THOSE SUMMER NIGHTS

[29]

[29]

- EDEN -

-

ALL DAY, EVER since I had woken up, my thoughts were consumed by Atlas. My eyes would flit to his for a split second and I'd find my thoughts returning back to our conversation last night.

Even as we sat across from each other on the dining table in the lobby of the hotel, I couldn't properly meet his eyes.

What would it be like finally letting go and letting myself become overtaken by all of him? What would it be like to run my fingers through his hair and over his lips without second-guessing myself?

My head was spinning with those questions as I sipped from my glass of Sparkling Cider. Julia sat next to me, chatting animatedly with Dawson about some classes she wanted to take next year. Leah talked to Jude and Atlas about their plans for the next school year. Jude said he had an internship lined up for him this fall with this doctor that works at the regional hospital. Atlas has said that he, too, had an internship with this pretty famous author that lives a couple hours away from them. He said that he also had this art program he might go to.

I watched him flex his fingers on the table. My eyes met his briefly before I looked away. As I picked up my cup and took a sip from my drink, my phone buzzed in my pants pocket.

I placed my cup down and pulled my phone out of my pocket. I glanced at the screen and a small smile stretched across my face. I quickly excused myself from the table and walked over to the couches right outside the restaurant.

I quickly answered the call and pressed my phone to my ear. I took a deep breath.

"Mom?" I asked.

On the other side of the phone, Lydia giggled, "No, it's not Mom."

"Lydia," I smiled, "Where's Mom? Did you call me?"

Something fell on the other side of the phone before she answered, "Yeah, Mom told me to wait till you call, but I don't care."

I let out a small laugh, "Well, what's up? Why are you so excited?"

"Okay, okay," She said, her giddiness shining though her words, "You'll never guess,"

I groaned, "Out with it already,"

She laughed, but before she could get two words out, Mom shouted in the background, "Dia!"

The phone switched to the speaker and she giggled, "I'm calling Eden! I'm telling her!"

Mom yelled at her to wait and after a few seconds, Mom joined the call, "Eden, honey. How are you? How's France?"

I laughed, "It's so good. We visited the Eiffel Tower earlier and I went to the opera with this guy yesterday and it was all so cool!"

Mom laughed, "Who's this guy?"

My cheeks burned red, "Oh, no one."

She laughed and Lydia groaned in the back, "Can I tell her now?"

"Tell me what? What's the big surprise?" I asked, a small frown on my face.

Mom laughed, "Fine, Lydia you can tell her."

Lydia exclaimed, "Okay, Eden. So, my school says I've been doing really, really good. Like really, really good—"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it. Really good," I said, exasperated with her storytelling skills.

She giggled, "Well, this really good school chose three students from our school to go there. Almost everyone who goes there becomes like really famous and rich."