Focus (The Crescent Chronicles, #2) (28 page)

“
Not now. I’ll bring it by
tonight though.”

“
But the art history test
is in the morning,” I grumbled. I’d forgotten my notebook in his
car after we’d studied the other day.

“
I’m not in the city right
now…”

“
Oh, so how do you know
you’ll be back tonight?”

“
Because I
will.”

“
Fine. See you
later.”

“
Men can be frustrating
sometimes, can’t they?” Michelle snuck up on me. She took a seat on
the couch.

“
Yeah, they can.” I was too
tired from studying to put on an act. It’s not like a couple had to
be happy one hundred percent of the time.

“
I couldn’t help but
overhear your conversation. Levi has your art history
notebook?”

“
Yes. I left it at his
place. And before you say it, I realize it wouldn’t be an issue if
I’d just take notes on a computer like everyone else.”

She smiled. “I wasn’t going to say
that. But it’s true…”

“
Well, I probably should
get back to trying to reread the entire text.”

“
Who’s your professor? Is
it Anders?”

“
Yeah.”

“
I made a pretty awesome
study guide when I had her last semester. I could send it to
you.”

“
Really?” Then I thought
about it for a second and my excitement waned. “Wait, why would you
help me?”

She laughed dryly. “Okay, I know we
didn’t get off to the best start, but I’m not out to get
you.”

“
And I should take your
word because…?”

“
What choice do you
have?”

I shrugged. “None.”

“
For what it’s worth, I’m
sorry for being a bitch.”

“
What?”

“
I was jealous, and I took
it out on you. It wasn’t cool. Okay?”

“
You were jealous?
Why?”

“
I thought you had it easy.
You got to spend your life with the guy you loved.” She paused.
“Funny, huh?”

I smiled. “Easy? That’s a good
one.”

“
But then I realized I had
it wrong. I heard the rumors. I know what happened.”

My chest tightened, here came the
blackmail.

“
Whoa, calm
down.”

I guess she read the panic on my
face.

“
Levi didn’t tell you what
you were getting yourself into, did he?”

I looked away, wishing I had a way out
of the conversation.

“
Everyone knows.
Everyone
.” She gave me a
knowing look.

“
Everyone?”

She looked over her shoulder. Satisfied
the study group wasn’t listening she continued. “Even the
king.”

“
Oh my god.”

“
He doesn’t care. As long
as you stay with Levi, it’s fine. He’s going to make sure you
stay.”

“
It’s not like I want to
leave…Levi and I are making things work.”

“
But you don’t really know
how to handle it all, right?”

“
I guess. I just need some
time to think.”

“
Are you going home for
break?”

“
Kind of. I’m meeting my
mom in Vermont. Hailey volunteered to come with me.”

“
She hates me, doesn’t
she?”

“
She thinks you look down
on her.”

Michelle laughed. “Maybe I did, but I
don’t anymore.”

“
Good. If we’re going to be
friends, you’re going to have to at least try to be friends with
her too.”

“
I know. I’ll go email you
that study guide.”

“
Thanks.”

“
If I don’t see you, enjoy
the break.”

“
You too. Good luck on
exams.” I waved goodbye and shook my head in wonder. Michelle being
nice?

***

“
Pick up your phone or shut
it off,” Hailey grumbled.

I looked at my digital alarm clock. It
was two thirty a.m.

I picked up my phone and squinted to
read the display. Another missed call from Levi. Before I could put
it back down, he sent a text.

I know it’s late, but I
have your notebook. Can you come down?

Late? It’s the middle of
the night.

Please come
down.

Fine.
I eventually relented. As annoyed as I was about him ditching
me, I couldn’t deny how much I wanted to see him. I missed him, and
I knew I’d probably miss him a whole lot more in the days to come.
I needed time to clear my head, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t
craving his presence.

He leaned against the wall outside,
dressed in a tank and jeans. He must have flown. “Hey.” He
straightened out when he saw me.

“
Hi.” I pushed my glasses
back toward my eyes.

“
You’re mad, aren’t
you?”

“
You’d be dead, except
Michelle saved you.”

“
Michelle?”

“
Yeah, she gave me her
study notes from last semester.” I zipped up my hoodie, realizing
how exposed I was since I hadn’t bothered to put on a
bra.

“
So, in other words, I owe
her.”

“
Yes.”

“
Well, here’s this if you
still want it.” He held out my notebook.

“
Want to know what to get
me for Christmas?”

He smiled, probably thinking our
previous discussion was over and he was off the hook. “Yes,
although I’m probably going to surprise you anyway.”

“
An ultra-light laptop.
Find me one to bring to class. This isn’t happening
again.”

He laughed. “All right, I’ll get you
one. You’ve never asked me for anything before.”

“
You know how much I hate
dealing with technology, and I won’t be near an electronics store
over break.”

“
Are you sure I can’t come
with you?” His expression suddenly turned serious.

“
No. It’s not because I
don’t want to spend the holidays with you, but I need time with my
mom.”

“
If you change your mind, I
can get there anytime.”

“
I know. We’ll be back for
New Years.”

“
Good. Otherwise I’d fly up
there. We’re definitely starting the New Year together.”

“
Sounds good.” I
yawned.

“
All right, I’ll let you go
back to bed.”

“
How generous of
you.”

He leaned over and kissed me gently.
“I’ll see you at the final.”

