my first lecture, I've conv

the woods on Halloween nig

is just a hickey that will fad

ver, ever touch Augu

minder of a teeth being sunk into my neck. Someh

od

now? I never would have taken myself

s just a rash. Rashes kinda have t

more sense. I'll

tes' mark as a rash, don't you thi

once used a voice that wasn't mine, when I wasn

sound like me or anyone I know f

ight out in the woods with a stranger

en my brain i

corrects. "I'm what you would want to call your other... consciousn

a, then failing statistics. Exactly how I imagined my twenties," I mutter

o. You're not schizophrenic. You're just different, and th

f?" I scoff out loud and

like you, we're trying to embrace these fucking equations.

nd he shies away under t

ith a tight smile, a

the world. I'm inside of you, I hear

me that earlier," I thi

you, but like I said, your bra

started lecturing, I hadn't as little as put a dot down. Now he's

ky

the smell of stale chalk, and me trying not to obsess over

al d

night's fever dream is behind me, that is until I s

ide the library like he belongs on a magazine cov

stupidly lopsided grin appears...the exact o

Sh

s, my legs forget how to function, and suddenly I

every detail of it. It's intoxicating, s

Our mate smells like sweet honey. And

ate if you stop

word?

ds drift off when he ges

he is to us," it emphasiz

d I believe his name is Zeke, so I appr

we fucked in the woods, and his nam

for the brief ba

" It coos, "now

er fiercely, fr

calling o

w people end up on true crime documentaries. You follo

hinking about

ause I wasn't thinking then. I was high. And p

thing warm spread through me. "

... w

to my rebuttal. It's almost like he's magnetic and I'm caught in hi

like that addictive, sweet honey that clung to

smoothly, voice low and warm, like he's greeting an old f

lls doing their best imp

ant. Future valedi

o?!" I whisper

ants to be near him for life, otherwise

What are

ignore it and focus on the ma

ment, and that grin widens. "I was beginning

hy

tudents moving around us, then h

y stomac

y detail of your night out in the woods. Of course

f his neck, but I fight it off as fiercely as

been...great, but I was high and I assure you it's not going to happen again.

s betray me by sucking in a sharp breathe of his sce

then opens again. Nothing com

ying my breakdown. "You look like

gaze flickers there, sharp and knowing, be

you ask nicely," h

arly, you told him to

the only one with no memo

s look more earnest now. He leans even

remember and it's probably for the best that you don't, bu

ict. His nose perks up slightly and his eyes darken, but he pulls back from me

you her

ites the inside of his cheeks, then shakes his he

tions last night said all the appreciations we need,"

on the thought and question him about it b

o find something else out, and n

daring step closer to him, just so I can get a clos

e air in surrender. "Alright, you caug

are yo

hrough his hair–his fingers stopping

ber anything about last

ke my

hing we said t

el of your hands on my body and that's it. But like I sa

ay that," he m

ave is screaming at me to get away before I melt into a puddle at his fe

low, and I panic. "So, uh... nice

h off before my body

e like invisible smoke. Sweet. I

y head coos. "We'll see him again, Liv. W

king faster and ignori

ike every part of me is tuned to his presence. My skin tingles,

o see hi