Wait for You by J. Lynn Page B

here.”
    Biting down on my lip, I sat a few feet away from him and then busied myself with finding my astronomy notebook. As I pulled it out, I glanced over at him and our eyes locked. I couldn’t look away. Intense. That was the first word that came to mind. His stare was intense, like he was seeing right through me.  
    Clearing my throat, I fixed my attention on the notebook. Finally, Cam spoke. “What constellation are we supposed to be mapping.”
    He held the flash light while I skimmed through my notes. “Um, the Corona Borealis, I think.”
    “Ah, the northern crown.”
    I glanced at him, brows raised. “You knew that off the top of your head?”
    He laughed. “I might not take notes, but I do pay attention.”
    I was pretty sure he slept through the vast majority of the class yesterday. I slid out the grid Professor Drage made for us and then the star map and found the Corona Borealis on it. “I really don’t understand how anyone sees shapes in the stars.”
    “Really?” He scooted over and peered over my shoulder. “The shapes are pretty obvious.”
    “Not to me. I mean, it’s just a bunch of stars in the sky. You can probably see whatever you want to see.”
    “Look at the Borealis.” He tapped his finger off the map. “It’s obviously a crown.”
    I laughed. “It does not look like a crown. It looks like an irregular half-circle.”
    He shook his head. “Look. You can see it now easily. That’s a crown. Come on, see the seven stars.”
    I tipped my head back as I grabbed a pen from my bag. “I see the seven stars, but I also see about a hundred other peeking out. I also see the cookie monster.”
    Cam burst into laughter. It was a nice sound, deep and rich. “You’re ridiculous.”
    My lips pulled into a smile as I hovered my pen over the grid. I had no idea what latitude line to start at. I glanced up toward the Borealis and managed to draw a line where I thought I should, connecting two dots.  
    “You know where the name comes from?” When I shook my head, he reached over and took the pen from my hand. His fingers brushed mine, and I pulled my hand back, planting it in the lush grass. “It represents the crown given from the god Dionysus to Ariadne. When she married Bacchus, he placed her crown in the heavens in honor of their marriage.”
    I stared at him. “Professor Drage didn’t teach that in class.”
    “I know.”  
    Leaning back, I studied him. “Then how did you know that?”
    “Why don’t you know that?”
    I cocked my head to the side, brows raised.
    “Okay. Maybe most people wouldn’t know that off the top of their head.” He twirled my pen between his fingers. “I actually took part of this class as a freshmen, but had to drop it.”
    “Really?”
    He nodded, but didn’t elaborate.
    “You’re, what, a junior?”  
    “Yep. I ended up having to take a year off, which put me behind.”
    I wanted to ask why, but decided it was none of my business. “Why did you retake astronomy?” I decided that was a safe topic. “Is it a part of your major.”
    “No. I just like the class and Professor Drage.” He paused, flipping off the flashlight. “I’m studying recreation and sport. Would like to get into sport rehabilitation.”
    “Oh. Did you…” I trailed off as the girl behind us broke out into a fit of giggles. Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes widened.  
    The two students from our class were definitely a couple or well on the way to becoming one. Their notebooks were forgotten on the bench. She was in his lap, their faces inches apart and his hand was slipped under the hem of her skirt.
    “Now that is an interesting form of stargazing,” Cam commented.
    I was grateful for the darkening sky, because my face started to heat. I knew I should turn away, because watching them made me a total creeper, but I couldn’t. Not even when the girl’s hand threaded through the boy’s hair, pulling his head to hers and they started really kissing and his hand