Free Blood Ties by Victoria Rice

what was coming.
    “Michael, she almost passed out in your office yesterday afternoon.”
    Dr. Marcheon’s forehead creased. “Really? What happened?” He led me out of the way of the other students with a soft touch on my shoulder. A warm tingle caressed through my windbreaker and t-shirt to slide down across my back and arm. It felt good. Too good.
    “I walked in, asked to leave you a note to say I stopped by and she went completely white. I had to push her down in a chair before she toppled over.”
    “You’re feeling better I hope?” His languid brown eyes, concerned, bore into mine.
    “Ummm … yeah … I forgot to eat breakfast and lunch.” I shifted uncomfortably on my feet, squirming under his gaze. “Ummm … I … you know … kinda do that a lot … you know … frequently …” God, I sounded like a ten-year-old. He pursed his lips, trying to hold back a smile. Heat flooded my face. A crack of thunder boomed overhead and the rain began to fall harder.
    “Well, it won’t do to skip breakfast and lunch. Going forward you’ll take better care of yourself, correct?”
    “Yes sir,” I replied, staring into his beautiful eyes. He gave me a smile. A sweet smile, one that was almost intimate. My face felt as if it were burning. I gritted my teeth. “Ah well, thanks for your concern, I gotta run or I’ll be late for class.”
    “You’re welcome, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    I hurried off and didn’t look back. By the time I made it to my next class, the bottoms of my jeans were soaked and my tennis shoes squished. I just loved rain.
    I didn’t hear a word of the lecture in my English class. I didn’t remember walking to the Hub to meet Jen and Logan for lunch. I grabbed a chicken fingers and fries combo and slumped down onto an empty table. I laid my face and upper body across it, my cheek against the tabletop. It was sticky and smelled like old dishrags seething with millions of bacteria. I was too tired to care.
    A vacation was due, a vacation from obsessing about Michel and his pale twin. There you go. I was thinking about him again. I let out an oath and closed my eyes. I forced my body to relax and emptied my mind. The background clatter of the cafeteria became a comfortable white noise.
     
    I felt a heavy hand slide down my neck and the warmth of a kiss. “Ma chérie, are you ready? Your parents are waiting for us.”
    I smiled, enjoying the cool grass under my cheek. I reached up behind me to grasp his fingers. “A moment Michel … just a moment …”
     
    I shot up straight in my seat. Jen scraped her chair, scooting it closer to the table. She ripped off the end of the paper on a straw and blew it off. It flew over to the table next to us and the guy sitting at it turned around. Jen smiled coyly. He grinned and turned back around. She sighed and stole one of my chicken fingers.
    “Cold,” she complained scrunching up her face. She poured dressing over her salad and began tossing it about. “Tired?” She popped a cherry tomato in her mouth. “Who’s Meeshell?” she mumbled.
    I blinked, coming around. For a few moments the cafeteria seemed foreign, alien. “Huh, what did you say?”
    “I said, who is Meeshell? God I love that name, it sounds so … French.” She popped several of my cold fries in her mouth. “Gotta love the French,” she said waving more fries in the air. “God, Liz, how can you eat these. They’re all soggy.”
    “He’s … no one. Just a book, just a book I read once.”
    “It must have been a good one. You seemed very happy.”
    Tears brimmed in my eyes and I let out a sob. She stopped in mid-chew. I put my face in my hands.
    “What is it Liz? Did something happen?”
    “What’s wrong with her?” Logan asked. He dropped his backpack on a chair with a thud.
    I put my head down on my folded arms and the floodgates opened. How could dreams tear your heart apart? I loved him, I loved him desperately. How could you love someone who doesn’t exist?
    I