Page 43 of Forever Mine
I expect him to ask questions, so I am surprised when he doesn’t.
He gives me a buttery, greasy kiss that tastes even better than the grilled cheese.
“Finish up so we can go to bed.”
Feeling a bit melancholy that I’ll be moving out tomorrow, I kiss him. “As long as you promise to keep me up all night.”
His gray eyes spark with smoldering heat. “I can definitely keep that promise.”
Chapter Twelve
JULIEN
Move-in day is utter chaos.The dorm hallway is a mad rush of noise and people bumping into one another. On the way up, I had my feet stepped on twice and an elbow to the kidney. People keep stopping by to say hi. I have no idea who most of them are. A few minutes ago, someone cranked up their music to ear-splitting. Country, and not the good kind. The kind where a guy croons that his pickup truck is sexy. Kill me now.
Unzipping the suitcase, I look at the neatly folded clothes stacked in three piles: shirts, shorts, jeans.
“Babe, drawer or closet?”
Elijah smooths out the wrinkles in the fitted sheet he stretched over the dorm-issued mattress. “Good shirts and jeans in the closet. T-shirts and shorts go in the bottom drawer.”
“Got it.”
He is very OCD about the order of stuff. Underwear has to be laid flat, socks rolled just so. And God forbid if you don’t color coordinate everything like a fucking rainbow. I swear that’s how he organizes his closet. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo,and violet—which has never made sense to me. Aren’t indigo and violet the same thing as purple?
I go into the closet and grab a handful of hangers. Fallon must have worked his magic once again because Elijah and Ash were placed in the ‘ritzy’ dorms, as everyone calls them. Newer, better upgrades, more living space, and no more communal showers. Elijah and Ash have their own en suite.
“Dad said JD was in the Sunday sports section of the newspaper today,” I tell Elijah as I drape my favorite pair of his jeans over a hanger.
They hug his ass in just the right way and are frayed at the bottom cuffs. Elijah shirtless and barefoot wearing only these jeans is pure eye porn.
“JD Hallstead, quarterback king of HH. My cousin is famous. Just like my soccer god boyfriend.”
Elijah points to the poster of me he tacked up onto the wall next to the bed. He blows it a kiss, and I roll my damn eyes. I hate that fucking thing. The head of the athletics department decided it would be a good fundraising strategy. Two dozen players from various sports were chosen for promotional materials like posters, calendars, and campus billboards. I was one of them. There’s also a banner of me ‘bending it like Beckham’ hanging from the rafters at the main entrance of the soccer stadium. That one I like. I’m going to beg Coach to let me have it when I graduate.
Elijah plumps the pillow he stole from my bed this morning. He said it smelled the most like me. He actually sniffed every single one. It was hilarious.
“JD’s first game is in three weeks on a Friday. Since you’ll be away at the exhibition match in Charlotte, I may go. Drive up to Highland after class. I’ll see if April wants to come. I can pick her up on the way.”
JD is Elijah’s third or fourth cousin—I can’t remember which. Maybe fifth. I never knew he had a cousin until recently. JD was a freshman at Highland High when Elijah was a junior, and I had absolutely no clue he existed. Elijah said there was a lot of bad blood between his dad and JD’s father that somehow trickled down to the sons. After years of ignoring one another, Elijah and JD reconnected this summer when we ran into him at the park one day.
Changing the subject, I ask, “When’s your dad arriving?”
“Should be here by two.”
I’m glad he’ll get to see his dad after his bitch of a mom ruined his plans to see April today. Unfortunately, a consequence of his plans being canceled was that he moved out of the condo this morning instead of tonight. One more reason to hate her.
Elijah and I look over when Ash loudly exclaims, “Hells to the yeah! Elijah Barnes is in the house!”
Ash literally drops everything at the door and comes rushing into the room, tackling Elijah to the bed that he just meticulously made.
He pins Elijah down and sits on his chest. “What the fuck, dude? I thought you weren’t going to be here until tonight. Hey, Julien.” He sends me a wave over his shoulder.
“Hey, Ash.”
Elijah tugs on Ash’s ponytail. “It’s finally long enough for a stubby tail.”
“Mei loves it.”
