Free Prophecy Girl by Melanie Matthews

there.
    He shook his head. “I got…nervous…afraid. So I began to vanish and it took all of my will to get me back here.” He took another deep breath, and then he relaxed.
    “Why did you become afraid?”
“The look on your face. When I admitted, well, you know, you looked…shocked, and I panicked, thinking I had misread something—misread you. I wanted to disappear.”
    She wrapped her arms around his muscular chest. “You’re not wrong. You didn’t misread me. I just wasn’t expecting you to be so…”
    He wrapped his arms around her waist. “Lovey-dovey,” he said, smiling.
    “Yeah, that, but I liked it, and don’t disappear on me again!” She pointed a threatening finger at him, but smiled.
    “Never,” he promised.
    They found each other’s lips in another passionate kiss, but their embrace was disturbed by Eva’s stomach growling—again.   
    He pried his lips from hers. “We’ll kiss later. Now let’s eat.”
    Glad to hear his promise, she followed him, giddy with excitement, as they made their way down to the grand staircase. They reached the Commons Area, but it wasn’t deserted as before. Three guys were walking from the lit archway that she had observed before with raised voices still filtering out. 
    The guys wore the same uniform as Lucas, but one of them, beautifully handsome, tall and toned, held a black guitar case in his hand. He seemed very familiar to her. She didn’t know from where or when, but she felt a connection, a strong desire to be with him, to kiss him, and this made her feel ashamed with perfect Lucas next to her.
    “Hey, guys! What’s up?!” Lucas shouted at them.
    Promptly, all three turned, but only two of them smiled. The one with the guitar case seemed to be in a state of shock, his eyes wide. She wanted to go to him, but she fought back her unexplained affection, and peeled her eyes away. 
    The two other guys, both of average height, approached instead.
    “Hey, dude! What’s up?” asked one of them in a distinctive southern accent. 
    His hair was wild and red, and he had a splattering of freckles on his face, with hazel eyes. He kept his black cap tucked behind his belt with his vest unbuttoned. 
    “Just showing Eva here the place,” Lucas answered, catching the redhead’s hand in a sort of slap/shake.
    The southerner smiled brightly at her. “New girl!” He grabbed her in a tight embrace, sniffing her hair. “Mmm…got that new girl smell.”
    At first, she was taken aback by his lack of boundaries, but then she sensed that he was just an overly-friendly guy, who smelled of tobacco. And his southern accent was pleasant to hear.
    “All right. That’s enough sniffing,” Lucas said, not-so-gently prying the redhead off of her. 
    “I get it, I get it.” He threw his hands up, and then put one back down, holding it out for Eva to shake. “I’m Liam Walsh. Name don’t sound very Texan, does it?”
    She laughed and shook his hand. “I wouldn’t know, but I like it, and the way you talk.” She didn’t mean to be so bold, but his friendliness was infectious.
    “Ooh, she likes me,” he said to Lucas. He grinned and went in for another hug.
    Lucas pushed him back, but smiled. “She said she liked your name , and the way you talk , not you .”
    Liam shook his head, smiling. “That’s not the way I heard it.”
    “Just ignore him,” Lucas said. “He’s a second year.”
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” asked the other guy, but didn’t seem offended, holding out his clenched hand for Lucas to fist bump.
    He had light brown hair and brown eyes. The black cap on his head partially obscured a pair of ear buds to the mp3 player that he kept tucked inside his shirt pocket.    
    “It means you and Liam are still young and childish,” Lucas explained, but then he turned to Eva, and apologized, “But not you.”
    It was still an insult to Eva, but she let it go, and smiled.
    The second year shook his head at Lucas, removed his