Eternal Longing ✓

32. People Will Know

JAYA

I shift in my chair as I straighten my blazer. It's slightly oversized, plaid, and pairs perfectly with the light-wash, high-waisted jeans I'm wearing. I feel and look like a modern corporate baddie.

"So I'm thinking for this first project, I'll go with a standard, good old clay." Maverick narrows his eyes in thought then adds, "Or marble. Maybe wood could work, too?"

Snapping my attention from where it is firmly lodged across the room, I look to my right at him. "Uh, clay sounds good."

He hums in thought, his hands playing with the crisp white Emphasized x Barton Galleries lanyard he wears around his neck, identical to the same one I and the rest of the artists around the room are wearing, the only difference the names on the badge.

"I still can't believe we got accepted." Mav shakes his head with a grin. "Emphasized is very competitive and you hadn't even heard of it until Truman brought it up. Yet here we are."

Tossing my braids back in a dramatic fashion, I give him a look. "Please. I knew we were going to be accepted. Our portfolios are stacked. I wish they would have gone and denied us." I suck my teeth haughtily.

He nudges me playfully. "What would you have done, huh? Rolled up to the Fine Arts Department to knock some sense into them?"

I laugh even though my eyes are eager to catch another sight of Fin. "Perhaps."

I know his eyes are still on me, I can feel them even from across the room but trying to be less apparent about the fact that we're eye-fucking means I have to look away.

I haven't seen him since this morning when I woke up with his tongue deep in my pussy and he claimed that he was starving but no breakfast could compare to my taste.

He knew I'd be at the official Emphasized Welcome and Info session today, kicking off the month-long contest, and he said he had some business to take care of for his father at the Barton Enterprises New York building.

I'd greeted him goodbye outside my dorm with a slow and wet kiss, smiling shyly when he broke the kiss and held me against his chest for a while. But now he's here too. And without a doubt, I know he's here because I am.

Maverick's bolstering laughter breaks me out of the Finley-induced spell and I blink rapidly, my eyes landing on the stage as technicians continue to conduct a sound check.

"I've missed you, Brocs." He smiles ruefully at me. "Feels like we haven't hung out in a while."

He's right, probably because we haven't. "I've missed you, too."

"Guess our schedules just haven't aligned? With my fraternity stuff, your work, and our school shit, it's been a busy few weeks."

I nod with a smile. Sure, let's go with that. I won't tell him I quit working because I was calling off too much.

"Yeah, exactly."

Around us, other excited contestants mill about the grandiose conference center of the Barton Inn and Spa New York City location, chew on some of the fancy complimentary snacks and catch up with their peers.

We've been given a ten-minute break after a particularly long yet enriching welcome and introduction by the President of the Fine Arts Department and several representatives from Barton Galleries.

Since Barton Enterprises-the parent company of Barton Galleries, Barton Inn and Spa, and a slew of other businesses-will be this year's Emphasized sponsor, representatives flew to welcome us warmly.

"Well, we definitely need to find some time to hang out again," Maverick concludes, eyes on the stage while opening up a bag of Doritos.

I scrunch my face at his snack of choice. "All those fancy-ass snacks spread out for us and you choose to eat Doritos, Cool Ranch Doritos at that, which were at the bottom of your backpack?"