Moments in Time by Karen Stivali Read Free Book Online

said.
    His eyes were dark, his brows pinched together. His lips parted like he was going to say something else, but he didn’t. What could he possibly say with Wendy sitting right there? Nothing that mattered. Nothing I wanted to hear.
    “Gotta go,” I said and strode out the door.

C HAPTER S EVEN
     
     
    I’ D BEEN at the library for six hours and accomplished next to nothing. I tried to read, but the words blurred together on the page. Writing was no better. I’d get a paragraph into a paper, and my mind would wander. My back ached from the combination of uncomfortable library chairs and the fact that I was so tense, I was about to shatter.
    I dug around in my pocket and fished out enough change for a soda. Food still wasn’t appealing, but I figured the sugar might help clear my head. Making my way through the stacks, I hoped the machines weren’t empty. Everyone hit the library midweek so they could have their weekends free, and even though it was pretty empty now, it had been packed when I arrived.
    Only one light was lit. The one next to the Sprite. Of course. No caffeine. Oh, well, at least it had sugar. The can tumbled down through the machine, sounding ridiculously loud in the quiet of the hallway. I popped the top and drained half of it. You weren’t really supposed to take drinks into the main part of the library, but no one enforced or followed that rule.
    My phone vibrated, and I pulled it out of my pocket just in time to see the low battery symbol flash and the screen turn black. Shit. When I’d forgotten to set my alarm the night before, I’d also forgotten to charge my phone. I wondered who’d texted me, and when. The back area where I’d been sitting all evening had shit reception. The call that buzzed right then could have come in hours ago. I tried to turn the phone back on to see if it had enough juice left to at least show me who’d called. No such luck.
    I was still fiddling with the power button when I saw Tanner. Well, I saw his shoes. Before I rounded the corner, I spotted them through the empty row on the bottom bookcase. Navy blue Chucks, no laces, crossed over each other. My heart beat double time as he came into full view. He was half leaning, half sitting on the edge of my table, arms behind him in a way that made every vein and muscle in his forearms stand out. I could barely swallow my mouthful of Sprite.
    “Hey,” I whispered, even though there was no one at any of the nearby tables.
    “Hey.”
    “What’s up?”
    He shrugged, shoulders bunching up to his ears, hair falling over one eye. “Had to return a book. Figured you’d be up here.”
    “Yeah. I’ve got—” What? What have I got? No reason whatsoever to have spent half the night in the library other than the fact that I was avoiding going home. “—stuff due soon.”
    Tanner nodded.
    I tried to keep my voice casual. “I thought you and Wendy might have wanted some time alone too.”
    One dark brow popped high on his forehead. “Why’d you think that?”
    My cheeks heated—I’d blushed more in the past day than in the past six months. “She didn’t come over last night. You know… every Monday… I figured since you skipped a night you might want to, I don’t know, make up for it.”
    Tanner raked a hand through his hair, then braced his arm behind himself again. “She left a few minutes after you did.”
    “She did?”
    “Yep. The only reason she came over was to help me get the room clean for your mom.”
    My jaw dropped. “What do you mean?”
    “She stopped by the book store and said she’d run into you on the bus and that you looked frazzled. Her word.”
    “Wait, you worked today?”
    “Yeah, we all switched our shifts around because of midterms last week.”
    “Oh.” So he hadn’t left our room to avoid me. I felt like an ass.
    “Anyway, she said you’d locked your keys in the room, and I remembered you said your mom was coming. Then I got home, and the place was still trashed, so I