Everlance Academy

Chapter 35

I wake up with the most unbearable headache, grinning like the most unbearable idiot. The sun shines through the see-through curtains of the hotel room, making me feel like I have to sneeze.

I want to turn around and hide my face from the grazing light, but a crushing weight around my waist keeps me in place. That crushing weight being my boyfriend.

"Don't move," a very sleepy Nikolai mumbles, his voice sounding groggy.

I refrain from snorting. "The sun is close to blinding me."

His only answer is to draw me closer into his chest so my head is out of the direct sunlight. Effective.

"I still need to get up.", I try to sound annoyed, but we both know that it's pretend. How could I possibly be annoyed when life is so incredibly perfect?

I feel him shake his head against my hair. "Like hell you do," he murmurs more to himself than to me.

"I have to pee."

"Hold it. This is comfortable."

"I might get a bladder infection."

"And you say I'm the dramatic one."

"You're a selfish man."

"Damn right I am. And you love me. So I must be doing something right."

I roll my eyes. "Don't let it get to your head."

I feel his lips curl against my hairline. "Too late, love,", he whispers. "I have spent the past hours thinking about it. My self-esteem has officially gone off the charts."

I sigh. "You're impossible."

"It's part of my charm," he yawns. "Speaking of hours, what time is it?"

I internally groan at remembering that we would probably have to get up soon to catch our flight at 1 p.m. and reach over to the nightstand for my phone to check the time.

My sleepy brain needs a few seconds to comprehend the numbers on my screen, but when it does, I almost hit my head on the headboard with how fast I jolt into vertical, ignoring Nikolai's protesting groan.

"Fuck!", I exclaim, pushing the covers off me.

"Was that a command? Because you needn't be so bossy about it, I'd be more than willing-"

"Nikolai! Time!", I run around the apartment like a mindless weasel, throwing my belongings into my suitcase, way too stressed to blush at his comment.

Lazily, Nikolai glanced at the screen of his own phone and is on his feet in a matter of seconds.
"Fuck!", he yells, running toward the bathroom.

"How very articulate and original!", I yell back, hopping around with one leg in my jeans.

"We're running late!"

"You don't say!"

"How could this happen?"

"One or two glasses of champagne too many causing us to sleep through the alarm I set, if I had to guess." I stab a toe against a leg of the couch table and cry out at the pain.

"You okay?", it sounds from the bathroom.

"Define okay. We're going to miss our flight!", I whine, "and where the fuck is my other sock?"

"Don't take this the wrong way, but I'd rather crack all my book spines than stay one more day in Texas with your relatives. We're not missing our flight. Not if I can help it."

***

"Okay, you were right. We're going to miss our flight," Nikolai sighs defeatedly, looking around the empty parking lot in front of the hotel, his suitcase in one hand, "how can literally every taxi be occupied?"

I resist the urge to stomp with my foot like a little child, although it's tempting. Seriously, when did I stop throwing tantrums? They're liberating.

"You know, this would be a great time for you to tell me that you happen to have a private jet that can escort us home."

"My father took it to South Korea with him. He's visiting one of his... friends. Also, I don't fly private. Public planes are bad enough for the environment."

I gape at him. "You've got to be kidding me."

He frowns. "What do you mean?"

"You don't own a private jet."

His frown deepens. "I'm fairly certain that I just told you that I do."

I look up at the sky and chuckle to myself. "Sometimes I forget that you're in the mafia."

"I'm not in the-"

His sentence gets interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle driving up directly in front of us and the guy on top of it plucking off his helmet.

"You two look like you could use a knight in shining armor."

Juliette's boyfriend!", Nikolai and I exclaim in union.

"As I live and breathe," The boy says, stepping off the motorcycle, not seeming the slightest bit offended at how none of us know his name.

"Do you have any idea how we can get to the airport? Preferably, like, within the...", I glance at my watch, „next ten minutes?"

The boy ruffles a hand through his brown hair, looking puzzled. "Maybe ask a stork if it can carry you. Though I suppose the weight of two people might drag it down... maybe an eagle would be more fitting? Or, I mean, you could always use this," he shrugs at the motorcycle.

"You would lend it to us? Really?", Nikolais face is a mixture of giddiness and suspicion.

"Lending would imply that it was mine to begin with."

"You stole it?", I ask.

He laughs, holding the keys out to me. "Stealing. Borrowing. Lending. The lines get blurry with time, you know?"

"If it isn't yours, where did you even get these—you know what? Nevermind. I don't want to know. It's very generous of you to leave the motorcycle to us, but neither of us know how to drive."

"That's awfully presumptuous of you, love," Nikolai chimes in, snatching the keys from Juliette's boyfriend.

I blink up at him. "You can't be serious."

"You said it yourself. Mysterious bad boy with a motorcycle."

"That was a joke."

He shrugs, taking the helmet and offering it to me. "Whatever. Take the helmet and get on behind me. You'll need to carry all three of our bags at once, but I think if you put the handles over your arms, you'll manage for the short ride." He swings one of his legs over and starts the ignition. "Come on now. We're still running late."

"I am majorly attracted to you right now."

"I'm flattered."

"And I'll take that as my cue to leave.", Juliette's boyfriend clears his throat and pats my shoulder as a good-bye. Before he can disappear, I catch his wrist, though.
"Wait a second," I call after him.

He raises his eyebrows at me but does as I say.
"Promise me something?", I ask.

"I'm not known for being trustworthy. My word oftentimes means little to nothing."

"Be nice to Juliette. I don't know her very well yet, but I do know that she cares about you. I don't want her to be unhappy."

A dazed look enters the boy's face. "Juliette's moods have very little to do with me; I can promise you that much. And I think it's time for you to leave, June Lockwood. If I recall correctly, you have a plane to catch."

He frees his wrist from my hold, and within a few seconds, he is gone, leaving me with a weird feeling in my stomach.

"June? Clock's ticking," Nikolai reminds me, and I nod, hopping onto the motorcycle behind him, the nausea already starting to fade.

Though the weight of our luggage soon weakens my arms and the wind makes a fuss of my hair, I sit there, behind the boy I love, and I think to myself, I am on top of the world.