I smiled. “Don’t forget, you have to
take Hailey and me to the airport.”

“
I won’t
forget.”

He kissed me again.

“
If you don’t cut that out,
I’m not going to be able to go back to sleep.”

“
Ordinarily I’d say that’s
a good thing, but I don’t want any more trouble.”

“
Good night,
Levi.”

“
Good night.”

Chapter
Twenty-Two

My lips still felt swollen twenty
minutes into our flight. Levi said he wanted to make sure I didn’t
forget him. I think he was hoping to make me stay, or at least beg
him to come. It’s not that I didn’t want him to come, but I needed
to take some time and slow things down. I also didn’t want to deal
with my mom’s reaction yet.

“
Could you quit making
those lovey dovey faces? It’s making me sick.” Hailey playfully
punched my arm.

“
I am not making a lovey
dovey face.”

“
If you say so.”

I shifted in my seat trying to get
comfortable. “I do. Can we talk about something other than Levi?”
To be honest, thinking about Levi was a welcome distraction from
thinking over my art history exam. I completely blanked out on one
of the pictures, and now I couldn’t get it out of my
head.

“
You’re acting like we’ve
been talking about him for hours—just because you can’t stop
thinking about him doesn’t mean I’m doing the same.” She
smiled.

“
I appreciate you
coming.”

“
It’s not a problem. I’m
excited to ski.”

“
I can’t believe you’ve
never been.”

“
I’m from New Orleans. How
much skiing do you think we have?”

“
Good point.”

She took a sip from her bottle of
water. “So are you going to ditch me on the bunny slopes, or are
you going to join the humiliation with me.”

“
I’ll be with you. But
knowing you, you’ll be on the double black diamonds by the end of
the day.”

“
You’re probably
right.”

“
Does that come from being
a Pteron?” I gestured to her. “Or is it just you.”

“
Probably both.” She
laughed.

***

I thought it would be my mom waiting
for us at the tiny airport, but it was Andrew and the last person
in the world I expected to see. “Oh my god.”

“
What?” Hailey followed my
line of vision. “Is that our ride?”

“
I can’t do this.” I
stopped walking. People struggled to move by us.

“
I assume one is the future
step-brother, but who’s the other?”

“
Toby.” I thought I might
hyperventilate. I’m not one to panic, but this was bad. “And Andrew
isn’t my future step-brother.” At least I hoped he
wasn’t.

“
The
Toby?”

“
Yes.” Somehow my
ex-boyfriend was standing in the airport. I wasn’t sure who was
behind it, but I wasn’t happy.

“
Damn.”

“
My thoughts
exactly.”

“
We’ll get through this.”
Hailey touched my arm.

“
I hope so.” They hadn’t
seen us yet, and Toby paced anxiously.

“
The only good thing is
that at least Andrew’s kind of cute.” Hailey checked out the black
haired guy that liked to torture me in high school.

“
Gag me.” If she only knew
how much of an annoying jerk he was growing up.

“
He is. He kind of has the
geeky hot thing going for him.”

I was prevented from answering her when
Andrew called my name. “Hey, Allie!”

At the sound of my name, Toby glanced
over. He smiled and gave me a small wave.

“
Hi, Andrew.” I accepted
his awkward hug, but really I couldn’t take my eyes off Toby. I so
didn’t want to deal with him. This was supposed to be my time away
to think about things with Levi. I didn’t need Toby
around.

“
And hello to you.” Andrew
moved over to Hailey, picking up her left hand and kissing it. She
giggled. Hailey never giggled.

I snickered and Toby took it as an
invitation. “Hi, Allie.” He stopped a few steps away from
me.

“
What are you doing here,
Toby?”

“
I needed to see you. You
never came home for Thanksgiving, and Jess said you were coming up
here.”

“
Jess? When did Jess tell
you?” I’d only told her a few days earlier.

“
She was with Emmett when
you guys talked. He filled me in.”

Of course, Emmett and Toby were
practically best friends. “Oh.” That’s all I could
muster.

“
I’ve been a mess. When you
didn’t show up at school in August, I thought I’d die.”

“
Get real. We’d already
been broken up for months.” I looked over at the empty baggage
conveyor belt, willing it to start.

“
I didn’t see it as a break
up. I thought you just wanted some time.”

“
I never gave you any
reason to think that.” I crossed my arms.

“
Come on, Allie, you must
have missed me. I know there’s another guy, but he can’t possibly
be as good for you as I am.”

I turned to look for Hailey. I’d gotten
used to her saving me from awkward situations. She just shrugged. I
guess there wasn’t much she could do at the moment short of us
getting back on a plane. “Even without Levi, we wouldn’t be
together.”

“
I don’t believe that. Jess
said that’s why you stayed in New Orleans. If you’d have gone to
Princeton, we’d be back together by now.”

I shook my head. “No. We weren’t meant
to be.”

“
How can you say it like
that? I love you. And you love me.”

How could I respond to that? I thought
I’d loved him, but now I wasn’t sure I ever did. But how could I
say that to the first boy who ever made my heart race, who I’d
slept with more times than I could count. A boy who knew so many of
my secrets, who knew what made me tick. “We’re over,
Toby.”

“
See, you can’t even say
it. You can’t say you don’t love me.”

A loud beep announced that the baggage
was about to start coming out. I used it as an excuse to get some
space between us. I walked over to wait.