Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

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was calling her. She pressed her palms against his chest and pushed him gently away. "I have to get back."

"Oh." Realization slipped over Thomas's face. "Got a hot date?"

He backed off quickly, grabbing his sweater off the floor.

"No, it's just Paige," she said. "She's going to start wondering where I am, and she already asked soooo many

questions over break about what I did by myself in a motel for two days and-"

"It's fine," he said, leaning in to kiss her lightly on the lips.

"I know this sneaking around sucks, but it's kind of exciting, too," she said suggestively, looking up at him

through her thick lashes.

"Sure," Thomas said as he got dressed.

Adrenaline still pulsed through Ariana, and every cell in her body screamed for her to stay with Thomas. To

forget about Daniel.

"It's all going to be worth it," she said, reaching for his belt loop and pulling him to her. "We just have to wait

it out until the fall, and then we can be together, right?"

"Right," Thomas replied with another quick kiss.

"And in the meantime, we can keep meeting up here," she said coyly. "Like tomorrow? Around five? Maybe

we can finish what we just started."

She pulled him closer to her and bit his bottom lip playfully. Thomas grinned. "Promise?" "Promise."

She kissed him deeply, digging her nails into his hair and holding

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him tightly until she finally broke away. Smiling, Ariana picked up her sweater and coat and quickly

redressed.

"If there's one thing you should know about me, Thomas Pearson, it's that I don't like unfinished business,"

she said, dusting the dirt off her coat. "I always see everything through to the very end."

"Good to know," Thomas said groggily.

She tugged on the front of his coat and pulled him in for a final kiss. "See you later."

Ariana stepped outside and took a deep breath. She hated leaving Thomas, but they both knew that she had to

go. Paige couldn't start asking questions again.

Trudging around the side of Gwendolyn Hall, Ariana ducked under low tree branches and stepped through

brown grass matted with snow. Gray clouds had started to shift slowly over campus, casting smoky shadows