Mia’s right. It’s a unique sort of torture, sitting inches away from each other on the plane, standing next to each other on the subway, walking home, our arms brushing together and sharing snacks and getting dinner. I spend the next six hours with my hands in my pockets or clenched in fists, so that I don’t touch the strip of collarbone above her shirt, pull on her hair, rub the red spots on her neck.
It’s even worse when we get home. We drag our suitcases into the living room and stand side by side, our arms barely touching, quietly panicking.
“Has our apartment always been this fucking small?” I say, glancing down at her. Her face is as shellshocked as mine.
She blinks, shaking herself out of it. She smiles that fucking smile at me. “Night, Elias,” she answers, drags her suitcase into her room, and slams the door.
SIXTEEN
Elias
She’sout of the apartment when I wake up in the morning. I am both annoyed and relieved.
I catch a glimpse of her in the hallway of the Penthouse, what the teachers call the third floor of our school, between second and third period. She’s wearing a dress, smiling in front of her students, glowing, relaxed. I look at her neck, but she’s covered all my marks with makeup. This also makes me feel annoyed and relieved.
We have the same lunch period on Mondays, so through force of habit, or maybe because of an inexplicable need to be near Mia, I make my way down to Ms. Barbara to grab us two bean burritos. I take both up to her classroom, where she and Lina are talking over those Witty Words or whatever curriculum books.
Mia stops in the middle of whatever she was saying, her eyes zeroing in on my neck. What? I don’t have any makeup, and Mia’s is totally not my shade.
I grin at her, unable to resist. I’m sick. She blushes, and I toss the burrito on the desk in front of her.
“Hey, Elias,” Lina says. “Did you enjoy your trip?”
“Yep,” I say, watching the flush climb up Mia’s neck. “It was great. It was the best, actually. Did you see my notes?”
“Yeah,” Lina says, scratching her scalp through her topknot. “They were actually pretty thorough. I’m impressed.”
“I had a great teacher,” I say, winking at Mia, who looks like she wants to throw herself out the window. “She told me all about the Principal Thomas conundrum over this shit,” I say, gesturing at the curriculum guides in front of them.
Lina sighs. “Yeah. But I think that with all the resources and notes you guys collected over the weekend, we have a pretty strong case to present to Thomas.” She stands up. “I’m going to gather a little focus group, and we can all share our findings with Thomas together. Elias, do you want to be a part of it?”
“Sure,” I say absentmindedly, but I don’t really know what I’m agreeing to, because my entire focus has been diverted to the front of Mia’s shirt, where I can see the outline of her nipples.
“Great. Thanks again, guys. I really appreciate you going,” Lina says, walking out of the classroom. She stops next to me, though. She’s staring at my neck.
I raise an eyebrow at her.
She looks at Mia, then looks back at me. “Christ,” Lina says, shaking her head. We hear her mumbling on her way out. “Does it ever fucking end? First Oliver and Georgia, now you two? What the hell are they serving in our staff room?”
The door shuts, and the room shrinks into a tiny box.
“Are you wearing a bra?” is what comes out of my mouth.
Mia flushes even redder, but she doesn’t shy away from meeting my gaze head on, with that man-eating look on her face. Fuck, was that only a day ago that I last saw that? She licks her lips. I track the movement. “Yes,” she says.
“Then why?—”
“They’re just that hard right now.”
My mouth goes dry. I clear my throat. “I told you, Mia?—”
“Then stop looking at me like that.” Her pupils are huge.
“Like what?”
“Like you want me on all fours.”
I walk out of the room.
