I must have been taking far too long, for Nathaniel leaned closer to whisper, “Would it be easier if we just asked each other questions?”
“Yeah,” I breathed out, “probably.”
“Okay,” Nathaniel grinned, “You work in a bookstore so…what’s your favourite book?”
I pinned him with a glare. “Just one?”
“Just one,” he confirmed before taking another drag.
I scowled. “Since I can only chooseone,I’ll sayFrankensteinby Mary Shelley.”
“Ah, I haven’t read that yet.”
“What?! It’s a classic. You must read it!”
“I will, definitely.” Nathaniel stubbed out his cigar and grinned. “Okay, okay, ask me something!”
“Why are you so excited?”
“Is that your question?”
I shook my head. “No, no, wait no!"
He laughed, dimpled cheeks glistening in the warm sunlight as I searched my brain for a question I wanted to know the answer to.
“Why Dawnridge?” I decided. “I know you…didn’t get into Oxford. But there’s Cambridge and Edinburgh…why Dawnridge?”
Nathaniel clicked his tongue. “Oh, that’s easy. I didn’t want to be too far away from my friends and family. A lot of my school friends enrolled here and it’s still a prestigious university, so I thought, why not? And I’m happy with my choice.”
“So it wasn’t out of fear that everyone at Cambridge would be smarter?” I teased.
Nathaniel gasped and poked my chest playfully. “Absolutelynot! I would be at the top of every class there just as I am here!”
I grinned, feeling lightheaded from how easy it was to laugh with and tease Nathaniel. Maybe it was the lack of sleep, but everything just feltgood. Easy.
We moved to the other side of the bridge, sheltering under the shade when the sun became too harsh for my pale skin.
“What’s your favourite colour?” he asked.
“Guess.”
Silence. And then, “Green!”
I didn’t have a favourite colour. But the moment he said green, his smile wide and his head thrown back, green was suddenly all I could think about. The green of his tie, the green grass seeping through the rocks below our feet, the green vest he wore the first day I laid eyes on him. Everything was green.
“How did you know?!” I gasped playfully.
His laugh—a heavenly, euphoric sound—sent the butterflies in my stomach wild. “I was actually going to guess black,” he said,slowly turning his head to face me, gaze locking on mine, “but then I thought about the small specks of green in your eyes and I just knew.”
Heat crawled to my cheeks and I looked away, my mind screamingwhat the fuckwhile my heart did backflips and somersaults as though competing in a gymnastics competition.
Nathaniel was, quite possibly, the most beautiful human to ever walk upon this earth. And, I might add, the most infuriating. How could he say such things and then turn back around to face the water with a carefree smile while I was struggling to breathe?
I wanted to carve out his heart, bit by bit, and slice it into tiny pieces, scattering them like rose petals.
“What about you?” I cleared my throat. “What is your favourite colour?”
“Guess.”
