Page 65 of The Young & the Sinner

Olivia

Mason was avoiding me.

It had been two weeks since the kiss, and I was still thinking about it. Still reeling. Sometimes, I could even feel the ghost of his touch, and I had to remind myself that it happened. That it wasn’t some delusion I’d came up with inside my head due to stress, lack of sleep, and unrequited love.

It was real.

Achingly real.

I didn’t tell anyone about the kiss. Not Dr Green, certainly not Lizzie, and especially not Max. He came home fifteen minutes after Mason left, looking absolutely exhausted. I couldn’t quite look him in the eyes during dinner that night, mostly because I knew he would never approve of what had happened between Mason and me.

Before I knew what was happening, my first day of school was had arrived. Max insisted on driving me. He seemed pretty excited about it, and I didn’t have the heart to tell how indifferent I felt about it all.

He even took a picture of me as I was stepping out of the car. I shot him a look “You don’t have to take a picture every time I start school,” I said. “I’ve done this fourteen times already.” Including preschool and kindergarten.

“Yes, and I can now add this fifteenth photo to my picture collage at the office.”

I groaned. “You’ve kept all the pictures of me on my first day of school in your office? At work? Where anyone can see?”

I didn’t think he saw a problem with that, because he nodded like it wasn’t a big deal. “Yeah.”

“Bye, Max.”

I closed the door. He rolled down the window. Oh, God. I knew what was coming. “Have a great day at school, sweetheart!”

A couple of older guys were standing nearby when Max shouted that, and they looked at me, then the car, and cracked an amused smile.

I waved without turning around, not until I heard his car pulling away. When I watched the car disappear from view, I realized there was a smile on my face. Things were on their way to getting back to normal. Now, if only I could get Mason to stop avoiding me.

But then what? Would we go back to the way things were? Did I even want that?

I knew Mason couldn’t very well avoid me forever. We were two of the most important people in Max’s life. But what would happen when I saw him again? Would I have to pretend the kiss never happen? I didn’t think that was possible.

The thought wiped the smile from my face. I didn’t make up Mason’s reaction in my mind. There was something there. Something worth exploring. At least, worth it to me. But Mason might think differently. He might not see me as someone worth risking his relationship with his brother for.

Maybe it was in the heat of the moment. Maybe it was because the lights were out, and things were just easier in the dark. Because Mason had a total of fifteen days since the kiss to really think about it. To think about the consequences of his kiss, and to think about me, and he was still avoiding me.

With a sigh, I pivoted around and walked to the school.

* * *

College was vastlydifferent from high school. I wouldn’t have known where to go had Max not taken a campus tour with me a week ago.

But the structure I was used to in high school was absent here. There were no warning bells telling the students class was starting soon, no teachers out in the hallway to make sure students behaved, and no lockers.

Lizzie was here somewhere in this huge campus, probably with her nose stuck in the map, and I was regretting my decision of not bringing one, because I couldn’t remember if the building I was looking for was located on 57th and S. Drexel Ave or S. Ellis Ave. Why were there even street names? I could barely navigate the streets by my house.

I groaned in frustration and was about to pull out my phone when someone caught my eye.

My heart stuttered in my chest, because for one long second, I thought I saw Lorenzo. But that wasn’t the case. It was just a boy who had the same stature at him. He didn’t even have the same hair color. I shook my head and let out a deep breath.

If I let him, Lorenzo would ruin my college experience, and I didn’t want to give him any more power over me than he already had.

I looked away and hurried down the path until I found the building I was looking for.

Lizzie found me five minutes later, hanging near the doorway. I still had about half an hour before class started, but I didn’t want to stray too far from this building in case I lost my way again.

“Hey, you.” Lizzie tugged on my hair in greeting and I smiled, happy to see her again.

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