but I had already missed too much class. We showered and dressed and headed for the door. I grabbed my bag and turned on my phone. Five voice messages and three texts were waiting for me. Seeing Hamlet’s name snapped me out of my bliss and I shut the phone, looking at Sebastian.
“I’m just… I’m not gonna check the rest now,” I started to say, trying to take the quake out of my voice. “I should call my dad, though. I’m sure at least one was from him.”
Sebastian nodded and walked across the room, flopping on his bed.
“Dad?” I began. I paused, waiting for him to stop yelling at me. “Dad, you know I wasn’t dead in a ditch.” I paused as he continued lecturing me. “I know I—” I paused again, and bored holes in the ceiling with my eyes. “But—” My guilt started to overwhelm me. I leaned against the door, avoiding Sebastian’s gaze. “Okay. I’ll be home before dinner. O… Okay. Bye, Dad. Bye.
“He’s pretty pissed,” I explained, trying to catch my breath. “We’re lucky the DDI didn’t come bursting in here looking for me,” I added, only half joking. I stretched my hand out to the wary young man in front of me, and it seemed to put him at ease.
At lunch we met up again and went across the street to grab some coffee. He reached for my hand as we walked, and when I pulled mine back, his face went pale. I said quietly, “Off campus, people have cameras, Sebastian. Not yet, okay?”
He nodded and breathed a little easier. “Maybe leaving campus wasn’t such a good idea,” he said.
I laughed. “It’s five minutes of not touching. You’ll live.” But while we were waiting for our drinks, I noticed his fingers twitching, like it was a real effort for him to keep his hands to himself. It was really kinda cute.
As soon as we were safe behind the school’s tall gates, he threw his arm around my shoulder. There was a part of me that was nervous about what people would say or think about my moving on so quickly, and there was a part of me that wanted to make the breakup definitive and mine. Plus he was hot and I liked him, so for those brief, wonderful moments, his arm around me was what I wanted most.
We headed to the coolest spot on campus, a courtyard with a giant bear sculpture, where the more artistic students would sit and read or play guitar or draw, even on cold days like this one. Dan, Lauren, Greg, and Keren were already there and scooted over, making space for us to sit. Their knowing smiles spoke for them, and they pretended to go on with their conversation, but they were watching our every move.
I stirred my coffee more than I needed to because every time I looked down, Sebastian would lean over and kiss the back of my neck. His expression was relief mixed with pure joy, like a child who gets precisely what he wants for Christmas but still can’t believe his luck. We sat close as he whispered stories in my ear as an excuse to sneak a gentle kiss every now and then.
“What the hell?” I heard over my shoulder, and my stomach clenched. Hamlet. I closed my eyes in a foolish attempt to turn back time. When I opened them, all I saw was the back of his head, and I went chasing after him without so much as an explanation to the boy who had thought he had won, or to our friends, who had looked on in horror. Even at a dead run I was unable to keep up.
“Hamlet!” I tried to shout, but I was out of breath.
People stopped to watch us and started pointing and pulling out camera phones. His driver was driving away by the time I reached the street.
“God, could you just leave us alone?” I screamed at the kids standing behind me.
Some snickered, some complied. Two security guards walked over to reprimand them for breaking school rules but didn’t take the phones, so I was screwed again.
I yanked up the hood of my sweater and scuttled off to ground zero. My crowd waited in silent expectation as I grabbed my bag.
“What did he want?” asked Lauren, her voice sharp.
I shrugged as I took out my phone. Still panting, I punched in the code. “You have five messages,” declared the gentle robotic voice.
Beep. “Ophelia, Horatio made