Leap of Faith

Day Twenty-Eight

Ok, so, what do you need to know that you haven’t already heard?

We met in a closet. We talked. We made out. We told each other we loved each other. The clock struck midnight, the spell was broken and we both left without ever seeing each other. All we had was words spoken and promises made.

Hadn’t TJ been the one to tell me that if Theo had really been into me, he wouldn’t have left without making sure that we were together? Theo, despite what he’d said, had never asked me to be his girlfriend. For all I really knew, his name might not be Theo at all… and he may not have meant it when he said that he loved me.

Could it all have been a lie?

“No,” I say out loud to reassure myself. From the corner of my eye I see TJ turn to look at me. Great. Now he thinks I’m crazy because I speak to myself.

“No, you’re not talking about me?” He says. His face looks disappointed, but his eyes glisten and I know he’s just teasing me, but I still don’t follow.

“What?” I ask with a frown.

“I asked if you were day dreaming about me,” TJ explains. “And you said ‘no.’ Should I be worried or worse yet, should I be jealous?”

I shake my head and lean forward to kiss him. “No, you shouldn’t be worried or jealous.”

“Good,” TJ smiles as he kisses me back. When he pulls away he looks up the hallway and sighs. “Liam Lexton is headed this way.”

“Red!” I hear Liam shout down the hallway. Within ten seconds he’s standing before me, holding out a rectangle box for me. “I got you something as a ‘thank you’ for helping me with the project. You’re the best lab partner I’ve had this year.”

I raise my eyebrow at his words. “This year? We’re only four weeks into 2015,” I say with a smirk on my face. “Or if we’re counting since September, we’re only five months into the year.”

Liam looks at me blankly. “Whatever you say, Red. I just wanted to show my appreciation.”

I take the gift Liam holds out for me and set it on my lap. I undo the intricate bow on the top and pull at the ribbon until I ball it up in my hand and set it to one side. I lift the cover and tuck it under the box, before searching though the tissue paper until I find a silver photo frame with a very familiar looking picture looking out at me from behind the glass.

When I’d photographed Liam’s Dispersion of Light project, I’d taken several frames and developed them all. In total there were eight, but only three showed the rainbow perfectly. I’d given all three to Liam and let him choose which one he would submit. In my hand, I held one of those three prints.

“Liam…” I say in awe of the gift.

“I submitted one to Mr. Hall this morning,” Liam says as he scratched the back of his head awkwardly. “I wanted to keep one for myself, because let’s face it, it’s pretty cool to have your own version of the Dark Side of the Moon cover. Then I had this one and I didn’t know what to do with it. You worked just as hard as I did, Cate, and you wouldn’t let me give up on Monday when I was ready to jack it in. Without you, I couldn’t have passed, so I just wanted to say… well, thanks, really.”

I set the photo frame back in the box and placed it on the ledge as I stood up and threw my arms around Liam’s neck. I could feel the sting of tears in my eyes and I had to bite back my emotions. This had been the nicest gesture anyone had ever given me and I had to admit I was a little speechless. Plus, that speech was amazing.