Blue Violet - By Abigail Owen Page 0,23

loud yelp. Alex was leaning against the shelf, arms crossed over his broad chest, one foot casually crossed over the other, and watching her with a highly amused expression.

“Jeez, Alex. You scared me,” she accused in a half-whisper.

“Sorry.” He gave her an unapologetic grin. “You know you’ve been standing there reading that book for a good fifteen minutes? I’m amazed at your powers of concentration.”

Ellie hid her chagrin that, unbeknownst to her, Alex had been watching her that long. She felt flattered and unnerved all at the same time. She bent to retrieve her dropped book, but Alex beat her to it. “Jane Austen fan?” he asked as he glanced at the title.

“What girl isn’t?” she quipped. She made sure their fingers didn’t touch as she accepted it.

Alex stood back and re-crossed his arms over his muscled chest. The look he gave her indicated he was waiting for a real answer. Ellie knew that expression from their morning runs. She was being too vague for him again.

She gave an exaggerated huff, pretending to be annoyed. “This is for an English paper. But, yes, I do like Jane Austen. As a rule I prefer British classical authors over American. Although there are a few exceptions.”

“See? That wasn’t so hard to share, now was it?” he teased.

She just looked at him with a bland expression, but he still caught the slight twitch to her lips and his smile widened. Ellie tried her darndest to ignore what that grin did to her equilibrium.

“Ready for pizza? They sent me to get you.”

The change in topic came so suddenly, it took her a moment to catch up. “Oh! Are the others ready to leave?” She peeked at her watch. Sure enough, it was well past the time they’d agreed to stop studying and head to dinner. She was a little shocked. The evenings and nights often dragged for her, but the time here with her friends had flown by. Maybe that’s what she’d been missing. Griffin was wonderful, and they were very close, but she needed more companionship than just him.

Alex nodded. “They’re waiting for you.”

“Are you joining us?” She gathered her research results holding it all against her chest in a defensive posture.

“If you don’t mind.”

Ellie just shrugged. “Why should I?”

“I’ve taken about as much legal research as I can for one night.” He rolled his shoulders, easing some tension out of the bunched muscles. Her hands itched to smooth the knots out for him. She clenched them around her books instead, irritated by her completely irrational responses to this boy. “And I’m driving everyone back after dinner, so it makes sense,” he continued, thankfully unaware of her internal struggles.

“If you don’t like legal research, why are you studying to be a lawyer?”

“Did I say I didn’t like it?” It was Alex’s turn to be evasive.

Ellie tilted her head. “You didn’t have to.”

They stood there staring at each other for what was probably seconds but felt like a long while to Ellie. She didn’t need Griffin’s mind reading ability to know that she and Alex were thinking the same thing… that they seemed to be very in tune with each other. Even from the small amount of interaction they’d had, it was clear that they just got one another, saw things about one another that other people seemed to miss.

Sensing a dangerous connection being made, Ellie forced herself to execute a little half-turn to head down the aisle. Glancing back at Alex, she gave her head a little jerk. “Come on,” she said, “Let’s go get some pizza.”

After taking a moment to gather all their school gear, all five of them headed across the street and towards the downtown area. The pizza place was situated along the river walk. The area was gorgeous. Lots of quaint little shops that edged a rushing river. The mountain directly across the water was protected land and untouched, and currently covered in snow. Ellie couldn’t wait for early summer when everything would be green again and the wildflowers would come out.

As they neared the restaurant, she suddenly heard Griffin in her head. “Ellie?”

“I’m with the Jenners right now, Griff, can’t talk,” she thought back.

“You need to find an excuse to get out of there.”

Ellie noticed Adelaide giving her another of her odd looks and immediately smoothed her frown.

“What’s up?” she thought at Griffin, as she attempted to keep her expression neutral and carefree.

“I saw a small pack of wolves… possibly Vyusher. Three at most. I think we should