Page 60 of Echoes of Us

“Come on. Let’s get out of here,” he said, calling for the waitress.

It was better outside. Walking beside someone was infinitely less awkward than sitting across from them when you had no idea what to say. The last thing I wanted to do was start talking to my date about Noah. I hated how he kept creeping into everything. It was like nothing could go untouched by him.

“So, do you want to talk about it?” Mathew asked me.

I resisted an eye roll. Fucking Noah. “No, I don’t.”

“Why did you call me again?”

“He showed up after we’d seen each other several times. I’ve been trying to deal with the fact that he’s back in the city and on my team now. I’m trying to let go of how pissed I am at him and just move on,” I explained, still looking ahead.

“He’s on your team?”

“Yeah,” I answered simply.

“Wow, that must suck. Having to see him all the time,” Mathew said.

“Tell me about it. Anyway, I’m sorry for this. I didn’t mean to get you into a complicated situation. I just want to get over this, but it keeps catching up with me.”

“How long ago did you break up?” he asked me.

I made a face. It was embarrassing enough that it had been this long. “We dated in freshman year,” I told him.

His eyes widened. “Oh wow.”

“Yeah, I know. I should be over it by now.”

“Well, I mean, there’s no set time frame. How long did you date?” Mathew asked.

I gave him a pained look again.

“You don’t have to answer that,” he said.

I smiled gratefully. “Could we just stop talking about it? Please?”

“I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath. “I guess there’s no real point to us dating, right? If you’re still hung up on him, there’s not much point.” He stopped walking.

I wished I liked him. He was charming.

“I guess there’s not,” I amended.

He smiled at me apologetically and held his arms out. “Hug it out?”

I chuckled. “Okay, sure,” I walked closer to him, hugging him. This felt nothing like holding Noah. I sighed. “I’m sorry.”

He moved away from me but not completely, and his eyes flicked down to my lips. He moved quickly, pressing a kiss to my lips and holding himself there for a second. Then moved back to gauge my reaction. I’m guessing whatever he found wasn’t encouraging.

“Sorry, I would have kicked myself forever for not getting at least a kiss out of you.”

“It’s okay.” I waved it off.

“I’ll see you around, Atticus,” he said and walked away.

I stood there for a while afterward.

That felt nothing like kissing Noah, either.

CHAPTER

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