Page 47 of Waiting Forever
“THAT’S IT?” AZURE asks. “You want me to flirt with you in front of Nathan and pretend to take you on a date?”
We sit in the sun in the courtyard surrounded by Spanish Mediterranean-style buildings. The campus is truly beautiful. Lush with greenery compared to Dallas.
“No pressure,” I assure him. “If you’re not comfortable with it, I won’t care either way. We can still go out and have fun. It just won’t be a pretend date.”
“Hmm?” He plays with the black lace of his combat boots, his ankle resting on his knee. Today he’s wearing dark jeans and a black T-shirt. With his pale skin and edgy style, he could pass for a vampire.
I would’ve explained my plan to Azure this morning when he gave me my tea, but we didn’t have time and I was still working the details out in my head. The longer I pondered, the more everything became clear.
The only way to break Nathan’s resolve to resist me is to make him think I want someone else. If good old-fashioned jealousy doesn’t spur him to fight for what he wants, nothing will.
So I texted Azure to meet me after class and explained my plan. If he’s not open to it, I’ll come up with a new tactic. But I won’t give up on Nathan. Not yet, anyway.
I read once,failed or bad events can happen to push you where you belong, even if, at the time, the reasons are unknown.
It’s not a stretch to believe I was pushed here to Nathan to fix this distance between us and give us the chance we deserve. In the same way, he’d distracted himself from me for the last three years, I lost myself in boys and parties, trying to forget him. It didn’t work. Neither of us forgot the other. Neither of us stopped wanting the other. That has to mean something.
Azure glances at two giggling girls checking him out as they walk by and then directs his gaze to me. “This Nathan isn’t by any chance the infamous Nathan Tanner who was close friends with the equally infamous Sebastian Gianni?”
I perk up. “Yeah. That’s him, only Sebastian isn’t around anymore.” Saying he died doesn’t feel right. “Do you know Nathan?” How weird would that be?
“Only through rumors.” He scratches his neck and focuses on his boot. “I heard he has a girlfriend who goes to school here. Do you know anything about that?”
Ah. So that’s it.“He does. Well, they’re on the verge of breaking up. It’s complicated.” Now I sound like Nathan and understand why he uses that word a lot when referring to her. “You know what? Forget I asked. It was rude. We just became friends and already I’m trying to enlist you in a scheme.”
“It’s not that. I’d be more than happy to help you get what you want. I just don’t like to meddle in other people’s lives.”
“I understand completely.”
He tilts his head to the side and smiles up at me through his black lashes. “Having said that, I’m not opposed to hanging out with you like this in front of Nathan or taking you on afriendlydate where you get all dressed up and show him what he’s missing. That way we wouldn’t be meddling. We’d just be doing our thing. Based on the way he tore open the door when I dropped you off at his house, I don’t think it’d take much to make him jealous.”
“Really? You think so?” I clutch my hands together.
He smiles and shakes his head. “Wow. You’ve got it bad. And yes, I think so. From everything you’ve told me, it seems like his attraction and feelings toward you aren’t the problem.”
“I know.” I sigh and slump my shoulders.
Azure fluffs his puffed-up bangs and faces me on the bench. “Let’s say your plan works and he confesses his undying love for you.”
“Pfft.” I roll my eyes at his sarcasm.
“Then what? You still have to deal with your parents.”
One thing I’ve learned about Azure is he’s a great listener, and he has an incredible memory.
When we strolled the campus after first meeting at Starbucks, I told him about the family business, and Nathan, and how he’s like my cousin. I was explaining how I ended up at Ryland without going into detail about the incident that sent me here. To my astonishment, he remembered it all.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead,” I reply.
“Planning on figuring it out when you get there?”
“Something like that.”
He nods, his expression contemplative. “So when are we going on our date?”
Ugh.I hadn’t thought about that, either. “Hmm? Maybe next Friday? Would that work?”
“I could do that.” He stretches his long legs and crosses his feet at the ankles. “Why the delay?”
