Buried Wishes (18+)(SAMPLE)

POV: Evelyn

“Oh sh–” I froze mid-utterance as I stared at him from across the cafeteria. Reeling, I tried to ignore the cold sweat forming in the palm of my hands while the back of my neck burned from the immediate stress. It wasn’t until Harper snapped her fingers before my eyes that I flinched back to reality and tried my best to smoothly hide my face by turning my head to face her. Fingers raked through my hair, I propped the side of my head up on my elbow and blinked at her.

“Oh, shit,” I finished more quietly.

“What? What is it?” Harper whisper-exclaimed as she craned her neck to scan for the threat. She looked about ready to kick some ass for me. “Whose ass do I need to kick?”

Despite the situation, I snorted.

“It’s nothing,” I tried to shrug with one shoulder, the other still locked into position as I leaned that side even more onto the slightly sticky cafeteria table. My hair has fully curtained over my arm and I momentarily considered choosing another food court on campus as our spot, if only to avoid seeing him.

Then, she saw him. I watched as she zeroed in on the target on the other side of the room. She turned to me and smirked, prompting the burning on the back of my neck to intensify.

“It’s him, isn’t it?”

“Uh,” I grabbed a napkin with my free hand and wrapped it around a piece of ice from a water cup. Pressing the mini ice pack on the back of my neck, I hissed, “Yes, but let’s not please.”

“Not what?” She drawled with feline mischief.

“Harper, how do I get out of here without them noticing?”

“Them? Oh…” Her eyes darted back over behind me. “So that’s both of them, huh?”

“Can you not?” I moved to cover her view.

She grinned at me for just a moment before her amused eyes widened, followed by a gasp. “Ev, the plan.”

“Huh?” I blinked at her for about two seconds before realization hit me and I frantically leaned into her face. “No.”

“No?” She raised a brow. “They’re kinda turned away from us now by the way, so you can probably look at them now.

A glance through the gaps in my hair-curtain confirmed that they had indeed sat down with their backs to us, though I could still see their profiles when they turned to talk to each other.

“So should I do it?” Harper asked me as her brown eyes darted from mine to the guys sitting across the room. There was a smirk on her lips, and it was too sly to ignore.

“No!” I sighed with frustration. “Harper, it was just a stupid joke and we are way too mature to be going through with a plan we made up in high school!”

Her expression grew serious as she tilted her head and lowered her lids at me as if to say, who are you kidding?

“High school wasn’t that long ago,” she pointed out, “and it’s not a joke, it’s justice. Evelyn, it ruined you and probably was the reason why you were so shy after you met me senior year. Wait, should I be thanking him?” She placed a finger on her puckered lips as pretended to be deep in thought. “Nah, I’m still sure he ruined you.”

“No, he didn’t, Harper. Let’s just… not hang out on this side of school again,” I told her, but she was right.

I turned to take another good look at them.

They’ve always looked like brothers, and their close friendship only convinced me further. Liam sported a shorter haircut, almost hiding the careless curls I used to love so much. Relaxing in a deep blue V-neck and a dark pair of jeans, he laughed with Mason, who was thinner in shape, but manly nonetheless. Mason was wearing a dark red Henley with his sleeves bunched up to his elbows. If I wasn’t so caught up in my stare at Liam, I would swoon heavily for him.

But Liam…

I stared longingly at the back of his head, carrying a war in my gut between wishing he’d look my way and hoping he doesn’t see me at all. Because if he did, what then?

Would he laugh in my face again? Was he right to do so back then?

Have I grown enough to accept the joke this time, even if the joke was me again?

I felt my breathing pick up again, growing erratic, and I nearly hurt my neck as I twisted to turn the other way again when they turned to look around the room.

What are they doing here? Have they always just been on this side of campus?

How the fuck am I getting out of this room without catching their eye?

“Are you freaking kidding me? Look at you, all scared of seeing him. Well I’m not having any of this. Operation Dickbag’s Heartbreak commences,” she declared as she started to put her things into her bag. I blinked at her, finding it hard to believe that she would actually do it. She’s going to walk over to the two adonises and ask Liam out.

“Harper, don’t do this. I’m seriously over it!” I pleaded, but she was already standing up.

