Fallen 2. Torment(101)

She thumped up the stairs of the empty dorm. Each step echoed hollowly in the

cavernous building. No one was around.

When she made it to her room, she expected to find Shelby already gone--or at

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least, to see her suitcase packed and waiting by the door.

Shelby wasn't there, but her clothes were still strewn all over her side of the room.

Her puffy red vest was still on its peg, and her yoga gear was still stacked in the corner.

Maybe she wasn't leaving until tomorrow morning.

Before Luce had even fully closed the door behind her, someone knocked on the

other side. She stuck her head into the hallway.

Miles.

Her palms grew damp and she could feel her heartbeat pick up. She wondered

what her hair looked like, whether she'd remembered to make her bed this morning, and

how long he'd been walking behind her. Whether he'd seen her dodge the caravan of

Thanksgiving farewells, or seen the pained look on her face when she'd checked her text

messages.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hi."

Miles had on a thick brown sweater over a collared white shirt. He was wearing

those jeans with the hole in the knee, the ones that always made Dawn jump up to follow

him so she and Jasmine could swoon from behind him.

Miles's mouth twitched into a nervous smile. "Wanna do something?"

His thumbs were tucked under the straps of his navy blue backpack and his voice

echoed off the wood walls. It crossed Luce's mind that she and Miles might be the only

two people in the entire building. The thought was both thrilling and nerve-wracking.

"I'm grounded for eternity, remember?"

"That's why I brought the fun to you."

At first Luce thought Miles was referring to himself, but then he slid his backpack

off one shoulder and unzipped the main compartment. Inside was a treasure trove of

board games: Boggle. Connect Four. Parcheesi. The High School Musical game. Even

travel Scrabble. It was so nice, and so not awkward, Luce thought she might cry.

"I figured you were going home today," she said. "Everyone else is leaving."

Miles shrugged. "My parents said it was cool if I stayed. I'll be home again in a

couple of weeks, and besides, we have different opinions on the perfect vacation. Theirs

is anything worthy of a write-up in the New York Times Styles section."

Luce laughed. "And yours?"

Miles dug a little deeper into his bag, pulling out two packets of instant apple

cider, a box of microwave popcorn, and a DVD of the Woody Allen movie Hannah and

Her Sisters. "Pretty humble, but you're looking at it." He smiled. "I asked you to spend

Thanksgiving with me, Luce. Just because we're changing venues doesn't mean we have

to change our plans."

She felt a grin spread across her face, and held open the door for Miles to come

in. His shoulder brushed hers when he passed, and they locked eyes for a moment. She

felt Miles almost sway on his heels, as if he was going to double back and kiss her. She

tensed up, waiting.

But he just smiled, dropped his backpack in the middle of the floor, and started to

unload Thanksgiving.

"Are you hungry?" he asked, waving a packet of popcorn.

Luce winced. "I am really bad at making popcorn."

She was thinking of the time she and Callie nearly burned down their dorm at

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Dover. She couldn't help it. It made her miss her best friend all over again.

Miles opened the door of the microwave. He held up a finger. "I can press any

button with this finger, and microwave most anything. You're lucky I'm so good at it."

It was weird that earlier she'd been torn up over kissing Miles. Now she realized

he was the only thing making her feel better. If he hadn't come over, she'd be spiraling

into another guilty black abyss. Even though she couldn't imagine kissing him again--not

because she didn't want to, necessarily, but because she knew it wasn't right, that she

couldn't do that to Daniel ... that she didn't want to do that to Daniel--Miles's presence

was extremely comforting.

They played Boggle until Luce finally understood the rules, Scrabble until they

realized the set was missing half its letters, and Parcheesi until the sun went down outside

the window and it was too dim to see the board without turning on a light. Then Miles

stood up and lit the fire, and slid Hannah and Her Sisters into the DVD player on Luce's

computer. The only place to sit and watch the movie was on the bed.

Suddenly, Luce felt nervous. Before, they'd just been two friends playing board

games on a weekday afternoon. Now the stars were out, the dorm was empty, the fire was

crackling, and--what did that make them?

They sat next to each other on Luce's bed, and she couldn't stop thinking about

where her hands were, whether they looked unnatural if she kept them pinned across her