Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

The next fifty minutes crawled by. I checked my watch almost every minute and it seemed to be moving backwards.

I gnawed on my thumbnail as I waited for class to end. Maybe he had decided to break off the relationship with me, and that was why he had not taken our relationship to the kissing stage.

Briiiiiiiiiing

“Finally!” I mumbled to Sam. “I never thought the class would end. I’m going to try to talk to him once everyone leaves the room.”

I gathered my stuff slowly as I waited for the room to empty. Finally, the last student left the room.

I approached Mark, noting that he still wore the same grave expression.

“What’s the matter?” I asked concerned.

“I had a meeting with the Dean this morning. It appears Matt followed up with his threat.”

I gasped. “What did he tell him?” I asked, disgust rimming my voice. >“I’m going to go read my book for awhile,” Sam said. “I need a break from all this seriousness.” She and Shawn got up and walked toward the jungle gym and climbed to the top.

Mark and I sat in silence. With Sam and Shawn gone I suddenly felt self-conscious. What if I couldn’t think of anything intelligent to talk about? Sure, I had a high IQ, but I was way out of his league when it came to schooling, he was light years ahead of me. I studied the leaves that had fallen from the red oak trees that were scattered throughout the park. During all my research of California, I had seen that in parts of northern California, the trees grew so big and wide you could drive a car through them. My silent pondering was interrupted when Mark finally broke the silence.

“Do you want to take a walk around the park?” he asked. “It’s bigger than it looks. There’s a trail that wraps around back there, behind all the trees.”

“Sure,” I answered. He could have suggested walking to Florida, and I would have gladly followed him.

We set off following the trail. Mark reached over and grabbed my school bag with one hand, and my hand with the other. We walked in silence for a few minutes.

“Was my note too much?”

I stopped walking and turned to look at him.

“No, it all just seems to be happening so fast. I’m not sure what I feel, but I do know that I want to be with you all the time.”

Relief covered his face. “I was afraid I was rushing you,” he said as he pulled me into his arms.

Looking around, I could see that we were in the shadows of the trees and that it was hard to see more than a few feet in front of us. I could see that Mark was also aware of it. He pulled back slightly and cupped my face in his hands.

This was the moment I had been waiting for since I first laid eyes on him yesterday. That’s not true, this was the moment I had been waiting for my whole life.

“So, you like to read?” He asked pulling away. I flushed when I realized he was standing a few paces away from me. I must have read the signals wrong; this is what I got for never hanging out with other people. I didn’t even know when some guy was about to kiss me or not. What a dork, I thought, hoping he had missed the fawning look I was sure must have been on my face.

Swallowing the disappointment that was welled up in my throat, I tried to focus on the question he had asked me.

“Yeah, I love to read,” I said, trying to inject some enthusiasm into my voice.

I found out that he liked to read as much as I did.

“Favorite book?” Mark asked.

“Easy, the sixth Harry Potter book.”

“Really? More than the last Harry Potter book?”

“Definitely, the sixth book was the most interesting.”

“How about you, what’s your favorite book?”

“Well, like you, I like the Potter series, but I still like some of the classics like the Outsiders or Where the Red Fern Grows. ”

“Those books were banned from my house after I read them the first time,” I said with a smile.