Page 31 of Olivia's Only Pretending
I turned my face toward him in surprise. “Happen again?” I whispered.
His eyes dropped to my lips. My stomach turned syrupy, my mind fuzzy.
It’d be so easy to bring our lips together right now. I’d barely have to lean. And we’d be right back where the lines between us turned soft and blurry.
The night was quiet, just the sound of the two of us breathing. My breathing grew rapid in my chest. A part of me ached to be closer, just a little bit closer.
I wanted Victor in more parts of my life, I’d thought earlier … but really, I just wanted more Victor.
A siren blared below us, making us jump, jolting us from the moment.
Victor stood up and peered over the side of the roof. “Security,” he said with a low laugh, as if this was hilarious.
My eyes widened.They had sirens?I started scrambling toward the edge of the roof farthest from the security guards on my hands and knees.
“Woah, woah, slow down, Dr. Rhodes. You look like you’re about to topple off the roof!” Victor jogged over, with his annoyingly perfect balance, to meet me. He leaped to the ground, landing on his feet in a squat.
“Please, get down from the roof,” the security team was saying into their speaker. “Students are not allowed on the roof. This is against camp?—”
“Hey, you’re not a student,” Victor offered up.
I was still panicking. I kicked my feet over the edge and began to shimmy down, when his two big hands wrapped around my waist and gently pulled me down to the ground, to safety.
Footsteps on the concrete shuffled closer to us. “You are not allowed—” a deep voice was saying as he stepped toward where we’d been scrambling off the roof.
I took off, weaving behind the campus buildings toward the parking lot. After years, I knew the shortcuts. Victor was close behind me, jogging to keep up.
“Dang, for such small legs, you’re fast,” he said, breathless.
I’d run track all through high school. I was a sprinter.
It wasn’t until we made it, panting and sweaty, to Victor’s truck that I realized my feet were still bare. My black slingbacks were tossed in the grass behind the theater.
I hit my palm to my forehead. “My shoes.”
“I’ll go back.” Victor spun on his heels.
I grabbed his arm and pointed toward security, riding toward us on their golf cart.
“There’s no time. We’ve got to go.” I tried opening the front door, but it was locked. “Come on, Victor. I’ll check lost and found later.”
His brows furrowed as if he didn’t completely agree with me as he clicked his truck unlocked. I nearly threw myself inside as he slid calmly into the driver’s side.
As we cruised out of the parking lot, I kept glancing out the back windshield.
“Liv, do you really think the campus security would be chasing us through the parking lot?” Victor asked through a half-compressed chuckle.
I settled into my seat. “Maybe.”
Victor shook his head amusedly as he turned onto the main street. “You always made it home a good fifteen minutes before curfew in high school, didn’t you?”
“Well, no reason to make my mom worry,” I said defensively. I tightened my seatbelt.
“And you always tiptoed around during the dorm quiet hours,” he mused.
“I was considerate, yes.”
“Never snuck candy into the theater?—”
