And I forced a little smile too, but my mind was elsewhere. It always is nowadays. It’s always withhim.
Would he care? Would he even follow me?
No one here knew about the quiet friendship that bloomed between us, the kind that lived behind closed doors, soft and unseen.
So I just nodded, pressed follow back, and tucked my phone away with shaking fingers.
Jennie bumped my shoulder. “Girl, you’re seriously lucky. He follows no one but me and his twin.”
I smiled faintly. “Guess I’m… lucky then.”
Chapter Fifty-One
Aurora / Joshua
Aurora
I found myself sitting in the lowest row of the bleachers alone when lunch rolled around. I guess I wandered too far from my class. My phone was still glowing in my hand, the tiny heart icons flickering on my screen.
The girls had been tagging me all morning, so the follower count had been going up the whole day. The whole school saw me now.
But the one person who always did was quiet.
I stared down at the list of followers again. Scrolled once. Twice. Still nothing. Of course he hadn’t followed me. He saw me long before anyone else ever did… but maybe that was the point.
Maybe he didn’t need to.
The buzz came right as I was about to put my phone away.
@j_mlockhart started following you.
For a second, I froze.
J underscore M Lockhart. Joshua Maxine Lockhart?
Then I sat up straight, really straight, and the smile broke before I could stop it. It was small, stupid, uncontainable.
He did.
He actually—
Without even thinking, my thumb hit follow back instantly. No hesitation. Like muscle memory.
And before the warmth in my chest could settle, a voice, low, familiar, dangerously close, came from behind me.
“Waiting for me?”
My heart jumped.
I turned so fast that I almost dropped my phone. He was standing a few steps behind the bleachers, hands shoved in the pockets of his black trousers, hair still a little damp from practice, a smirk tugging at his mouth.
I shook my head quickly, shoving my phone down as if it burned, before standing up.
“N-no,” I said quietly, shaking my head again, though the blush on my cheeks betrayed me completely.
He crossed his arms, eyes flicking to the field. “Really? This is the soccer field. Or—” He tilted his head with mock seriousness, “football, as you English say.”
That teasing lilt in his tone made my stomach flip.
