Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128156 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 427(@300wpm)
“Okay, so,” Brady starts talking again. “I feel like I should say if she is the reason you’ve been ditching us, you are officially awarded a pass.” He grins, slowly sliding his eyes to mine. “But I also happen to know she’s been at lunch every day so, sorry, no pass.”
A low laugh leaves me, and I look back to the turf, my feet hesitating when I realize how much I want to walk over to her.
I shouldn’t. Nothing can happen between us.
Not that I’m saying I want it to but…even if I did, I couldn’t act on it, not with my life balancing on a busted route.
Mason clamps my shoulder, and when I look his way, his smile is hopeful. “Let’s go to pizza Sunday, just the boys. I’ve got that hundred-dollar gift card I won at the gala last year burning a hole in my pocket.”
I nod, my throat tight all of a sudden.
He gives me a little shove toward Paige, and I stand there until I can no longer hear their footsteps behind me.
With a deep breath, I meet the girl in the middle.
Paige
“Excuse me, miss, you didn’t happen to see a Certified Negativity Exorcist hanging around, did you?”
I smile when I hear him, but I keep my eyes closed, listening to his approach.
“She’s about as tall as a third grader and may or may not have a giant wet stain all across her back that she’s not aware of.”
A laugh bubbles out of me. “Oh, she’s aware. She can feel it soaking through her dress.” The sun disappears from the lids of my eyes, so I let them open and see Chase’s figure glowing with a halo of sunrays behind him. “I realized it a little too late and figured there was no point in messing up the juju when I was already screwed.”
“Juju?”
“Yep.” I lift my hands into the air, and after a moment, he wraps his around mine and hauls me to my feet. “The first rule of a CNE is to free the mind of all negative thoughts, be it with the rise of a new day or the fall of the current one—that’s a literal line straight from the handbook.”
He chuckles, but his shoulders are heavy, which is sad. The day has only started, and he already seems so…weighed down.
“Tell me something that you’re grateful for.”
His face falls, and he looks off. “Uh…”
“Don’t think too hard, just something simple. Like a right-now thought.” He shuffles on his feet, licking his lips and looking everywhere but at me.
“I’ll go first. I’m grateful that the girl in my dorm who steals my tea pod every day didn’t take my last one this morning.”
Chase’s eyes move to mine and he grins. “Someone steals your tea?”
“Chai tea pods are a hot commodity to broke college kids.”
“Shouldn’t you be grateful for the fact that you had a tea pod left and not the girl who usually steals them?”
“Hey, this is a judgment-free zone. Now focus,” I tease. “Something simple you’re grateful for.”
“Shit, um…” He sighs. “This is hard.”
“What did you do so far this morning?”
“Nothing yet.” He shrugs.
“Didn’t you just come out of the gym?”
“Yeah, but that’s—”
“What did you do so far today?” I repeat.
His eyes narrow playfully, and while it takes him a moment, he catches on, the corner of his mouth twitching. “I’m…grateful I was able to get my cardio done?”
“Is that a question?”
His chuckle is low, and he licks his lips. “No. Not a question.”
“Good.” I clap three times and repeat mine. “I’m grateful I had a tea pod to make myself a tea this morning.”
He wants to laugh, looking at me like I’m crazy.
“Come on, now you.”
“Seriously?”
I put my hands on my hips, and his teeth sink into his lower lip. He stares before looking around us, clapping his hands three times, even if he does so very, very lightly. “I’m grateful I was able to get my cardio done.”
My smile is instant. “Perfect, now for the hard part.”
“If you want to challenge me to pat my head and rub my stomach at the same time, I should warn you now, I’m kind of a pro at that.”
“Ha ha, funny guy.” I tip my head. “Today, when you were doing your cardio, what were you thinking about?”
The corners of his mouth fall instantly, and he looks away.
It’s…sad. Whatever is eating at him seems to consume his thoughts.
“I’ll go first again,” I offer, turning away from him slightly. “When I was sitting on the counter drinking my tea this morning, or I guess maybe nearly every morning, I couldn’t help but think about my dad.” In my peripheral vision, I watch as he looks my way again. “We used to have tea together at night. Sleepytime Tea with a spoonful of honey. The honey might have defeated the entire purpose of it helping settle you to sleep, but we liked it that way.” I sigh. “And then because I was thinking of my dad, I started thinking about how I’ll never get to have tea with him again, and then I started thinking about the studio I bought in his name and all these impossible decisions I have to make. So I poured my tea down the drain and headed here to avoid it all.”