Page 2 of Years in the Making

After people disembark, I notice he’s gone, and my heart sinks a little. I must just be tired or ashamed that I didn’t thank him for being kind when everyone else just pushed by. But then I hear the same voice from earlier.

“Hey. I snagged you a seat.” And sure enough, when I look over, he’s sitting in a section of four seats, three of which are empty.

“Thank you,” I say sitting kitty-corner to him. “And thanks for earlier.”

He smiles over at me shaking his head. “No need to thank me.” He’s got pretty nice teeth, although his canines are so pointy I can’t help wondering if he’s ever made someone bleed when kissing them.Don’t think of him kissing anyone, Nellie,I scold my wandering mind. I force myself to wonder what I’d do if I had teeth like that. For starters, I’d be a vampire or some kind of faerie character every Halloween. When people asked me where I got the teeth, I’d say my mom and dad gave them to me and probably laugh maniacally.

For three more stops, we sit quietly pretending not to look at each other. But as the train empties even more, it feels weird to be sitting this close to someone without headphones and not talking.

“How was the game?” I ask, slipping my cardigan off. I don’t know if the train is hot or if this guy is having some kind of physical effect on me, but I do know that the extra layer is now totally unnecessary.

I see his eyes follow my actions and then stick to my arm. “It was good. They won so can’t complain. Are you a fan?” he asks, tilting his chin towards the blue jay in flight on my inner forearm.

I wince. “No, not really. I’m not a sports girl.”

“So just a bird girl then?” His eyes land on the black swallow on my wrist.

“My dad’s an ornithologist, and birds are kind of our thing.”

“That’s someone who studies birds right?”

“Excellent deductive reasoning,” I say approvingly.

“Is that what you’re in school for?”

“How do you know I’m in school for anything?”

He points at my suitcase. “It’s the end of the school year, you look around my age, and you’ve got a suitcase without any airline tags. Also”—he nods down at my backpack—“there’s an Ossington University pin on your backpack."

“Right…” I say slowly looking down at my case and then back up at him. He’s smiling again with one eyebrow quirked, waiting for my answer. “No, but my major is equally nerdy.”

“Geology?”

I shake my head.

“Elvish?”

“Elvish? I don’t think that’s a thing.”

“Oh, it’s definitely a thing. There’s a course at Ossington.”

“No, there’s not,” I reply in disbelief because I would know.

“There is. I nearly took it,” he claims, almost proudly.

“Why didn’t you?”

He leans in, smirking. “Too nerdy,” he says quietly, a widesmile replacing the smirk. “Nah, I didn’t have room for it in my schedule.”

“Well, clearly I’m not majoring in Elvish if I didn’t even know there was a course on it.” I straighten primly, trying to ignore what that smile does to me. Trying desperately to not think about what those teeth would feel like against my tongue.

He studies me for a beat. His hand with the ring pinching his bottom lip, keeping my attention right where I’m trying not to look. “I’m not sure I can think of anything as nerdy as those three things.”

“I’m a library sciences major.”

“So you can be a…”

“Librarian.”

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