Forever Innocent

I couldn’t pay attention to a damn thing during the lecture. At the end, I wished I had, because I could have offered my notes to Corabelle. But she probably wasn’t paying any attention to my messages. Shit.

Je

Robert shoved a folder in his backpack as I strode up. The blond TA, Amy, looked up expectantly, and I debated which one to approach. Hell, they were together.

“Corabelle wasn’t here,” I said to them both.

Amy looked away, a

I grabbed his arm. “How many classes can she miss before it affects her grade?”

“Two,” Amy said. “I’ll e-mail her if she misses another one.”

“What about the star parties?”

Robert tried to take off again, but I kept a grip on him.

“She has to make up all of those. You can’t miss.” Amy clutched her folder to her chest and turned away.

Robert looked down at my arm. “Dude, you going to let go?”

When Amy was halfway to the door, I said, “Je

He jerked his arm from me. “I’m sure your wi

“Did you talk to Je

Robert leaned against the podium. The room had emptied out. “So you alpha males can screw it up too. Good to know.”

My rage was building. “Did you talk to Je

“I’m not allowed to fraternize with students.”

“Cut the bullshit. The way I see it, I’ve got a number on you.” I knew I was putting on my don’t-fuck-with-me face, the one that always made people in Mexico move to the other side of the street, but I didn’t have time for clever conversation. “So tell me if Corabelle is with Je

“Of course she is. I didn’t go over there last night. She’s apparently strung out completely.” Robert looked disgusted. “You have no idea how to treat a woman.”

“And you’re Romeo. Right.”

Robert rocked back on his heels. “I have a way with the ladies.”

“Where does Je

“Not going to tell you that.”

I didn’t have any more time for his bullshit. I grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt. “Fuck your job. I’m going to fuck up your pretty Romeo face if you don’t tell me where Corabelle is.”

I had to give him credit. He didn’t lose his cool whatsoever. “The thing about you over-testosteroned alpha males,” he said, laying his hands on my shoulders. “You just don’t get that aggression won’t get you anywhere with the nice girls. They go for the underdogs every time. So take a piece of my face. It’ll just get me more sympathy, and you will be further from your goal.”

Shit. I let go of his shirt and pushed him away. Little fucker was right. I backed off and stormed across the room.

“Hey, Thor.”

I turned around. “My name’s Gavin.”

“Right. Thor. I’ll tell you this. Don’t bother with Amy’s star party Wednesday. Corabelle won’t be there.”

“What do you mean? Amy said Corabelle had to go.”

“She already switched to mine. And I have no intention of letting you up there. Unless of course you want to get suspended. I might enjoy seeing that.” He smirked, like he had won the round.

I smashed my fists into the door, making it open so fast it rebounded against the wall outside. Corabelle meant more to me than this school. If I got suspended, I got suspended. 

Chapter 38: Gavin

I purposefully went to my own star party with Amy on Wednesday to stay on everyone’s good side. We had to map the moon, which was almost full. The morning lecture had been about the lunar surface, and I’d forced myself to focus even though Corabelle’s empty seat distracted me. She probably had convinced the TAs to mark her present and I’d never see her again.

No, I would. I would show up to Thursday’s star party, whether ’90s boy wanted me there or not. Corabelle had to listen to me. She had to hear me out.

Work had been pure misery all day Thursday, but the rest of the crew gave me space. No one teased me about dropping wrenches or tossing boxes around. Bud hadn’t even moved me to throwing tires despite the very real risk that I’d break something rather than fix it.

I checked on Corabelle’s apartment every time I was out. There were never any lights on. The butterflies were thi

Everyone at Cool Beans had to be protecting her. Twice I’d gone up there, but nobody would admit that they had seen her. No sign of her car either, but Je

As much as I wanted to storm the steps to the star party on the roof, I decided a kinder, gentler approach would serve me better. A few students milled around the base of the dorm where we held the labs. I took the elevator to the top floor, then crossed the hall to the stairs that led to the roof exit. A few other students were heading up, and I mixed in with them, hoping to stall the moment when Robert spotted me. I wanted to get Corabelle alone. To explain.

I knew I was done for when Amy stood at the doorway, checking everyone off as they passed through. They had never done that before. Still, I was committed, so I headed up behind the others, thinking maybe I could somehow push by while Amy searched for names.

My heart was hammering like I was about to head into a street fight, and this pissed me off. This was Corabelle, and a couple TAs. I could get past Amy.

She looked right into my face. “Gavin, what are you doing?”

“You’re here for me, aren’t you?”

A couple of the other students turned around at my tone.

“Robert has your assignment,” Amy said to them. “Go on out.”

I pressed against the wall and let the others pass. Amy no longer made a show of checking them off.

“I’m going out there,” I said.

Amy stood in front of the door. “This is serious, Gavin. It’s stalking. We’re prepared to write you up to the dean.”

Like I gave a shit about that. “Do what you have to do.”

She held out her hand. “Gavin, you know I don’t want to do that. Can’t you two settle this outside of class? Not involve us?”

“I’ve been trying that. She won’t listen to me.”

Amy waited for a couple more students to cross between us and go out onto the roof. “She’s really upset. I don’t know what happened between you two but —”

“A baby.”

“What?” she sputtered, her eyes sparking.

“We had a baby. We were going to get married. Then the baby — Fi

I knew I was saying too much to Je

Amy clutched her clipboard to her chest. “Five minutes, Gavin. And if I see her upset, I’m calling campus security.”

“Works for me.” I shoved through the door. Robert stood in the cone of light, handing papers out to the students who had been before me. He never even glanced my way, probably not expecting me to get by Amy.

Corabelle sat on the ledge where I’d been at the first party, gazing up at the moon. Lines of undergrads snaked from the two telescopes, and I cut through them to get to her. Je