Time Between Us Read Online Free

not even attempting restraint as she stares at him across the room. “He looks…oblivious. Do you think he knows there are other people in the room?”
    “He looks older, or something,” Emma chimes in.
    I pretend to look around the room before letting my eyes settle on him again. It’s not that he looks older—he’s actually got a bit of a baby face. Danielle was closer. He looks indifferent, like he doesn’t seem to care that he’s here—or care that we’re all staring, wondering why he’s here—and that alone makes him even more interesting. At least to me.
    “Hmmm…I think I’m disappointed.” Emma stares straight at him, taking stock of every detail. She turns back to look at us, eyes wide, nose crinkled. “He’s definitely not what I was hoping for. He looks like every other guy in this cold, dreary town. No tan. No hot blond surfer hair.” She takes a bite of a bread stick. “I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up.”
    “Maybe that is surfer hair,” suggests Danielle. “How do you know what surfer hair looks like?”
    “You know, it’s long.” Emma wiggles her fingers next to her head. “It looks cool. Not like”—she directs her thumb toward Bennett’s table—“that mop top of his.”
    “Come on, you guys. Give him a break.” They both turn to me, their professionally shaped brows raised in matching expressions, and stare. “What?” I shrug and take a deep pull on my straw, letting the cold liquid slide down my throat and cool my face.
    Emma finally picks up a forkful of salad and directs it toward her mouth, and for a split second, I think I’m off the hook. But then she stops. “Okay, I’ll ask.” The lettuce and tomatoes hover in front of her. “Why do you care what we think?”
    “I don’t. It’s just…You’re just being mean.”
    “We’re not being mean!” Emma looks at Danielle. “Are we being mean?”
    Danielle shakes her head no. “I didn’t think we were being mean.”
    “We’re just observing. Like…scientists.” She shoots me a smart-ass grin and pops the fork into her mouth.
    I let out a sigh and pick at my sandwich. She’s right. Why do I care what they think? It’s not like I know him. And since I don’t seem to be at all familiar to him, I’m starting to wonder if the thing at the track this morning even happened.
    Emma and Danielle are watching me intently and exchanging meaningful glances as they eat. Then Emma shoots Danielle her “don’t worry, I’ve got this one” look, turns to me with those soft eyes, and begins to do what she does best: make people tell her things they don’t want to tell her. It’s like a superpower or something. “Anna?” she sings. “What’s going on?”
    I look at her like I know this trick, like I’m not about to give in to it, but then I fold. I bury my face in my hands. “It’s nothing. It’s just weird.” I try to say it under my breath, but it comes out loud enough for them to hear. Emma gently pulls my hands away from my face and makes me look at her.
    “What’s weird?” Then she remembers this morning, and things click. “Wait, like the weird thing you were going to tell me before class?”
    I look around the room, checking for anyone else within earshot, and when I turn back again, I find Emma and Danielle leaning in so close to me their cheeks are nearly touching.
    I look around the room again before moving in toward them. “Fine.” I let out a sigh. “So…I was on my run at the Northwestern track this morning. I ran around a couple of times, and all of sudden, I looked up in the bleachers and saw this guy sitting there, watching me. I ignored him at first—I just kept running and he just kept staring at me—but when I came around the bend…” I stop and scan the room one more time. “He was gone. And I mean, gone gone. He just…disappeared.” I leave out the part about how he smiled at me.
    “Okay, that’s definitely weird,” Emma says and looks at me wide-eyed. She must see