Across The Hall (32 page)

to do it again. As long as she wants me, I’m here. And I intend to do everything I can to make her want me here.”

I didn’t wait to see if he had more to say. I reach back for the knob and opened my door. I stepped backwards inside and abruptly turned, leaving

Jason standing there as I shut the door in his face. I wasn’t going to let Jason Bratt get under my skin. I had enough to deal with about Sylvia. I didn’t

need to start anything with him. For whatever reason, he was Sylvia’s best friend. If there were any more to her feelings for him, she would have

acted on them before now. Even with my reasoning, I was stil jealous that he was staying with her and I wasn’t.

I didn’t bother cal ing or texting Sylvia the rest of the night. I attempted to study. I let her have her time with Jason and gave her space on whether

or not she cal ed Beau back. I thought I caught sight of his truck parked along the street that our balconies faced. It was far enough away that I

wasn’t sure if it was his.

I walked Sylvia to class the next morning. We met out in the hal like we used to, before she started leaving early. She looked tired. Her eyes were

puffy and looked a little unfocused. She didn’t appear to be upset with me walking her to class, though.

“Good morning, Sylvia.” Her smile greeted me.

“Hi, Quinn.” I fol owed her down the steps to the door. I caught myself thinking of walking her to class in high school. We’d had our first hour

together senior year and I’d walked with her from my car to class every morning. There had been a few too many mornings where we’d rushed in

right after the bel , earning us trips to the office for tardy slips. And one time...wel let’s just say the detention was worth it.

“What are you smirking at this morning?” Sylvia’s voice was quiet yet amused.

“I was just thinking how this feels like senior year al over again.”

Sylvia shook her head and masked her face in perfect parody of Senora Martinez. “Senor Lobato y Senorita O’Mara l ega tarde de nuevo.

Informe a la oficina.” We both fel into easy laughter about the phrase we were al too familiar with.

“How many times do you think we were sent to the office by her that year?” I mused once the laughter died down.

“Thirty-seven, not counting the detention,” Sylvia said, stil giggling a little. My eyes widened. Did she real y know the number? She blushed. She

did know.

“Thirty-seven, huh?” I quirked an eyebrow at her.

“What? I know, okay? I had thirty-seven tardies my senior year and six point five missed days. It said so on my final report card and I had to

explain the tardies and half day to my dad.” Her voice was stil ful of amusement. “It was a good thing you were already gone ’cause he was

about...” Sylvia trailed off and looked away.

I sucked in a big breath and put my finger tips to her cheek and gently turned her face to look at me. I looked into those beautiful jade eyes and

my heart constricted. “Sylvia,” I let al the air rush out ending her name in a sigh. “I would spend the rest of my life making it up to you if you would let

me.” I whispered it to her and brushed her cheek with the back of my knuckles.

She minutely shook her head. I knew it was stil too soon for her. I didn’t regret saying it though. She needed to know that I meant it when I told her

I loved her. She sighed and turned to look up the path and started back up it. I fol owed along with her. Neither of us said anything al the way to her

class. One minute she was walking alongside me and the next she was headed towards the door of her building. I wasn’t worried though. She

would come around. I hoped.

Late that afternoon, I got a text from Sloane that said when Sylvia and Kerri walked up to Sylvia’s place there was a rose outside her door with a

note that said “Sorry.” I cal ed Sloane after my class and he said no one had seen Beau anywhere around. Kai confirmed that he had tried to cal

Sylvia again, but Sylvia was stil refusing to talk him. Jason was due back at the apartment any time, so I just told Sloane to keep me updated.

The rest of the week went about the same. Sylvia received a few cal s and texts from Beau, but she never cal ed him back. A few of us thought we

saw him near the parking lot or along the back street. None of us could confirm for certain that it was him. Sylvia and I walked between classes a

few more times. Each time there was tension between us. Gone was the easy air we had that first morning. We talked of upcoming projects for our

classes and about some of our professors. Of course, the antics of our mutual friends was always a good topic. Both of us avoided what was real y

right there between us. It was tangible by the last time. It was as if it were a third person walking with us that spoke to us, but we were making a

conscious effort to ignore him and continue to speak over him.

