Remember the Past

Chapter 29

  I follow her to the lower level of the university, through the twists and turns of corridors. As my stepped echoed down the cement stairs to the cooler lower level, I hear a melody being strum on a guitar with a sweet female voice to match.

A smile broke through my serious mindset as the music filled me with warmth. After I finished the last step, Colin and Savannah came into view. Colin was moving with his music and he would join in with harmony on the chorus. She seemed to know the song by heart. She sat next to Colin swaying with the rhythm and tapping the beat on Colin's thigh. They leaned into each other on the harmony.

"That's beautiful." I say awestruck after they finished singing.

A smile spread across Savannah's face. "Thank you," she says as she rises and gives me a big hug. At first I am taken back by the affection, but I soon realized that she is a sweet forward girl and I generously hugged her back.

She turns long enough to say "see ya" and wave her right fingers daintily as she left.

I turned back to the rest of the group. Colin meets my gaze first. "It's late." He says.

I nod.

Morgan stands up, drawing my attention. "Yes, we should all get to bed. The question now is: who should she room with?"

After a beat of silence, Colin replies. "She can room with me."

I stared at him, trying to hide my anxiety because it was him who offered and not one of the girls. In front of everyone, no less. Except his sister, thankfully.

I turn back to Morgan who seems to pause in thought before nodding. It didn't seem like she was debating whether to say "yes" or "no," rather she was processing and trying to decipher the "relationship" that we have developed over our ride here. Not that there's anything to know. Right? I mean, he more of my guardian than anything else. He has protected me and taken care of me since the day I met him.

I snap out of my thoughts as Colin rises from his seat. He smiles at me and waves for me to follow. For a split second, as I start to follow him, I think about taking his hand, but I must be diluting myself. He was just waving me forward. Unless, for a split second, maybe he debated whether to take my hand as well.

He open the dorm room door with one quick creek. I peer around the small room with two beds, which are neatly folded and a closet with one folding door ajar. Everything, even the interior of the closet has been meticulously kept. Almost like he was expecting a guest.

"It has been over a month since I've slept here." Colin says breaking the silence.

I turn to look at him as he leans with elbow on the doorframe. "What took so long?" I ask, not sure if it is an appropriate question.

"I had to get my sister. I traveled all the way down to her district only to learn that Morgan had already sprung her a week earlier. How she got her faster than me, I don't know. And... well, I got a little distracted picking up a passenger on the way back."

He glances down at me and I meet his gaze.

I feel the electricity sparking in the air between us. My pulse quickens and... is it just me or is he beginning to lean toward me?

Heat rises in my cheeks. His face nears to mine and- I suck in a breath and blurt out, "how's your sister adjusting?"

He straightens his stans and goes back to leaning against the doorpost. He ponders for a second. Not, I think, on my question yet instead our path not taken, so to speak. I know what he wanted to do, and well, I chickened out.