Page 74 of Waiting Forever
“Good. I love it, too.” Holy shit. Is this really happening? I feel like the king of the world. New place. New girl. New start. I can’t wait.
28
Kensington, a.k.a. Cerise
“WE WERE AT the door on our way out and he decided to buy it. ‘I’ll take it,’ were his exact words.”
Azure tilts his head to the side, his white bangs defying gravity by staying in place. “I wondered if people said stuff like that in real life or just in the movies.”
“I’ve never heard anyone say it in real life except for Nathan.” I lean back on my hands, my legs crisscrossed on the cement edge bordering the flower garden.
Azure sits in front of me, although he’s much too tall to cross his legs and balance on the ledge like I am.
We’ve sort of claimed this spot on campus as ours around lunchtime. A nearby oak tree shades us with its full branches, not a leaf or hanging moss stirring. Today the temperature feels like ninety plus. Maybe it is. The humidity clings to my skin like a mist I can’t escape. Now I know why Dad never wants to visit the Florida branch. The weather is crazy. Cool one day, blazing the next. How can it be this hot when it’s almost November?
“Tell me again about the party you’re going to for Halloween?”
He sits up straight, his face glowing with excitement. “It’s a festival at a cornfield in Zellwood, about an hour or two north-ish. My mom is friends with the owner’s wife. She knows her from Lake Mary.”
“That’s the prep school she works at, right?”
“Yeah.” He nods with a pleased grin. His way of saying thanks for remembering.
When you have a memory like Azure’s, it must seem like nobody listens half as intently as he does.
“I still think you should come.” He nudges my knee. “It’s supposed to have the scariest haunted house and then there is the corn maze. That’s the part that freaks me out, but in a good way.”
“You freak out? I don’t believe it.” I wipe a bead of sweat from my forehead. “Okay. We need to go in. My hair is falling from its crappy excuse for a bun, and I’m melting. Literally.”
“Literally?” He snorts and stands, gathering his books.
We stroll toward the air-conditioned library.
Azure bumps my shoulder with his arm. “You should come and bring Nathan. I’d like to meet him, and my mom would love to meet you.”
“I want to meet her, too.” I’ve heard so much about her.
“But…?” He arches one of his thick black brows.
“Nathan and I haven’t been out as a couple yet. What if someone from Ryland shows up? Harper’s already cornered me twice in the women’s bathroom, nagging me about Nathan. It’s creepy how she knows where I am and when I have to pee. Maybe she’s following me.” I glance around the campus as we approach the doors to the library. No one stands out, and Harper doesn’t blend well with those huge boobs of hers.
Azure pulls a strand of my hair.
I glare in his direction. “Oh.”
He’s holding the door open for me. I thought I felt cold air.
“Thanks.” I hustle inside, instantly chilled and loving it. “No more lunches outside unless the temp is below eighty. Okay?”
I don’t get it. He’s in jeans and he looks fine, while I’m drowning in my own sweat.
“Agreed.” He pinches his shirt and holds the material away from his chest, indicating for the first time he’s hot, too.
We find a table in the back near a window that overlooks another stretch of grass. From here, I can see the lake in the distance. The surface ripples as if there’s a breeze. A trick of nature?
“Why are you glaring at the lake?” Azure settles across from me.
“It’s moving but there’s no wind. Do lakes have currents? I can’t remember.” I’m sure I learned this information in one of my classes or in high school.
