Playing with Fire

e p i s o d e | t h i r t y - t w o (pt. 2)

I lean my head against my arm and roll my pencil across the table. Rowan, who had been sitting across from me, catches the pencil between his fingers and then peers up at me with questioning blue eyes.

"We're in a library," he reminds me quietly. "What's your problem?"

I shove my face into my arms. "I'm still thinking about that physics exam. I'm pretty sure I failed the part where I had to explain Schrodinger's equation." My head shoots up indignantly again. "Did you know that not even Schrodinger knew what he was talking about? He said about quantum mechanics – and I quote – 'I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it.'"

Rowan just laughs at this. "You're overreacting," he whispers back.

"I just want a perfect score," I sigh dejectedly.

"If you're always perfect, then there's no room for improvement," he points out. "And then you'd be absolutely boring. Take me, for example."

Oh, god; here he goes.

He smiles arrogantly. "I'm good-looking, intelligent, strong – everything, right? So how unfair would it be if I wasn't such an asshole?"

I can't help but let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I guess that'd be a little too perfect, huh?"

"Thank you. Point proven." He starts scrolling through his phone again, and we spend another moment in silence. After a few minutes, however, I notice his eyebrows furrowing.

"What's wrong?" I whisper.

"Anna," he says seriously, "did you know that the EU results came out today?"

"What?" I have to cover my mouth to keep from shouting at him. "Well? Did you get in? Did you?"

He pauses for a moment, before showing me the screen. The word Congratulations is scrawled across the frame. "It looks like I did," he says, almost as if he can't believe it himself.

I fumble to get my phone out of my pocket and immediately tap through it. Rowan watches my facial expression carefully as I nervously touch the screen with trembling fingers. I can't help but curse the universe for allowing this to happen. After all that stress with exams, they're going to throw me college admissions? Life is completely unfair.

My heart immediately stops when I see the page, and Rowan notices my sudden paralysis. "What?" he asks earnestly. "You got in, right?"

I put my phone in my lap absentmindedly. "No."

Rowan puts a hand on top of my head sympathetically. "It's okay, Anna. We still live in Eastbrook. I'll come visit you wherever –"

I flip my phone screen up at him, grinning from ear to ear. "I was kidding," I squeal excitedly, trying to be as quiet as possible while still retaining my enthusiasm. "I got in, too!"

Rowan stares at me for a minute before huffily tousling my hair. "I didn't know you were capable of that kind of prank!" he snaps under his breath. "You're a damn snake."

I just bite my lip excitedly and hold back another squeal of happiness. "Can you believe this?"

Rowan glances around briefly, before tapping my hand. "Let's head towards the entrance. People are starting to give us looks."

I'm too happy to argue with him, so I obediently grab my belongings and skip towards the front of the library. Rowan and I stand in front of the bathrooms and both look at my phone screen again. I can't get enough of the acceptance letter typed across the page.

"I can't believe that we're going to EU," I say, jumping on my toes without hesitation. "This is insane. I didn't even think I'd get in, let alone –"

I turn my head to face Rowan again, but at that moment, he swoops down and lands a quick kiss on my lips. My sentence immediately cuts off, and I just stare at him, my head going blank. I'd forgotten what I'd been talking about.

"I thought I should do that while you were this excited," he says to me. "Just to make sure you wouldn't kill me."