Page 146 of Collision
“Are you leaving?” I ask hesitantly, standing up as well.
“Already missing me, stranger?” He gives me an insolent grin as he pulls the motorcycle key from his pocket.
“Not at all.” I sniff with my chin held high, pulling the sleeves of my cardigan over my fingers.
He chuckles. Relentlessly confident as he is, he doesn’t buy it for a second. He reaches over and takes my chin between his fingers, planting a kiss on the cold tip of my nose. “It’s late, and you need to rest.”
“Are you worrying about me?” I tease him a little, quirking one corner of my mouth.
“I worry about your academic performance. If you don’t sleep, you won’t be focused for the test tomorrow. I could never forgive myself if you flunked for the first time because of me.” A chill moves through me down to the bones, while my knees turn to jelly.
“T-the test?”
“Yeah, the philosophy test.” He makes a dismissive gesture as if he couldn’t possibly care less, while I’m feeling the earth shake under my feet. Slowly, I sit back down on the small sofa behind me with wide eyes, trying not to panic.
Tomorrow is the philosophy test, and I have completely forgotten about it. How the hell is that possible? I have never, ever forgotten about a test before.
“You okay?” he asks leaning toward me, looking worried.
I shake my head, unable to utter a word, and stare into the middledistance. He rests his palms on top of my thighs and looks at me seriously. “Hey, Ness, what’s up?”
“I forgot,” I breathe.
“What did you forget?”
“The test, Thomas. The test!”
He stares at me impassively for a few seconds until I see him struggling to hold back laughter.
I frown. “Does this seem like a good time for a chuckle?”
“Jesus,” he snickers, “I thought you were having a heart attack. But you’re just freaking out about a test. You’re such a nerd.” He starts full-on laughing, resting his forehead against my legs.
“Thomas, we have a test in a few hours, and I’ve barely started studying the material! And it’s my favorite subject, to boot!” I wail in reply, upset by his amused demeanor.
“Come on, it’s not the end of the world. As soon as I get back to the dorm, I’ll email you some notes, they’re simple concepts.”
“I don’t need your notes, I have my own. Also, sorry, but since when do you take notes? And since when do you prepare for things?” I ask, with wounded pride. I find it really hard to imagine him parked in front of an open book, studying intently.
“The notes aren’t mine and, for your information, I am prepared for many things, young lady,” he says smugly.
I cross my arms and give him a skeptical look. “That seems rather unlikely. You’ve never paid attention in class, I remember that clearly.”
“We have different ways of digesting information.” He gives me his shit-eating grin. He retrieves his phone from the sofa, turns around and walks to the bike. I get up and follow him, shielding myself from the now less intense rain with my cardigan.
“So, we…um, see you tomorrow,” I say suddenly. Awkwardly.
“Yes, tomorrow.” He takes his helmet from the handlebars and unclasps it. But before he slips it on, he grabs me by the edges of my sweater and pulls me into him. “I want you to remember what I told you tonight, really imprint it into your brain, because I won’t say it again another time,” he says hoarsely, giving me a gentle kiss on thelips. Then he pulls back, taps me on the nose with his index finger, and gets on the bike. He lowers his visor and starts the engine. I don’t even have time to tell him to go slow before he speeds away like lightning.
I go back inside the house, close the door behind me, and lean heavily against it for a few seconds with the dumbest grin plastered on my face. My heart beats wildly, I touch my lips with my fingers. I almost can’t believe what he said to me.
“You know, you should listen to your mother more.” Victor’s Canadian accent pulls me abruptly from my thoughts. I jump when I see him standing just a few feet away from me with a ceramic coffee cup in his hands.
I stand up straight and frown. “Excuse me?”
He gestures to the window with his cup. It overlooks the porch where Thomas and I had just been talking. And kissing. “Your mother told me what happened…”
I cross my arms over my chest and narrow my eyes. “What were you doing here? Spying on me?”
