Page 5 of Endless First Kisses

Caroline stood on the side and watched the spectacle as if she were dreaming. The whole procedure. From start to end. The Miranda Rights pronouncement seemed like something she had seen in movies. By the time the act was done, all that was left was Andre screaming, “I didn’t do anything.”

They dragged him through the one bedroom apartment, handcuffs on, and stumbling forward. They didn’t say anything else to her. She was a bystander and only witness to the commotion. Frozen in place and unsure about what had happened. Assault and attempted homicide? What did he do? Did she have anything to do with it?

Having no answers, turning to the only reliable refuge she knew of, she had left her apartment after repeatedly failing to reach her best friend, Ella, and her father’s personal aide. She waved off her assigned security guard in a civilian cloth and unremarkable sedan. He had come in after the police had left and assured her that she had nothing to worry about. Isolated incident. That was the expression he used.

Whatever crazy stuff Andre had done, it must not have concerned her. The cops wouldn’t have left without saying anything to her. The policewoman had looked at her with such disgust. That was it, though. She figured she might as well get her run before the chaos began and left.

Caroline always ran without guards. It was always surprising to her how she was barely recognized. Except for the appearance with her father at the celebration of his election victory, she hadn’t appeared anywhere else in public. Here, blending in with the rest of the students had been effective at giving her a regular college life.

All that was now forgotten as she stretched and continued running in the opposite direction of Jack. He had caught her looking back at him. How could a weird morning culminate with a crash into a pole staring at her dream crush of many months in the making?

The guard on assignment reported the scuffle and kept his distance after noticing she had recovered well enough to run. The Senator had given explicit instructions to give her as maximum privacy as possible while still keeping a close eye on her.

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