Page 24 of Somewhere Between Falling

“I do need a new pair of running shoes,” she said cheerfully.

Tobias had been so thoughtful with hunting down my favorite ice cream that I wanted to reciprocate the gesture—even if my entire body was actively rejecting the idea of doing anything other than lying in bed.

“I’ll take a quick shower, then I’ll be ready,” I told her as I put my ice cream in the freezer of my mini fridge.

The hot shower did help a little, but I felt certain my newfound mission was keeping me distracted from the soreness from our sledding adventure. I had decided to try to find a copy of Lonesome Dove. He had mentioned loving the mini-series that first day but never reading the book.I wasn’t sure if it was even still in print, so I figured a used bookstore may be my best bet. Plus, Alex loved to browse antique stores and flea markets, so she was game.

“Oh!” Alex exclaimed, holding up a book with a ventriloquist doll on the cover. “I read these when I was a kid! I used to think they were so scary. I bet if I read it now, I’d just laugh.”

“I never did get into those. I was more of a Baby-Sitter’s Club kind of girl,” I said as I continued to peruse.

If she thought it was odd that I was browsing the Westerns section, she didn’t say anything. She probably didn’t even notice because when I glanced back at her, she was sitting down against the bookshelf with the book she found.

I couldn’t believe my luck. It appeared to be a well-loved copy—the yellowed pages were curled at the top corner and the cover had a small tear, but I didn’t think he’d mind.

Satisfied with my find, I couldn’t wait to get back to campus, and to my ice cream, but I knew Alex wasn’t close to being finished yet. She could spend hours browsing through other people’s junk.

“What do you think about this for the room?” Alex asked, holding up a large mirror with a gaudy brass frame.

“Where in our minuscule dorm room do you plan on hanging that monstrosity up?”

“Hmm,” she said thoughtfully. “Good point. It’s fun, though.”

“Yeah, if you’re Marie Antoinette.”

She stuck her tongue out at me, but she put the mirror back on the shelf and said, “Okay, I’m bored now. Let’s go eat.”

She linked her arm through mine and led the way.

As we waited for our food, Alex talked about her upcoming track meet and I casually browsed through the pages of the book. I still had no desire to read a Western, but I couldn’t help but smile thinking about Tobias.

“What has you so distracted and smiley?” Alex asked, her head tilted to the side.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Oh please, I recognize all the signs,” she said knowingly. “You’re in love with someone, and I’m pretty salty you haven’t told me about him yet.”

I tightened my lips, refusing to speak it out loud. Is she right? Am I in love with Tobias?

“Fine, you don’t have to tell me yet. But just know that I know.” She cocked an eyebrow, but luckily our waitress had chosen that exact moment to bring us our food, effectively distracting her from the interrogation regarding my love life. Or lack thereof because, honestly, I still wasn’t sure if she was right or not.

Chapter Fourteen

I wrapped the book in plain brown paper. One, because it was not his birthday, and two, because I wanted to be as discreet as possible. I tucked it into my messenger bag and headed to class. I was so excited to see him and give him the gift I practically skipped out the door.

As I walked to my usual seat, Julie rolled her eyes at me. I really wasn’t sure what I did to this girl to make her dislike me so much, but I was really considering moving to a desk across the room just to get away from her.

I sat down after hanging my bag off the corner of my chair and got ready for class.

Normally, I felt like these class periods were never long enough, but today was dragging on. Finally, Tobias wrote the next assignment on the board.

“Next week, Dr. Kiuchi will be returning,” he said. We briefly made eye contact, and he smiled before continuing, “I’ll still be around, of course, to assist if anyone needs help. Alright, see you next week.”

I took my time gathering up all of my things after class like I usually did, and I hoped the room would clear out quickly so I could give Tobias the book. Of course, Julie seemed to be dawdling as well, so I dropped my notebook, scattering papers everywhere.

“Oh shoot,” I said as I bent down to start picking everything back up as slowly as possible within reason. Finally, she left, and I beamed up at Tobias who was sitting on top of his desk watching me in complete amusement.

“You are a terrible actress,” he said, shaking his head.

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