Page 53 of Blood Moon
“What? I’m only being honest. What I want to know is what happened between Seven and Julian. Tell me everything, stat!”
She was rather demanding, but I did just that. To no one’s surprise, Naomi gave me shit for it.
“They were clearly fighting over you,” she said, twirling a piece of hair on her finger. “It’s a battle for your love, and you know what I think? Why choose? I think you should date both of them. Have an open relationship. That’s a thing.”
“I’m not going to date either of them.”
“Liar.”
“It’s the truth. I don’t know how I feel about them. We’re barely friends.”
“But you agree they’re attractive, right?”
“Unfortunately …” I whispered.
She mocked me. “Waah, what an unfortunate problem to have.”
I moved quickly, jolting across the table to pinch her. Before I could, she flopped out of the booth, laughing until someone stared us down.
“What?” She said louder than she needed to. She turned to me. “We can talk. It’s not like we’re on the second floor.”
I chuckled. “Naomi, what am I going to do with you?”
“Love me forever,” she said, smiling widely.
Eventually, we reviewed our notes forWuthering Heightsand worked on our papers in silence. After, Naomi offered to drive me to my dorm so I wouldn’t have to make the long walk in the night by myself.
In the car, the outskirts of the campus were encompassed in darkness. Clusters of trees appeared as gloomy things with boney arms. Even with the streetlights, it was hard to see past their thick trunks. A squint, and there was a flash of something. A shadow running along the line of the deep wood. It was barely there, but it moved faster than the car until it disappeared altogether. I doubted myself, wondering if I’d seen anything at all.
Naomi wished me goodbye, and anxiety met me as I stepped outside the car. It meandered close beside, its spindly fingers sweeping down my spine. I gripped the straps of my backpack. The doors to Hester Hall felt like they were a mile away.
A few voices echoed nearby, and the sight of other students made me feel a small relief. Further out, I spotted someone walking in my direction, the light post bringing them into focus.
I tilted my head as I got closer. “Sev?”
He looked up from his phone. “Mira?”
We met each other in the middle. Closer now, I noticed a faint cut by his hairline, and I contemplated what had happened between now and earlier. Had he run into Julian again? Did they fight?
Seven was dressed in sweatpants and a crewneck, but there was something off about him. Beads of sweat rolled down the sides of his face, and it looked as though he should be breathless, keeling over for air. Instead, he stood confidently, inhaling without trouble.
“What are you doing out so late?” I asked. It was a little after eleven.
His dimples pierced me when he smiled, turning me into sap. “Study group for the team.” He wiped at his forehead, tucked his phone into his pocket. “Coach said it’s better to hold each other accountable at the same time. If one of us fails, we all fail.”
Group mentality, but it made sense. “I was just finishing up homework, too.” Before I said anything else, I had to know. “What happened earlier, between you and Julian?”
Seven sighed, dropped his head. “I’m embarrassed, Mira. I shouldn’t have lost my cool around you … around my friends. That wasn’t okay.”
“Yeah … it wasn’t. It was frightening seeing you like that.”
“I’d never want to—I’d never want to scare you. I’m sorry.”
“But why were you so angry with him?”
He looked away from me, into the night. The silvery light from the moon cast a glow on his brown skin. “Our families don’t exactly get along. There’s a deep history that ties us together for the worse. Naturally, we’re tense around each other, but … I’d rather not get into it right now.”
I pushed my lips to the side, watching his face. He wouldn’t see me, refused. “Sounds serious, though. Should I be concerned?”
