Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

“It was fine. I was supposed to be reading, but I was too anxious to focus on the book. It’s a good thing I’m a speed reader, or I would fall behind in class,”

Sam didn’t have to ask me why I was anxious, she already knew. It was nice that we shared so many common bonds; it saved us from having to explain every little detail.

I took a big bite out of my own sandwich, just as the person I had been obsessing about all day walked around the corner. I sucked in a quick breath, causing the bite of sandwich to go down the wrong tube.

Coughing out of control, I reached for my bottle of water to try and wash the sandwich down and stop the coughing fit. Mark reached over, patting me on the back which made the situation worse. His touch flustered me; already choking, I could not handle losing the limited air I had in my lungs.

“I don’t think she can breathe with you touching her,” Sam commented, in a dry voice.

Mark looked at me. I confirmed Sam was right by a nod of my head.

“I’m Sam,” she said, holding her hand out, giving me an opportunity to pull myself together.

I was disgusted with myself. So much for acting cool and collected, I thought as I wiped the tears from my eyes.

Mark reached out to shake Sam’s hand. I could tell by the way he raised his eyebrows that he experienced the same connection with Sam as I did.

“I’m Mark, or for you, Mr. Russo for the next few months of school,” Mark said with a smile.

I finally stopped choking like some idiot.

“Better now?” he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

I could tell that he liked the fact that he had such an impact on me. It wasn’t like I could hide it though; just sitting by him had my heart racing to a tempo I was slowly getting used to.

“Will you meet me at the park after school?” he asked me in a more serious voice.

I felt warmed by his words. He acted like he wanted to be with me every bit as much as I needed to be with him.

“Yeah, I can meet you, but Sam has to come along too. That way it won’t be a lie if I tell my mom I’m going to the park with Sam. You will just happen to be there,” I said with a smile, as I found another loop hole in the need to know category.

“Is that okay with you?” I asked Sam.

“Sure, Shawn wants all of us to get together anyways.”

“Who’s Shawn?” Mark asked, momentarily confused.

“Sam’s boyfriend; I mentioned him briefly to you this morning,” I said subtly, reminding him that they had a lot in common with us.

“That’s right,” Mark said. “Well, I better head off to class,” He reached out to brush back the hair that covered the lump on my head. He frowned when he saw my injury.

“That guy’s lucky I’m an intern. I could have laid him out when I saw him chuck that softball at your head. It was all I could do to control myself. Does it hurt?” He inquired.

“No,” I lied. Truth was it had been throbbing for most of the day.

I could tell that Mark saw right through my lie. He glanced down the hall to make sure we were alone and then bent over to press his lips against the bump.

Once again, my breath caught in my lungs. I was sure I would never breathe again. His lips erased all the pain, and instead warmth spread throughout every vein in my body.

By the time I could breathe again, he was gone.

“Wow! That was intense. I could feel the heat radiating off the two of you.” Sam said, with laughter in her voice.

“Not to change the subject, but I have a question for you. Why did Matt call you fridge earlier?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s a joke all the guys have. When I first moved here, a lot of them asked me out. I of course turned them down, so to cover up their bruised egos, they started calling me frigid, which eventually led to fridge. They’re jerks. Even if I wasn’t taken, I wouldn’t give them the time of day,” Sam said with disgust.

I agreed with her. All these years I had thought going to a private school would be great, but when you were surrounded by a bunch of spoiled people, it leaves a lot to be desired.