GETTING A LIFE
I rested my temple on the cool glass of the train's window and watched the world come to life as the sun slowly rose above autumn-?colored trees. The hum of the train had long since swept most of my classmates off to slumber, but I couldn't tear my eyes off the view. It was too incredibly beautiful. Beautiful and blurred and ripe with possibility. I didn't want to miss anything.
All around me people snoozed and snored. Noelle had passed out with her head on Dash's shoulder, her tiara askew. His jacket had been pulled up to half cover his face and his arm rested around Noelle's back, his fingers curled around her elbow in a loving, gentle way. Every so often I glanced back at them and smiled. It was the most at peace they had ever been in my presence.
Somewhere in the back of the car, Ariana and Taylor whispered. Kiran was dead to the world, laid across a three-?seater with her fur under her head on Gage's lap and Whittaker's jacket over her. Whit had attempted to get Gage to give her his coat, to which Gage had replied, 'Yeah, right. I get cold, too, you know." So
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Whittaker had immediately taken off his own jacket and spread it over Kiran's prone form. Now Whit dozed at the front of the car, hugging himself, snoring louder than anyone.
I heard a sigh and glanced left. Natasha sat up straight in the far window seat, her knee up, her elbow resting on it, holding her fingers to her mouth. She stared out at the world, pensive and sad, and I wondered what our relationship was going to be like now. She had shared her biggest secret with me, though admittedly not by choice. Would we be friends now? Remain enemies? I hoped it was the former. Now that I knew she wasn't an actual blackmailer, I had a feeling she might be interesting to get to know.
Someone stepped into my line of vision and I blinked out of a trance I hadn't realized I was in. I looked up slowly into Josh's face and my heart thumped. That was the second time tonight. What, exactly, was my heart up to?
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey. Mind if I... ?” He gestured at the empty seat.
“No. Go ahead.”
Josh sat down and blew out a sigh, pressing his palms into his thighs and settling back. Of all the guys on the train, he was the least disheveled. Shirt still tucked in, tie only slightly loosened, all but one button done. It didn't escape me that this meant he most likely had kept his hands to himself all night. Somehow, the realization of this made me happy.
“So. Interesting night, huh?” he said.
“Definitely. I would definitely say that,” I replied.
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“But... no Thomas.”
The train hit a turn and squealed like mad. I caught my breath and pressed my fingers into the seat back in front of me. Josh chuckled and touched my arm.
“It's okay. Just a turn,” he said.
“No. I know,” I said.
What had freaked me out more was that I hadn't thought about Thomas once since I'd seen Leanne and Natasha together. I had forgotten all about him.
And maybe that was a good thing.
“I'm sure he's okay,” I said. Mostly just to have something to say.
The truth was, at that very moment, I no longer cared. He had left me. He had bailed without the courtesy of a good-?bye and left me there to fend for myself with the Billings Girls and Whittaker and the police. Clearly he didn't care about me. I had done everything I could, even dated a guy I wasn't remotely attracted to, in order to solidify my invite to the Legacy and the possibility of seeing him, but he hadn't even cared enough to show up. He had to have known there was a good chance I would be there, but he had stayed away.
No. As of that moment, I was over Thomas Pearson. As of that moment, I was moving on.
“Yeah. I'm sure he is,” Josh said, sounding none too convinced.
'You know what? I don't want to talk about Thomas anymore,"
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I said. “I mean, I want him to be okay and everything, but to tell you the truth, I'm over him. He's off having his life, and that's fine. But it also means that I get to have mine.”
Josh glanced at me, eyebrows raised. “Really?”
“Really,” I replied with a nod.