Page 44 of With You

“What happened to fifteen minutes?” I ask both of them.

“It’s been ten,” Evie explains. “Close enough.”

“Guess I am then,” I say, packing up my things into my bag.

We walk back to the dorms slowly, taking our time to breathe in the fall air after being locked inside for so long. The leaves around campus are slowly starting to change, trees shedding as winter approaches. When it snows, the university looks like a palace from a fairytale, making it my favourite time of year.

“Any balls to attend this weekend?” Evie asks Zena as we reach the dorms and make our way to the common room.

“No, but there’s an auction on Tuesday.”

“Is it in Paris?” I ask her, wondering what the chances are that there could be multiple charity auctions taking place on the same day throughout Europe.

“Yeah, at the Louvre,” she confirms, and I have to force myself to keep walking.

“Sounds fun,” Evie says, before asking what she’ll be wearing.

I accepted River’s invitation without thinking that Zena would more than likely attend, too. She’s always taking part in different charitable events, making appearances so that there’s good press about her and her family. It’s not like River and I will be all over each other in front of his parents, but how else can I explain why I’ll be there with him?

But if I don’t tell Zena and she sees us there together, maybe it’ll be even harder to explain my way out of it.

“I think I’m going to the same one,” I tell her before I can think better of it. “River’s going with his parents, and invited me.”

“Hold on,” Evie says, breaking away from us to look out the window before coming back. “Sorry, I had to check if pigs were flying.”

I shove her away from me playfully as Zena swats at her arm, laughing softly to herself.

“What do you mean River invited you to go somewhere with him? You hate the man.”

“I tolerate him now,” I shrug, as she links her arm through mine and keeps us walking further into the building. “It’s more like his mother invited me. She got us the appointment in Milan so she wants to meet me.”

This time it’s Zena’s turn to question reality as she steps in front of me and holds my face between her hands, moving it from side to side before pressing the back of her hand against my forehead.

“Are you feeling okay?” she asks, eyebrows furrowed together.

“You are both so dramatic,” I poke my tongue out at Zena and she takes her hands off me as she does the same back.

“One day you hate him, the next you’re dancing together, the next you’re meeting his parents. Forgive us, Amelie, but that’s a bit of a wild path to take,” Evie says, moving to stand next to Zena so they’re both facing me.

“It’s really not a big deal,” I say, pushing between them to keep walking. “It’s not like it’s a date or anything.”

“Neither of us said anything about it being a date,” Zena points out, as the two take up either side of me. “What’s been going on in those practices?”

“I wonder,” Evie instigates, the two of them giggling together at whatever absurd thoughts they’re having.

“This conversation is over. Both of you can make up whatever stories help you sleep at night.”

“Is River helping you to sleep at night?” Evie jokes, and my cheeks warm at just the implication of it.

“Last time I checked, both of you were in weird situationships, not me,” I say, hoping to turn the attention on either of them instead of me.

“Layth and I aren’t in a situationship. He’s my friend.”

“Understatement of the century,” Evie laughs before teasing her more about Layth.

With the heat momentarily taken off me, I take my phone out of my pocket to text River, knowing that both girls will be telling Layth and Damien about our outing this weekend.

Amelie