Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

equipment and slung it over one shoulder.

"Sure. Sounds fun," Ariana conceded, her heart sinking. She picked up her bag, stealing another glance at her

watch as they headed toward Billings.

"Got someplace to be?" Daniel smirked. She hated when he looked

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at her like that. Like she was a child he kept around for his amusement.

"Almost past my bedtime," she joked, forcing a laugh. An overwhelming sense of relief surfaced as she saw

Billings looming ahead. Her escape. "So I'll see you tomorrow?" she said hastily, her steps quickening.

Daniel nodded, and she watched him disappear in the crowds of students swarming around the dorms.

Ariana waited for a few agonizing minutes before running up the front steps of Billings. Throwing open the

front door, she tossed her bag in the entryway, then sprinted back down the steps and through the maze of

dorms, tuning out the idle holiday gossip that buzzed around her. As she passed Drake and neared Ketlar, she

scanned the pocke

ts of students around her, searching for any sign of Daniel. Good. He was nowhere to be

found.

Gwendolyn Hall stretched just beyond the line of trees at the edge of campus. Easton's oldest building had

been deserted years ago, and Ariana had never had reason to venture inside. She stared up at the infamous

facade. The frozen, overgrown weeds and brush beneath the boarded-up windows seemed to be reaching up

like wiry fingers, threatening to strangle the old landmark. Two crumbling stone benches flanked the

entrance, hidden by overgrown trees and shrubs. Cautiously, she lowered herself onto the closest bench,

checking her watch again. The only sound she heard was that of her own foot tapping against the cracked

cement walkway.

"Could've warned me you were planning on showing up fashionably late."

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Ariana heard his voice before she saw him. She leaped to her feet, looking around her.

Finally, Thomas emerged from the side of the building. His hair was shorter on the sides and he looked older,

somehow. Broader. Even more perfect.

She almost tripped over a jagged piece of cement on the ground as she ran toward him. When she threw

himself into his arms, he staggered under her momentum.

"Easy!" He laughed, kissing her face, her hair.