“Nope.”
“Eh, it was boring, anyway. Ollie was in a mood, and no one wants to be around Ollie when he’s in a mood,” she called out over the sound of the water. “Why don’t you hang out with us today? After breakfast, we’re heading out to the woods.”
“No, thanks.”
My curtain opened with an annoyed Bria on the other side. She raised her finger at me. “I don’t understand you. You’d rather be cooped up in that dorm of yours, yeah? I’m trying to be nice, and if this is about Ollie …”
I rolled my eyes as a laugh blew from my lips. “It’s not, trust me. I don’t want anything to do with Ollie. He’s all yours.”
Ollie would never belong to anyone aside from me. I knew this, and he knew this. Even my damn demons knew this. It was the reason they were running around scared as shit this very moment, trying to erase the damage he had done yesterday.
“Well, Ollie doesn’t want to go, anyway, and we need one more per—”
“Ollie won’t be there?” Distraction was what I needed, and if Ollie wasn’t going to be around, I didn’t mind using Bria and her friends as my diversion from him.
Confusion crossed her face. “No?”
“Okay, I’ll go.”
A pleased smile flashed across her face before she closed my curtain, and I relaxed under the water while enjoying the rest of my shower in blissful silence.
Sitting at my old table during breakfast, Zeke stared at me from one table down. Each time I took a bite of my food, he blinked, but the rest of his facial expression maintained transfixed. There was so much I wanted to tell him, and I couldn’t understand why I needed to pour everything out to the mute. Another bite and Zeke’s gaze burned a hole in me. Sighing, I said, “Alright, Zeke. You win.”
After lifting my tray, I walked one table down to sit across from him.
“Better?”
Zeke didn’t move, but a small grunt came from somewhere inside him.
“Okay, I won’t do that again. I’ll always sit with you. No matter what.”
As I told Zeke what had happened, the weight of Ollie’s eyes drifted through me, comforting me like a warm blanket. I turned my head slightly to my left to legitimize the peace washing over me. And there he was, his beanie flopped over his head as his hair stuck out from beneath in all directions. He held my gaze, trying to see which Mia he had today. Was ithisMia—the one he’d gone on about before we made love?
I didn’t know myself, but he always knew.
All he had to do was look into my eyes.
“Mia, you coming?” Bria asked from across the room, disrupting my thoughts.
Ollie stood, his eyes darting from Bria and back to me. He said something to her I couldn’t quite make out.
“We needed another person,” Bria replied to him with a shrug.
Leaving Zeke behind, I walked toward their table. “Need me for what?”
“Power,” Isaac said. “It’s better with at least five players.”
My brows rose. “Power?”
“I’ll explain on the way.” Bria stood with the rest of them. “Have fun in your dorm,Ollie.”
“No, I’m coming,” Ollie muttered under his breath.
His agreement to join should have been my cue to back out, but before I could, Bria already had me by the arm, dragging me toward the double doors.
Fresh air hit my face, and I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed it. Coming to a standstill, I lifted my face to the sun, appreciating the way it felt against my skin. The slight smell of tree bark and freshly cut grass mixed in the gust of cold wind as it brushed through my hair, making the hairs on my arms stand instantaneously. Even with the sun shining behind my closed lids, it didn’t help the sixty-something-degree temperature. When I opened my eyes, the rest of the group was already ten feet ahead, but Ollie stood beside me, mesmerized.
“Okay, so, we all write down an action, and we’ll use … Ollie’s beanie to place the actions. You have to perform that action, and the rest of us will judge based on a number one through three. No one can know the action until it’s complete. By the end of the game, whoever wins has the power, and they get to be in charge for a full hour. You have to do whatever they say,” Bria explained as we reached the woods.
