2.8 | Miles Away

09 | nine

A / N

Yikes, it's been awhile, hasn't it? On the plus side, here's a full Miles x Darcy chapter. Updates for this book is temporarily once every five days (seven, if I'm delayed). The same goes for If The Shoe Fits, but on different days, if that makes sense. Do the math.

x Noelle

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0 9

(aka the one where it's just dinner)

IT REALLY WAS.

Barely half an hour in, and I realized that there wasn't much else to it. As soon as we sat down for dinner, Miles was dragged into a lively discussion about Riverton's future. Blah-blah, Riverton's esteemed alumni, blah-blah, brilliant job prospects, blah-blah-blah. It was the first time I'd ever been to a dinner like this, and it surprised me to see how highly these board members thought of the college.

As an alumni of Riverton's rival college Linville, it was everything I could do not to roll my eyes. So what if you graduated from Riverton?

Big freaking whoop.

Nevertheless, I composed myself the best I could and focused on my food. I was in the midst of enjoying the third course when a sudden thought occurred to me. Beside me, Miles had just finished speaking with yet another guest. He returned to his plate and picked up his fork.

Quick as thought, my hand came up to cover his. "Don't eat that."

Miles froze.

I grabbed his plate over and swapped it with my plate of chicken from the second course. "Shellfish," I explained. "You're allergic."

He stared down at the plate and his voice was quiet when he spoke. "I can't believe you remember that."

"Why would I forget?"

He simply shook his head and resumed eating. "How's the food?" he asked at last.

"Good. Much better than the boring company, at least."

His eyebrows rose. "Should I be offended that I'm one of them?"

"No, of course not, I didn't mean you! You're anything but boring," I insisted, when he shot me a disbelieving look. "I meant them. Why is it that some people talk about nothing but their expensive houses and shiny cars and great careers?"

"What fascinating topic would you rather have us talk about then?"

Sarcasm was evident in his tone, and I deliberately ignored the fact that he'd referred to himself as one of them. I knew that he was anything but. He'd never bragged about anything either, even when there was plenty worth bragging about. Hell, I didn't even know where he stayed or what car he drove—except that the latter was black.

"I don't know." I shrugged, and added lamely, "Reality TV, perhaps."

"You're right. I can't imagine anything more fascinating than which celebrity had someone's baby and who's going through their third divorce."

"They are interesting! I mean, this might sound morbid, but you kind of feel better about yourself when you see someone else's life falling to pieces. Of course, you feel even worse about yourself when they're your age but rich and famous."