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Lucas plays the charm card. “Hey Amanda, are you coming to the Gamma party this weekend?”
She makes a hiccupping noise as she catches her breath. “Am I invited?”
“Only the prettiest girls.” Lucas looks over at me and then back at her. “Bring your friend.”
I stand quickly, gathering my book bag and my coffee. “I have to go to practice, and I can’t be late. I’m not running laps.”
“What time do you finish?” Lucas reaches out, and his fingertips brush my hand as I squeeze past his chair.
“It’s going to be late,” I reply. “I’ll take the campus shuttle home.”
Amanda frowns at me. “Yeah, but you still have to walk from the corner to our apartment.”
I glare at her, wishing that my eyes were actual daggers. “We’re only three buildings in.” Immediately, I pivot on my heels and take off.
Lucas stands up, and I start power walking to the exit. He keeps up with my swift steps as I dodge around a group of people who are standing in the archway talking. My shoulders nudge and push through the crowd, but they part in two for him. The main entrance is only a few steps away when Lucas blocks my path.
I look at him, and something snaps. “Are you following me?”
“Well, yeah, I want to talk to you.” He arches his eyebrows in confusion. “I don’t want you to—”
“Stop following me,” I almost shout, and then I start to struggle with each breath I take. “Stop watching me. Just stop it. It’s creeping me out.”
“What’s the matter with you?” His brow knits together as he steps back.
“With me?” My tone rises, “I told you no. Can’t you listen?”
Gradually, I notice more eyes on me than his alone. Then someone moves away from the back of the crowd. It’s that tall, dark figure in the hoodie, the one I saw in front of Lucas’ SUV and the same one I see when I leave the bar or walk home from the corner store. My gaze rises to Lucas, who’s looking at me like I’ve never been sane. If he’s here, then who’s over there? I look again, and the person is gone. No, it can’t behim.
Lucas’ expression shifts from anger to concern. “Livi, you look really pale.” Gently, he places a hand on my shoulder. “Let’s find somewhere to sit outside and talk asfriends.” Lucas then scowls at the small crowd of snooping onlookers, and they meander away.
We walk a few steps out onto the green and claim an empty bench. People are lying out on the grass as if they’re on a beach, catching the rays of a fading sun before autumn steals all of summer’s warmth away. My thighs feel like lead as I lower my body down onto the bench. Biding for time, I sip my coffee and place it down carefully on the spaced slats. I’m too embarrassed to talk, but Lucas isn’t.
“You’re not you lately,” he says. “You’re pulling back from your friends. You never had to think about going to a party before. I thought you were okay when you sassed me earlier, but well, this isn’t you. I’m not trying to do anything sneaky, Livi. I’m honestly looking out for you.”
I’m nuts not to date him. But I can’t do it, not when I keep thinking about someone else. “Please don’t say I need counseling. My instincts are on point. And please don’t laugh when I say this.”
He nods. “I’m just going to listen.”
“I feel like someone is watching me, and when I look, sometimes I see someone there.”
“That’s not good.” Lucas immediately forms an opinion and offers his solution. “I don’t want you walking by yourself. You’re a beautiful woman, and I don’t want something bad to happen to you—not something I could have prevented.”
I hold up my hand to slow him down. “I think I know who it is. When I was little, I spent summers at a lake two hours from my house just over the New York border. I made friends with a boy who also spent summers there. We were both missing a parent, so we hoped our parents would get together. It didn’t happen.I don’t know what happened to him[2]. One summer, he just didn't come back.”
“Did they move away?” Lucas asks. “Maybe out west?”
“No,” I reply, “I don’t think so. The following summer, new people were living in his house. At first, I asked, but people stopped talking about them after a while. When I mentioned it to my dad, he got agitated and told me not to mention them again.”
“We’re in upstate New York,” says Lucas. “Do you think he lives around here?”
I pick up my coffee to warm my hands, though I shouldn’t be cold. “I don’t know where he ended up,” I whisper. Thoughts ofhimgather in my mind, and I can barely hear what Lucas is saying. It hurt my heart whenhedisappeared four years ago. That’s a long time to keep caring for someone who's gone, but I still do.
“Well, I doubt he’s here,” Lucas speaks with certainty, and I know he doesn’t put any weight in what I’ve just said. He offers to drive me home after practice and sighing, I tell him yes. At that moment, I realize that Lucas reminds me of my dad.
Chapter Three
Olivia
