Page 40 of Heartbeat Girl
The weight of his stare caressed the side of my face.
The elevator dinged, and the doors opened when he said, “Legends and stories have to originate from somewhere, right?”
I walked out before him, pushing by the couple stepping in.
“Jayne,” he called out. I turned around and glimpsed him smirking. “Wrong floor.”
I stumbled, glancing at the top of the doors. Level four. “Right,” I muttered as I dashed back in and ignored the elderly couple’s grins.
“It’s okay,” the old woman said. “I do it all the time.”
“Like right now,” the man replied, pointing at the buttons. “We’re going up instead of down.”
“We’ll survive a trip up.” She laughed.
As soon as the elevator opened on our floor, I rushed out.
“Slow down,” Liam murmured.
“I’ll see you on the bus,” I responded and scurried to my room.
“What about my present?” he inquired.
“I’ll give it to you then.”
+++
“Ready to rock?” Chris hollered behind me.
“Hello, Jayne,” Steve greeted as I stepped onto the bus where he stood. “And yeah, Chris.”
Chris walked off with a nod, and I frowned. He must sleep during the day since he drove through the night. I felt bad for him. His job must be lonely.
“Why does Liam get a gift, and we don’t?” Pete questioned.
“Huh?” I dropped my luggage on the floor.
“We heard Liam ask about his present in the hallway,” Steve said.
I put my hands on my hips. “How did you hear that? You weren’t even in the halls.”
Pete mimicked my stance. “Don’t change the subject. Favoritism is wrong.”
“If you would have asked Liam, you would know I got you all something.” I bent down, unzipped the side zipper of my bag, and pulled out three tiny boxes.
“He never mentioned that.” Steve glared at Liam, who plucked his guitar strings.
Liam tried to act like he wasn’t paying attention, but I knew he was. Slouched over, his fingers halted the second I unzipped my bag. The crosses were the gifts.
“I got you each one,” I said, dropping the first box in front of Pete, then Steve. Lastly, I walked toward the middle of the bus and stopped in front of Liam. He lifted his head to meet my eyes. I set the box on the table beside him. He reached for it immediately. My stomach churned as I slipped into the booth across from him.Too late to back out.“Open them.” I tapped the tabletop and bounced my legs.
Pete opened his first. I turned in the booth slightly to get a better watch, but his back faced me, so I studied Steve instead. He cocked his head to the side, then they exchanged a glance. My skin prickled with unease as they looked over at Liam. I joined them in doing so. Liam’s attentive gaze found me briefly, smirking in a way that threw me off.
What the fuck, Liam? I placed a deadly cross in front of you. Be frightened like the vampire you are!
I held my breath and leaned closer as he opened the box.
“Ow!” Steve winced, and I jumped, eyes searching for the box.