She stood next to my seat and leaned down so that she could whisper into my ear, “Doesn’t fix the fact that it happened. You were so sad when I met you. I want to do this, okay? I was starting to get bored with college life anyway.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but she was already walking off to their table. I watched as her mocha skin almost glistened under the sun rays that shone into the room. She confidently wore a tight black romper that had a plunging neckline, laced with a dainty white design on the hem. She looked like a model and I was proud to say that she was my best friend, but damn her daring personality will be the death of me.

I immediately turned back around as she spoke to the guys and within minutes, I received a text.

Harper Green: Done and done. He’s going down. 😈

She must have walked out the building to avoid their eyes on me, but I wish she’d found her way back to the seat next to mine so I could smack her on the side of her head.

I texted her back, trying to distract myself from the fact that she just asked out the guy who was my first crush, the one who broke my heart.

Me: Gross. I don’t care what you do with him in the bedroom. Don’t tell me that stuff. 😒

I waited for the two guys to leave, and even after they did, I waited an extra few minutes to make sure they hadn’t lingered outside. I spent that precious time controlling my breathing, assuring myself that it was a huge campus, so it’s unlikely I’d run into them. As I walked to my next class, I received another text, cracking a smile on my face.

Harper Green: Ooh, girl, you nasty. Get your mind out of the gutter, that’s my spot. 👊

I chuckled lightly to myself, knowing full well that of the two of us, I had the mind for dirty jokes and she had the mouth to say them. It’s always been that way since we’ve met, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I finally found a sliver of peace as I walked into my next class with a grin on my face staring down at my screen, until I heard my name.

“Evelyn?” A familiar voice said.

Oh, God, no. Please have mercy on me, Lord.

I looked up to see Liam and Mason awkwardly waving at me. I wave back just as awkwardly.

Alright fine, Beardy. Don’t have mercy on me.

The young professor standing in the front cleared his throat as his eyes that were on me glanced up at the clock, indicating the class hour had started. I quickly sat down in a seat at the corner of the class, feeling Liam and Mason’s eyes on me. This class seemed to only have a little under twenty students and I was the odd man out, sitting in the back, away from everyone else.

I had to remind myself that this class was important, that it was the only writing class I had to take my entire time here, and that it was a big check mark off my list of course requirements. No matter how distracting it is to see the guys here, I still must do well.

Avoiding the guys’ stares on the other side of the room, I focused on the professor, who happened to be a dashing man in his late twenties or early thirties. He twisted his face, shifting his lips to the side and blew air upward to get his fine blond locks of hair out of his face. With a strong figure and a nice face, he could definitely be the target of the various girls in this class who were currently gluing their eyeballs to his body.

“Alright, class. My name is Charles Dixon, but you can just call me Charlie. I don’t like that professor B.S.” I raise an eyebrow at his introduction. “This is a seminar class, so there won’t really be a lecture for you guys to snore through. Instead, we’ll be diving straight into the work this week by selecting partners and introducing the quarter-long assignment.”

I felt a cold rush of panic hit my spine and the blood drained from my face as I shot my head up to look at the other students in the class. I didn’t know any of them besides the two guys, and god forbid I get stuck between them. I’ll end up staring at them the whole time, researching their hair products instead of whatever topic I end up assigned with.

“I trust that as grown adults, you can find your own partners. I’ll give you several minutes to select your partner and learn three interesting facts about them,” Charlie went on to explain.

Panic. Panic. Panic.

My mouth went dry as I stared at the professor with pleading eyes, hoping he’d walk over and let me work alone this quarter. His eyes met mine and they widened as he started to mouth numbers, counting the students in the room.

“Well,” he announced before the timer went off, “it looks like we have the unfortunate case of an odd number of students. You,” he gestured at me, “Miss…”

“Evelyn,” I answered, swallowing my raspy voice, “Evelyn Martinez.”

“Miss Evelyn, Evelyn Martinez,” he winked at me as if his joke was so funny. I heard a few chuckles from the other students, probably the ones who wanted to kiss ass and dodge Fs. “You will be joining one of the groups already formed up here. Anyone willing to take her?”

“We will!” exclaimed the two guys I was trying desperately to avoid.

And just like that, I could feel the good grade I intended on getting in this class slip from my fingers.