Ever so slowly, I lowered my mouth to the lime. As I did so, I felt the brush of her lips on mine.
Just a touch. Just a breath, and it ignited fire in my veins.
And at that moment, I forgot a lot. My heart stopped, my breathing quit, my thoughts cea...
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The awards ceremony the next day was successful. Our hexad had received first place, and we individually all won medals for various other competitions we had participated in – the robotics test, the history essay, and some others.
We flew home after the awards ceremony. Lacey and Callum happened to be on the same flight as August and me, since we were flying to New York first before getting a layoff to our separate states. Our goodbyes to Aurora and Rohan were filled with tears, but we all promised to meet up sometime during the summer.
I ended up sitting next to Lacey. Someone must have told her about my fear of planes – presumably August – because she made sure to ask constantly how I was feeling. Luckily, the second time we flew was better than the first. I ended up watching lots of movies with Lacey on our seven-hour flight, which I hadn't been aware that airplanes offered.
Once we arrived at the New York airport, we hugged goodbye to Lacey and Callum as they departed on their flight to Boston. August and I headed toward the food court since he insisted that we eat before our flight.
"What are you hungry for?" August asked.
"Whatever is fine," I said, shrugging. "I'm not too hungry."
He gave me a pointed look. "We talked about this."
"Fine," I relented, not able to help the smile tugging up at my lips. "How about Taco Bell?"
He ordered for both of us, and we sat down to eat our food. I felt self-conscious the whole time, especially when I knew the food was unhealthy and extremely greasy, but I pushed through. For August.
We finished eating and quickly made our way to our gate, where we went through security once again and waited for our flight to announce boarding. The flight was much shorter this time since we were only going from New York to New Jersey. Once we arrived in New Jersey, we caught a taxi back to Princeton. The principal, Mr. Bacow, greeted us as we pulled in.
"Augustus, Emilia, how was your trip?"
"It was good," I replied, smiling as I grabbed my luggage from the trunk of the taxi. "Very insightful."
"Extremely," August added, shooting me a mischievous grin.
Mr. Bacow had us rattle off what we did and the awards we received. I showed him the plaque and the medals we had received, and he congratulated us.
Augustus and I said our goodbyes after speaking with the principal, heading back to our respective dorms.
Within my dorm, I started unpacking, throwing my dirty clothes in the hamper. It almost felt weird to be in a bedroom alone, without August's presence. Alone, my thoughts ran wild, and it hit me suddenly that finals were coming up and that I hadn't done schoolwork for the past month.
