Page 39 of You + Me – Against the World

“No reason. It’s his job to monitor who I hang out with. He’s gotta prove he’s doing something to earn his paycheck at the end of the month, right?”

“I don’t really get it. I feel like you’re hiding things from me.”

“Hey, can’t we talk about my crushing victory against a seven-foot-tall giant, my bravery, and my war wounds instead? And about the fact that I defended you like a valiant knight and that you’re proud of me or something like that?” Laughing, Vadim puffs out his chest theatrically, locks eyes with me, and waits for his compliment.

“You have dirt in your hair. Your jeans are ripped. Your hands are all messed up. You provoked him, and now you’re changing the subject so you don’t have to answer my questions.”

“You’re a pain in the ass, Alma Lancaster. Never satisfied. And I want to kiss you.”

And I’m going to let him, eventually…

“Not here. And not before you give me an explanation.”

“What’s to explain? He was holding onto your arm. I can’t stand it when men are aggressive like that with women. I can’t let it happen.”

“Explain about Keith! What is he worried you’ll do with Felix?”

“You did break up with him, didn’t you? I didn’t do all this for nothing?”

“Vadim!” I shout in frustration.

“Alma!” he yells, mimicking me.

I can’t help smiling at that.

He steps closer and wraps his arms around me, bringing his face close to mine. He stops an inch from my lips and whispers, “So, is this it? You + Me?”

Don’t give in… not yet…

“If it’s going to be You + Me, you have to talk to me. Sometimes I feel like there’s stuff I don’t know about you.”

“That’s all in my past.”

“Secrets ruin everything.”

“I never make the same mistake twice.”

“But what mistakes? What past? You accuse me of being trapped in my perfect little world, but you refuse to leave yours. Or to let me in.”

Vadim sighs and takes a step back. His expression changes. It hardens, turns cold. Maybe he’s even more handsome this way, but he feels so distant, so far out of my reach.

“I don’t feel like kissing you anymore.”

He turns and walks away. Slow, but deliberate. He is slipping away from me, and I don’t try to stop him.

Today I broke up with my boyfriend for him, he fought for me… and we haven’t even kissed.

14

Vadim hasn’t shown up at the university today.

He wasn’t here yesterday either.

Or the day before.

He hasn’t answered any calls, texts, or emails. He hasn’t logged into the college messaging platform once. He has simply disappeared from the face of the earth.

In class, I don’t even try to explain his absence to Abrams or the other professors. I try to work on my own, but without him, it’s impossible to make progress on our short film project. I’m not in the mood to listen to Clémentine’s gossip and giggle the way we would before. I still agree to go get coffee with her at the Sunset after class, just so I don’t have to go home and face my father’s questions about my gloomy mood, my brother freaking out over the photo incident, or my mother’s insistence that I eat more than two bites at dinner.