In This Moment(3)

Cole. Instinctively, I turn and look behind me, but the grassy spot where I fell is already deserted. Cole Everly—or whoever—seems to have packed up his girlfriend and moved on from our run-in. “Oh, that was nothing. I just lost my balance and he happened to be there.”

“Lost your balance? Aimee, I watched the whole thing. You looked like you had seen a poltergeist and you practically jumped into his lap!”

The imagery replays in my head and I cringe. “I-I…”

“What happened?”

Sighing heavily, I move my hand over my forehead to gather tiny beads of sweat between my fingers. “God, it’s hot today, isn’t it?”

Mara rolls her eyes. She knows that I’m deflecting. “What do you expect? It’s Florida and it’s August. You’re avoiding my question. What happened?”

“Mara…”

My sister stops walking and turns her head to look for whatever it was that set me off. Her gaze finally settles on a stocky figure casually chatting up a girl. He’s got on a grey t-shirt with bold red fraternity lettering and a backward baseball hat that hides his dark hair.

“That’s Caleb Oster over there, isn’t it?” She asks me.

My breath is thin and shaky. I feel a wisp of the earlier panic sneak up my spine. “Yes.”

“Hmmmm.” Mara lifts her eyebrows and takes a small step toward me. “He went out with her, didn’t he?”

I swallow. “Sort of. He took her to the Homecoming Dance sophomore year. He wanted it to be more, but you know how she could be with guys. She blew him off and I don’t think that he ever talked to either of us again.”

“That sounds about right. You two were always a package deal.” Mara shields her eyes against the sun and shrugs her shoulders dismissively. “Well, Aimee, you knew when you enrolled here that you’d eventually be seeing familiar faces. We’re less than thirty minutes from home so there are going to be people who know you. People who knew her.”

My face is hot. This isn’t a discussion I feel like having right now. “Look… This was just the first time so it threw me off guard, okay? And please don’t tell Mom anything because you know that she makes a big deal out of every single thing that I do. God, she considers it an episode every time I hiccup or sneeze. I can’t imagine what she’d think if she found out that I’ve been going around jumping into strangers’ laps before classes have even started.”

Mara winces at my pitiful attempt at a joke and takes me by elbow. “Come on, slowpoke. I won’t tell her anything if you promise not to fall on anyone else.”

“Fair enough.”

“Anyway,” Mara crinkles her forehead and bends her mouth to my ear, “I think Caleb missed out on your little show. He seems too preoccupied by that girl’s low-cut shirt to even notice you.”

I scoff because Mara is right. Caleb doesn’t even look up as we move past him toward the hulking Student union  .

The building is five stories high, surrounded by a fringe of young palm trees and crepe myrtles. Blunt concrete pillars bolster the corners and dip down to form a low-slung wall that circles the front walk. Beyond the pillars, the exterior is mainly composed of panels of blue-grey mirrored glass that remind me of calm water on a cloudy day.

Mara flashes an encouraging smile as she pulls open one of the double doors, releasing a cool gust of air conditioning and the abrasive sound of students reengaging after the summer separation.

She steers me through a towering, glass-ceilinged atrium past a large campus bookstore and a string of counter-style food places. Against the farthest wall, I pick out a small coffee shop sectioned off with narrow tables and comfortable looking stuffed chairs.

“My best friends, Lindsey and Jenn,” Mara whispers in my ear as she points out two blonde girls sitting at one end of a rectangular table. “Don’t be…”

She doesn’t finish the sentence but she doesn’t have to. I already know what she was about to say. Don’t be weird, Aimee.

I could act offended, but considering what just went down outside, I don’t think that would be entirely fair. It’s Mara’s junior year and I know that she’s worked hard to fit in at college. My sister is the type of girl who participates in life. She’s in a sorority. She goes to parties and bakes oatmeal raisin cookies and joins clubs. Mara Spencer is a girl with a life and an image. The last thing she needs is for me, her unfortunate little sister, to screw things up for her with my special brand of emotional drama.

Returning her gaze, I pull my long hair over my right shoulder to cover the scar and murmur quietly, “I’ll be fine.”