On Friday, I opened my door to find Beau standing on the stairs. I stiffened immediately. Our eyes locked and I wondered if it was final y going to

be the day I had been waiting for.

Beau smirked at me. “What, are you walking her to class again, pretty boy? Are you going to carry her books, too?”

“You’re not welcome here,” I answered him with ice in my voice. “Just go now and there won’t be any trouble.”

As he chuckled, his face twisted and the bright splotches of light coming through the big window over the stairs made his face appear to melt. He

stepped forward and walked up to Sylvia’s door and knocked. He was daring me to make the first move. I dropped my bag down and loosened my

arms. Before I did anything else Jason cal ed out, “Sylvia said to go without her today.” He opened the door stil talking. “Her class isn’t meeting...”

His face went hard when he saw Beau. “What are you doing here?”

He glanced up over Beau’s shoulder and looked at me. I felt the adrenaline pumping. The rush of it made my stomach tighten. I was ready for this.

I just wanted him to give me the reason.

“I want to talk to Sylvia,” Beau said it more politely than I thought him capable of. “I know she’s home. I just have a couple things to say to her.”

“Look, Beau, Sylvia doesn’t want to see you right now.” Jason met my eyes. I suspected that he was being quiet because Sylvia was awake and

he didn’t want to alert her. “I’m sure Sylvia wil cal you when or if she is ready to talk to you. Until then, just give her space.”

“Look, kid,” I could hear the sneer in Beau’s voice. “Why don’t you just step aside and let me talk to her.”

I was ready to speak up when Sylvia walked in to view. “Beau?” I couldn’t make out her face but I could hear the surprise in her voice.

Beau stepped to the side of Jason so he could see Sylvia, effectively cutting off my view of her. “Sylvia, I need to talk to you.”

Jason stepped back into the apartment. I wasn’t sure if he planned to just shut the door or what. Sylvia put her hand on Jason’s arm stopping him

from doing anything. “What do you want to say, Beau?”

He looked from Jason and back to me. “I would prefer to do it alone.” His smirk in my direction spoke volumes of his confidence that Sylvia would

tel us to leave.

“Why, Beau? You seemed just fine talking in front of my friends last weekend. Anything you have to say can be said in front of them now.”
That’s

right, Sylvia, call him out on it.
I stepped closer as Beau moved past her doorway.

His voice was low and I had trouble hearing him. It sounded as if he told her he was sorry. I was to the door and Jason had stepped away from it

and put his arm around Sylvia.
That’s right, Jason, pull her out of the way.
I slowly crept forward, aware of my surroundings yet stil focusing on

Beau.

Sylvia spoke in a flat voice. “Beau, just leave. I don’t have anything to say to you right now. I don’t care if you are sorry. This is over.”

“Sylvia, please.” His voice wavered and I thought for the briefest second that he was sorry. Sylvia kept her face stony. Beau threw his shoulders

back and looked from Jason to me and back to Sylvia. “Sylvia, when you get away from your keepers, give me a cal .”

Surprisingly, he turned to leave. His eyes met mine as he walked past. They held a calculating look that made the hair on the back of my neck

stand up. I wasn’t sure what game he was now playing, but I knew there was no way he was giving up this easily. Jason and I both watched him

retreat down the steps before we turned back to Sylvia.

I walked over and picked up my bag before I stepped in and shut her door.

“Quinn, I don’t have class, so just go without me,” she said.

I looked over at Jason, who said, “I have to leave soon to meet up in the library for my group project.”

“It’s okay. I can stay.” I was rather pleased with these turn of events.

Sylvia furrowed her brow and looked concerned. “I’m just fine. You don’t need to skip classes for me.”

“I’m not missing anything. I don’t have class for another hour.”

Sylvia’s face changed from concern to confusion. “Where do you go then when we leave together in the morning?” Oh, yeah. That. “Wait. If you

don’t have class, then why do you leave that early?”

