Page 139 of From Now On

Distantly, I’m aware of commotion. Cheering. But mostly, I’m focused on Eve. The tiny moan she makes when I suck on her tongue and the way she leans into me likecloseisn’t close enough.

And how it feels like I finally got the girl.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

EVE

I’m in an excellent mood leaving the art building. Professor Alday just praised my redo of his assignment as “raw” and “haunting.”

I painted the same scene as before. The background was still my mom’s old apartment. But it was dusk, the end of the day. The shadows took me forever, but the final effect was worth it. And I flipped the man and his daughter, so you could see the vacancy in his expression and the disappointment in hers.

Painting it was oddly cathartic, and I’m fairly certain it’ll earn me an A.

I also have a text from Hunter, asking if he can come over, so I have sex with my boyfriend to look forward to when I get home.

We snuck upstairs from Robby’s birthday party last weekend for a long conversation and some fooling around, and I left the hockey house as a girlfriend.

Hunter Morgan is my boyfriend.

Sometimes, I just say that sentence to myself. As some reminder that life works in mysterious ways. And to experience the giddiness all over again.

There’s a group of guys with a video camera off to the left of the path, so I skirt toward the right on my way to the student center. I’m meeting Mary for lunch before heading home.

“Hey, Eve.”

I do a double take at the guy wearing a Sea Dogs cap. “Ben. Hi. I didn’t realize…” I glance at the other guys, recognizing David too. He gives me a small wave. The other guys are friends of Ben’s I’ve met before but don’t know very well, so I just smile at them. “Film project?”

“Yep.” Ben shoves his baseball hat higher to scratch at his forehead. “Final one, actually. Hard to believe.”

I nod in agreement. “I’m sure it’ll be great.”

“Thanks, Eve. You’re…good?”

I nod. “I’m good. You?”

“Yeah, all right. I, uh, rented a place in Portland. Not a bad commute to my folks’, and I’ll have my own space.”

“That’s great, Ben. Congrats.”

He kicks a pebble on the path. “Thanks.”

I glance at the other guys. They’re all fiddling with the equipment, acting busy, but they’re definitely within earshot. “Could I, uh, could I talk to you for a minute? Alone?”

“Yeah, of course.” Ben nods toward a bench ahead. “There?”

“Sure,” I say, and we start walking together.

I breathe deeply, pulling in a lungful of fresh air. It’s a beautiful day, clear and warm and the dictionary definition of spring.

“Everything okay?” Ben asks as soon as we’re a little ways from his friends. “Did something happen with your mom? Your dad?”

“No. I mean, my mom’s worried about me moving and my dad isn’t coming to graduation, but…I’ll be fine.”

“You’ll be more than fine. You’ll thrive in New York, Eve,” Ben tells me. “I never doubted that.”

It feels like he did, but I appreciate the endorsement now. “Thank you.”

“And your dad is an asshole.”

---