Page 73 of Crossroads
“What are you doing right now?” he asks, and I wonder if maybe just hearing my voice is having the same effect on him that it’s having on me. I smile and unlock my dorm door, but my shoulders slump when I see my roommate is here and has his girlfriend with him.
They both look pretty camped-out too, so I don’t think they have plans to leave any time soon.
“Just hanging out at the dorm,” I say and then nod to my roommate and his girl. “Hey, Caleb. Hey, Anna.” They both wave to me. They have headphones on, watching something on theirlaptop, so I don’t even know if they really heard me. But really, that was for Jasper’s benefit so he knows that anything he was thinking can’t happen right now.
My dick revolts as I plop down on my bed, and he laughs, probably easily able to picture my grumpy-ass pout right now. “Thanksgiving.” He says it like a promise.
“Yeah. What are you doing on this fine Friday?” I kick back on my bed.
“Oh, you know. Going to the bowling alley.” His tone is light and happy, but my body immediately goes on high alert, and I sit up straight on my bed, panic rising.
“The bowling alley?” Where Lucy works? Where I witnessed that fight so full of passion, it made me yearn for the first time in my life for someone to love me that much? That bowling alley.
He seems to pick up on the panic in my voice because his is immediately soothing. “Em..” he starts softly. “Lucy doesn’t work there anymore. She moved. She’s living in the town where she’s going to college.”
I hate how fast my body relaxes. How worked up I got at the thought of him being around her when I’m stuck here. “Oh. That’s... that’s good for her.”
His laugh is a deep, throaty chuckle, and I am so busted. “Hey, Emerson?”
“Yeah?”
“It wouldn’t matter if she was or not, okay? I don’t want Lucy. I don’t want anyone else.”
His words settle me in a way that nothing else could. I lick my dry lips and swallow hard. “Me either.”
I can feel his smile. “Thanksgiving.”
“Thanksgiving,” I repeat.
We chat a little longer, but nothing else really needs to be said because all I’m doing now is counting down the days until I see him again.
I missed my flight.How the fuck could I miss my flight? It feels like my head is going to explode as I stand at the airport—totally defeated.
My hands are shaking as I dial Jasper, and when he answers—his voice so happy—I feel like I’m going to die as I croak out, “I missed my flight.”
“W-what?” I can feel his mood drop instantly.
“I’m so fucking sorry, Jasper.” I take a seat in the crowded airport, my knees nearly giving out. “I don’t know how it happened. I left so early. So early. I swear I did. But there’s so much fucking traffic here. No one would move, and by the time I got through security, it was too late. I’m...”
“Hey, hey. Breathe.” His voice is as soothing as it can be. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” I say, helpless and distraught as I tug at my own hair. I can’t believe I missed my flight. “I wanted this so badly. I wanted to see you so badly.”
I don’t care that there are people everywhere, likely listening in on my conversation. Nothing else matters, and I don’t care that they’re about to witness my total breakdown.
“These things happen. It happens, Emerson.”
I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. “It shouldn’t have. I wanted this so damn badly. I need to see you. I...”
“I know,” he says. “I know, Em. I want to see you too.”
“I won’t be able to get another flight. I mean, even if I get one for tomorrow, I’d have to leave pretty much right away...”
“No. It’s okay. Don’t worry about that. Do you have somewhere you can go today? To spend Thanksgiving? You know Kelly is going to ask if you’re being fed.”
I know he’s trying to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t work. “I don’t care about that.”
“I know you don’t, but I need to know you’re going to be okay.”
