Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

lamest walk on the wild side ever."

Without even thinking, Ariana slapped Thomas clean across the face. Then, while he was still standing there,

stunned, she turned and stormed out of his room, slamming the door behind her. Her palm stung from the

contact as she hurried down the hallway and into the stairwell, fumbling with her phone. Daniel's cell went

right to voice mail. Ariana took a deep breath and concentrated on sounding chipper.

"Daniel, hi. I'm so sorry. I got caught in this stupid storm, but I'm doing everything I can to get there. I'll see

you soon." She took the stairs two at a time, but she wasn't breathing. If she breathed he would hear that she

was upset. "I love you," she added quickly.

Then she burst out into the cold, gasping for air. Wind whipped past her, nearly knocking her off her feet as

icy snow pelted her face. But the frigid air cleared away everything else and Ariana started to feel in control

again. It was okay. It was all going to be okay.

Her moment of insanity was over.

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NOT SORRY

***Lukewarm water spilled from the showerhead over Ariana's smooth, pale skin. She'd been so desperate to

get away from Thomas that she had almost used her electronic key to enter Billings through the front door,

then remembered at the last second that she wasn't supposed to be on campus, and that security would be

alerted if someone tried to enter any dorm other than Drake. Cursing herself for nearly messing up so badly,

she had trudged around to the back and used Mrs. Lat-timer's key to get in through the rear door. Noelle had

had the key made at the beginning of the semester, in anticipation of the many times she wouldn't make it

back to Billings in time for curfew. She kept it wedged behind one of the wrought iron sconces that

illuminated the back entrance. Ariana was the only other person on campus who knew about the key, but

she'd never had to use it. Until now.

Exhausted, she leaned against the frosted glass shower door. The large sea foam green bathroom tiles were

usually calming, usually

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made the shower feel like a spa-her own small oasis. But today they just seemed hard and cold. She flinched

as the water temperature dipped, then rose again. She knew that it didn't matter how long she stood under the

water. The guilt would be impossible to rinse away.

She had to believe that it wasn't too late to fix things. If she could just get to Vermont, everything would be