Page 148 of Finding Olivia (Trace + Olivia 1)

“What are you doing here?” I asked, slipping my hat back on, rather crookedly, considering I only had one hand.

“I’m waiting for Avery. We have reservations for Valentine’s Day,” he shrugged.

“Oh, of course,” I shook my head. “Why else would you be here…wait, you said it’s Valentine’s Day?”

“Well, yeah,” Luca looked at me perplexed.

“I completely forgot,” I gasped, “crap.” I smacked my forehead. You’d think the red and pink hearts decorating stores, and even peppered around campus, would’ve tipped me off, but no, I was that dense apparently. I had been swamped lately with coursework, and life had been passing me by faster and faster. My time had been consumed with school, Trace, my mom, and hanging out with Avery when I had the time.

“I know Trace hasn’t,” Luca fell into step beside me as I headed towards the dorm. He was dressed a little warmer today, with a long sleeved navy shirt underneath a gray-buttoned vest. His fedora sat crookedly on his head and the sandy brown strands of his hair escaped from underneath.

“Shit,” I cursed, something I had been doing a lot of lately, “I am the worst girlfriend on the planet. No wonder Trace was adamant that we make plans for tonight. I kept trying to blow him off. I have a paper due on Monday and I need all the time I can get to finish it.”

“You still have Saturday and Sunday,” Luca shrugged.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “hopefully, that’ll be enough time,” I bit my lip. “Besides, I already gave in and told him I could go out tonight.”

“It’ll all work out,” he clapped a hand on my shoulder.

I was surprised by how talkative he was being. I had grown used to his caveman grunts and little to no words. Maybe, like me, Luca was shy and I needed to get to know him better, for him to open up.

We reached the dorm and Avery was walking out of the double doors. She squealed when she saw Luca and ran into his arms, wrapping her legs around his lean waist, and kissing him deeply.

I turned away, feeling like I was seeing something I wasn’t meant to see.

I heard him lower Avery to the ground and figured it was safe to look back.

Avery was smiling brightly at me, her cheeks flushed, and her red lipstick slightly smeared.

I pointed to a spot on my lips, indicating that she needed to wipe.

“Oh,” she mumbled, and slid her thumb under her lip, to remove the smear. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” I smiled.

“We’re going out so I won’t be back, tonight,” she looked at Luca significantly.

“I kinda figured that,” I chuckled, shrugging my shoulders to relieve some of the pressure from the backpack straps.

I said goodbye to Avery and Luca and slowly trudged up to my dorm. I dropped my stuff on the bed, placing the various items where they needed to go, and showered.

I dried my hair and let it hang down in its natural waves.

I checked the time and knew Trace would be arriving in less than ten minutes. If I wasn’t outside waiting, he’d finagle his way into the dorms. I’m sure all he had to do, was bat his eyes at some unsuspecting female, and they’d do whatever he said.

I dressed in clean clothes, but since I wasn’t sure what I should wear, I tried to dress up a little bit. I wore a pair of dark wash jeans, and a white button down shirt with a camel colored sweate

r over top. I ditched my sneakers for the heels Avery had given me, and my gold star necklace, which I never took off, completed the look.

I looked at the time again, and grabbed my purse, dashing out of the dorm.

Trace was pulling up in his ’69 black Camaro when I pushed the doors open. I hopped inside the car before he had the chance to get out.

“Happy to see me?” He grinned.

“I’m always happy to see you,” I leaned over and placed a tender kiss on his cheek. “I’m sorry I wasn’t enthusiastic about plans for tonight. I completely forgot today was Valentine’s Day,” I admitted reluctantly.

“I figured,” he smiled, his eyes a light and playful green. “You’ve been so busy with school.”

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