my last one this morning.”
Chase’s eyes move to mine and he grins. “Someone steals your tea?”
“Chai tea pods are a hot commodity to broke college kids.”
“Shouldn’t you be grateful for the fact that you had a tea pod left and not the girl who usually steals them?”
“Hey, this is a judgment-free zone. Now focus,” I tease. “Something simple you’re grateful for.”
“Shit, um…” He sighs. “This is hard.”
“What did you do so far this morning?”
“Nothing yet.” He shrugs.
