The Beautiful Truth

** 17

Can't get tix. No dice. He clumsily tapped back to Hadley Catalano. He really wanted to toss his phone into the fountain behind his seat on the edge, but settled for shoving it into the pocket of his cargo shorts. Besides, what would he do if Micki had pointed him to the wrong place? There was no chance in hell he could make it back to SF's dorm without getting lost. What time was it anyway? Hadn't she been in there since like, five a.m.?

He reluctantly pulled his iPhone back out of his pocket to check the time. Odd, there was a shadow casting over the face that made it difficult to read. He looked up toward the sky, expecting to see a stray cloud in the otherwise Technicolor blue Berkeley sky, but instead, saw her face, smirking at him.

He picked her up off the ground—an easy task, as it always had been, but she seemed even lighter now. Without letting her down after her arms had loosened from around his neck, he pulled back and took her in.

"Hi," he said, grinning uncontrollably.

"Hey, TJP!" she answered, crinkling her nose. "Self-absorbed much?"

He just shrugged, still holding her against him with her feet six inches off the ground. "Took you long enough. What the heck are you doing studying on a Friday afternoon anyway?"

"Well, I had to do something to keep me occupied while I waited for you to get to town...hi!"

He was practically beaming; he could feel it. "Hi."

"You gonna let me down?"

He smirked, then lowered her to the plaza bricks.

She continued to grip his forearms. "How'd you find me?"

"Well, after we got checked in at the hotel, I walked on over to your dorm. That roommate of yours is even prettier in person," he teased.

She dropped her hands from his arms, and he immediately regretted the teasing. "Oh, you met my Micki?"

He shrugged. "Yeah, she pointed me in your direction."

She stood there for a moment, just looking up at him... The soft, warm bay breeze stirred her hair, and he reached up to brush a stray piece from her eyes. His fingertips tingled.

"I missed you," she sighed.

And it was like music to his ears. "Bay—"

He had to stop himself. Laughing, he cleared his throat. Did that almost come out? Baby?

"I missed you, too, SF."

She beamed. "Ah, I can't believe you're here! What do you want to do? Are you hungry?"

His thoughts were almost at scrambled as hers. "I just want to hang out with you! I gotta be back by midnight, since the game's at eight tomorrow, but...until then, I'm all yours."

"Kay, well..." she began, linking her arm through his and starting to walk back the way he'd come in. "Let's go by the dorms first, and see what Micki's up to...then we'll go get something to eat and go from there."

"Sure thing," he agreed. He knew he would have walked off a cliff for her if she'd asked.