I tried to keep my face from showing how guilty I felt. I didn’t want to tel her that I left that early as an excuse to see her every day. I absolutely

didn’t want to confess that to her in front of Jason. I figured the best answer was at least mostly truthful. “I go get coffee or go to the library.”

She glared at me briefly before she sighed. I wasn’t sure what she was thinking but at least she didn’t seem pissed about it.

Jason spoke up before she could say anything. “I need to get going. Syl, you gonna be okay? I can see if Kai or Kerri are home.”

“Jason, just go. I’m fine. Kai and Kerri don’t need to come babysit me. You saw for yourself that he isn’t going to do anything. Besides that,

Quinn’s here, so I’m not alone.” Sylvia and Jason stared at each other for a few minutes, communicating some silent message that neither seemed

too interested in sharing with me.

Jason strode across the room and picked his stuff up off the table. He went over to Sylvia and gave her a hug. It was clearly for my benefit. Sylvia

half-heartedly hugged back, looking a little surprised. “Just cal me if you need me to come back. I can make some excuse to the group and be

back.”

Sylvia rol ed her eyes and pushed him towards the door. “Go. You need al the help you can get with your grades. You can’t afford to screw up

with this project.”

Jason didn’t say anything. He just glared at me as he passed by. When he was gone, I walked over and helped Sylvia fold up the blankets Jason

left lying on her couch. I knew she told him that he would be sleeping on the couch, but the evidence that he actual y did made my day. Sylvia and I

made smal talk as we finished clearing the couch.

“Did you eat yet this morning?” Sylvia asked as she took the blankets down the hal .

I found myself fol owing behind her. I just wanted to be near her. She was wearing the old Quarry Springs High sweats again with a white t-shirt,

and I was fairly certain she wasn’t wearing a bra. She stil had wet hair, so I figured she must have just finished her shower when Beau came to the

door.

“Kind of,” I answered her with a shrug.

“What kind of answer is that? Yes or no. Did you eat?”

She placed the blankets on a chair in her room and I stood in the doorway, looking around. Even though I had been in it before, had even spent

the night in it, I hadn’t real y looked at it. Of course it was the same layout as mine. Her wal s were the original white. Sylvia’s room was simple. It

wasn’t near as smal as hers room back home had been. She had the basic bed and dressers with bed-side tables. Al were mismatched. None of

it had been hers from before. The wal s had several pictures hanging up. Some I could tel were her parents. The others I couldn’t quite make out

from where I was standing. I moved closer to get a better look, and realized that most were of her friends here. A couple I assumed were friends

she knew through Jason. There were four boys in them, one of which was Jason. Most looked to be about the same age, but one was much

younger.

Sylvia came up behind me. I watched as her tiny hand came up to the frame and she began to point and name people. She was close enough

that I could smel her, al sweet and clean the scent of shampoo and soap and her. She started with Jason, so I nodded my head. She went around

to each face, stopping at the youngest. “That’s Colby. You’l probably get to meet him soon. He’s the pup of the group. In fact, there’s a good chance

that he’s going to end up being my step-brother.” I heard what sounded like a bit of hope in her voice. I turned to look at her. She had a soft smile on

her lips and a happy glint in her eye. “Dad has been dating his mom, Shel y, for a while now. He doesn’t think I know. I’m planning on getting it out of

him at Thanksgiving.”

“Kel y’s dating someone?” I shouldn’t have been as surprised as I was. “Has he ever dated anyone before?” I tried to think back, but I only

remembered Kel y doing things with a friend named Brad or going fishing.

“No, I think Shel y is the first since my mom died. He met her through Jason’s dad. Not sure how they got together, but Colby told me al about it

one weekend when I went home with Jason.”

“And how do you feel about having a step mom?” She seemed to be okay, but I wanted to hear what she had to say about it.

“Shel y’s great. And honestly, if Dad’s happy, then I’m happy.” It was a typical Sylvia answer. “So what about breakfast? Did you have any?”

I looked back at the picture, and briefly wondered if the kid in the picture would someday be my family, too. Without even having met him, I hoped