Free London Falling by T. A. Foster Page B

watched him walk away.
     
    I ordered my decaf triple berry tea, paid, and slid into the seat across from Beau.
     
    “Don’t you drink coffee?” Beau’s upper lip was coated with part of the foam heart.
     
    “Hold on. You have a little something.” I reached over and let the top of my thumb graze his full lips. Under my touch they felt firm and suddenly, very kissable. I realized my cheeks were burning. No doubt, the barista was taking this all in. She hadn’t stopped staring at Beau.
     
    “Thanks.” He reached for a napkin. “How’s your tea?”
     
    Embarrassed I had moved into his personal space, I tried to talk my way into distraction. “Good. I love berry tea.” Ugh. Not the most riveting comments. I took a cautious sip.
     
    “Tell me something about London James, actress and basketball novice.”
     
    “Like what?”
     
    “I don’t know. Where are you from? Do you have parents?”
     
    I laughed. Beau was good at breaking the ice. “Yes, I have parents. They live in Asheville, in the same house I grew up in.”
     
    “That’s a cool place to grow up.”
     
    “I guess so. I hadn’t really thought about it like that. I’m not a fan of the snow or winter in general, so I’ve made plans for as long as I can remember to head somewhere warmer.”
     
    “Is that why you are so determined to move to L.A.? You are running from snowflakes?”
     
    “I’m not running from anything. I told you I want to be an actress. I am an actress.”
     
    Beau raised his hands in defense. “I’m just teasing you, London. I know L.A. is important to you.” He sipped his coffee, careful to avoid the foam mustache this time. “What do your parents say about all of it? Are they ok with you moving across the country?”
     
    I sighed. “No. They are definitely not ok with it, but we have an agreement. As long as I graduate with As, I can go and do anything I want. They said they’ll support me for the first six months, and then I’m on my own. I either come back home to Asheville or I pay my way in California.”
     
    “Hmm.” Beau looked like he was working through a calculus problem.
     
    “What? You don’t approve?”
     
    “No. That’s not it. I think it’s awesome you’re going to do what you want. But now, I get your need to have all As all the time. It makes more sense. You make a lot more sense.”
     
    “Thanks. I think.” I wasn’t sure what ideas Beau was forming about me.
     
    “It’s good. Too many people have to give up their dreams.”
     
    I couldn’t blame alcohol since all I had at the game was a Coke and now I was sipping on a berry tea, but the question popped out of my mouth. “Like you?”
     
    He looked puzzled. “What does that mean?”
     
    “Do you really want to go to law school and follow in your mother’s footsteps?”
     
    “Sure. Why not?”
     
    I was crossing a line, but I didn’t want to retreat. “You aren’t the lawyer type.”
     
    “Excuse me?”
     
    “You’re too adventurous, Beau, to be stuck behind a desk or in meetings all day. You would die from boredom taking depositions and arguing in a courtroom. Ok, you are good at arguing, but you would get tired of it.”
     
    His laugh resonated around the coffeehouse. I didn’t like the attention we were getting from the other coffee drinkers and that darn barista.
     
    “For someone I’m fake dating, you sure seem to think you know a lot about who I am and what I need or want.”
     
    I contained an impulse to gulp. Want? Could he see that I all I wanted right now was to taste those lips? He leaned toward me and his eyes blazed right through me, making my knees go weak. He was right. I did think I knew him, and everything about his plan after graduation didn’t feel right. He was right about something else too—I wasn’t his girlfriend. Hearing him say it made me want part of it to be different.
     
    “Just call me your observant fake girlfriend.”
     
    Beau shuffled in his seat and cleared