VISION ✔️ || The Keepers of Astraela #1

6.2 || Of Friendship and Longing

EVA

IT WAS THE FIRST TIME that they'd walked to work together, and it felt like a crime that they hadn't done it more often.

Jensen was the perfect company. Though the remaining distance to the library was short, he kept their pace so that they could enjoy each other's presence while also getting to their destination in plenty of time. It still went by too fast.

Eva was impressed at how easily he conversed, filling the right moments with banter yet not blabbering on for so long that they missed the sights around them. Havenwood had such beauty early in the morning, when the sun's rays washed the world in a golden hue. It looked deceptively warm for such a chilly October day, but the latte she clutched in her hands and the company she held kept her cozy meter at just the right level.

They rounded the final corner to find the library a block away, its clock tower standing tall above the squat building. The sun perched upon its roof, casting long shadows down the street while searing her eyes at the same time.

Eva turned toward Jensen, hoping for relief from the direct light, and was surprised to find him staring ahead in unbothered bliss. Judging by the smile on his face and the glow to his skin, he was content to bask in the blinding light.

Except, it wasn't just his skin visibly enhanced by the sun. Even his hair, usually a flat light brown, bounced with golden highlights she had never noticed before—and while she had always been enamored with his oceanic eyes, that morning they glistened with so many different shades that it was hard to focus on only one.

It was moments like that when she wondered how Jensen Hawthorn was real.

"Something on your mind?" he asked.

From so close, his musky cologne enveloped her, melding with the sweeter, smoky smell that drifted off his flannel shirt. While Eva had caught him lighting up behind the library on numerous occasions, she had never once noticed the stale smell of tobacco in his company; she had only found the same fragrance that wafted closer to her in that moment.

Something about it was intoxicating.

So much so that she didn't realize she'd been smiling giddily until Jensen's chuckle gave her warning. Days away from him made her forget how well-acquainted he was with her awkwardness, turning her brain into an echo chamber of Bobbi's teasing words.

"He's not my type" was the biggest lie Eva had ever told, yet she'd managed to say it with such certainty that she'd almost convinced herself it was true.

As they approached the library steps, Jensen paused, shifting the coffee cups in his hands as he awaited her response. It was easier for Eva to take in the world around them while in the shadow of the stone canopy, though she still fought the urge to rub her eyes. Without the brilliant light bouncing off his features, he had lost his sun-kissed glow, as if the colors that suddenly appeared had never existed at all.

Maybe she was losing her mind.

But if she had drained what was left of her sanity, there was no harm in taking the one chance her normal self would have lacked the courage to attempt.

"Actually, there is." Eva sucked in a deep breath. "I've been meaning to talk to you about this for a while now, and—"

"I'm not getting a pink slip, am I?"

Eva blinked. While she hoped his words were laced with sarcasm, his near-blank expression gave no indication of satire. She couldn't help but notice the way he gripped his cups tighter and tensed the muscles in his forearms beneath the rolled-up sleeves of his charcoal flannel.