Page 17 of Wish You Were Mine (Kings of Eden Falls #3)
LUCY
The sharp bounce of my landing echoed through the gymnastics facility as I stumbled just barely out of bounds, my right foot slipping over the white tape line.
“Dang it,” I muttered, hands on my hips as I tried to catch my breath. Most of the pass had been clean—solid even—but that stupid double layout was still giving me trouble. My feet felt just a little off every time, like my timing was a beat behind where it should be.
“You’re getting closer,” Nora called from across the floor, stretching her arms behind her back. “You’ve just got to trust the takeoff a little more. You’re over-rotating on the second flip.”
“Easier said than done,” I grumbled, walking back toward her as I wiped sweat from my forehead with the back of my arm. “This routine was perfect in December. I don’t know what my problem is this week.”
“First home meet jitters?” she offered.
I shot her a look. “I don’t get jitters.”
“No?” She raised a brow. “Not even when your hot professor turns out to be the guy you made out with in a hot tub?”
“Ugh.” I groaned, flopping down onto a nearby mat. “Please don’t remind me.”
“Have you decided what you’re gonna do about that, though?” Nora asked, sitting down beside me and pulling her knees to her chest. “Are you staying in Owen—uh, Professor Park’s class?”
“I don’t know…” I stared up at the high ceiling, the rafters crisscrossing like the tangled mess in my brain. “I’ve been going back and forth since yesterday. Trying to decide if it’s going to be completely terrible trying to stay in his class.”
“It has to be super awkward,” Nora said.
“Understatement of the century,” I said, shaking my head as I remembered my interaction with Ow— Professor Park —after class.
“But I think I’ll stop by the registration desk after this, just to see if there’s another Intro to Chem section I can switch into.
I doubt I’ll be able to switch my lab with him, though, since it was already a miracle I managed to squeeze a three-hour block into my schedule with all my other required classes and practices. ”
“Oh yeah.” Nora winced. “Lab times are the worst.”
“Lucky for you, you were smart and took chemistry your freshman year.”
“Truth.”
If only I’d been so smart, then I wouldn’t be in this predicament in the first place.
I sighed. “I just don’t know how I’m supposed to pretend for an entire semester that I didn’t memorize the exact sound he made when I was pressed up against him. Or act like he didn’t look at me like I’d ruined his entire life when I told him who my dad was. ”
“Oh jeez,” Nora said, her eyes going wide. “Exactly how far did you guys go in that hot tub? Because that sounds intense.”
“We just made out,” I hurried to say. “Nothing super crazy.” I sighed again. “But yeah…it’s probably better if I just find another class.”
Nora nodded, but from the way she was watching me, I could tell she was waiting for another but .
Which, of course, the hopeless romantic in me might have been brainstorming ways we could still work.
You know, if he hadn’t already slammed the door shut.
“And…” I exhaled, fully aware I was setting myself up for disappointment just thinking about it.
“If there’s even the tiniest chance that Owen’s still remotely interested, then not being in his class would mean we wouldn’t be breaking any rules if we happened to see each other at Theo’s birthday party next month… and something happened again.”
“Lucy,” she scolded, though there was a twinkle of humor in her eyes. “Are you seriously already thinking about ways to get around this?”
“Maybe…” I said, my cheeks heating up. “I mean, it was a really good kiss.”
“It must have been.” She laughed. “If you’re thinking up all this, he must be the best kisser in the world.”
“Top five, at least,” I said, laughing even though this situation wasn’t really that funny.
“And I know it’s ridiculous and there’s probably zero chance that he’ll ever even talk to me again with how upset he seemed yesterday.
But…I don’t know. I guess I’m not quite ready to pretend it didn’t mean anything just because it’s suddenly inconvenient. ”
Was I being delusional? Probably.
But I’d already liked the bartender version of Owen before, so now that he was this super well-educated professor… That just made him even harder to resist .
Well…you know, if he could ever look at me like I wasn’t trying to ruin his career, that is.
Before Nora could tell me I was completely off my rocker, Coach Chambers appeared behind us, arms crossed and a whistle around her neck.
“That double layout’s not going to fix itself while you’re off in dreamland, Archibald,” she said, nodding toward the floor. “Run that last pass again. Make it clean this time, and you can call it a morning.”
“Yes, Coach,” I said, dragging myself to my feet.
I jogged back to the starting corner of the floor, took a deep breath, and sprinted forward, body coiling and springing into the air. The double layout came faster than I expected, and I twisted a little too much on the landing—but this time, I stuck it. Both feet even in bounds.
“Better.” Coach nodded when I looked at her. “Watch your shoulder alignment, though. You're twisting your upper body too early on takeoff. Fix that, and you’ll be golden.”
“Got it,” I said, my heart still racing as I stepped off the floor and made my way toward the locker room.
The registration office smelled faintly of printer ink and stress when I stepped up to the counter, gripping the strap of my backpack like it might help anchor me in this already rapidly spiraling semester.
“How can I help you?” a girl with a sleek ponytail and glasses asked when she noticed me.
“I was wondering if there are any other Intro to Chemistry classes open that would fit my schedule?” I said, forcing a polite smile. “I just had…a conflict come up that I didn’t expect. ”
The conflict being my illicit, steamy make-out with the professor, I thought dryly.
The girl behind the desk nodded and started typing onto her computer. “Sure thing. Let me pull up your schedule along with the Intro to Chem sections. What’s your name?”
“Lucy Archibald.”
“And your student number?”
I listed off the nine-digit number, watching her fingers tap the keyboard as she typed it in.
“Okay, good news. We’ve got several sections with open seats,” the girl at the desk said. “Are there certain days or times that work better for you?”
I hesitated, glancing down at the planner where I’d scribbled my schedule. Technically, I’d prefer the exact same time slot I already had, since I’d spent so much time getting my schedule just right last semester.
But saying that out loud might come across as...suspicious. Like I had a problem with the professor.
Which, okay, I did—but not for the reasons anyone would assume.
I swallowed, forcing a polite smile. “Can I just see which classes you have open?”
No need to raise any red flags.
“Sure.” She gave me a quick smile and turned the screen slightly so I could see it better.
Rows of class times filled the monitor. I scanned the list, my stomach sinking with each line.
Most of the available options overlapped with either my marketing courses or the hours I spent in the gym.
One overlapped with the exact time I had a standing appointment with our team’s physical therapist.
Maybe I could swap out my Marketing Strategy class on Mondays and Wednesdays? It wasn’t ideal, but when I’d been registering, I was pretty sure I saw another section of that course taught later in the day—possibly at the same time as my current chemistry class.
“Can you click into that Monday and Wednesday section at eight?” I asked, pointing toward the one that might work.
She did. I leaned in to read the professor’s name, and my stomach dropped.
Instructor: Park, Owen
Seriously?
Out of all the professors on this campus…
I bit my lip, trying to recover. “Um…could you scroll down to the later classes? Like afternoon?”
She nodded and kept scrolling, but my heart sank as I scanned each time block.
The later options interfered with either my Advertising Psychology class, which only had a single section taught this semester, or with practice.
And since Nora and I had worked hard to get our workout schedules lined up this year, screwing that up now—just because of a dumb kiss—felt like throwing away months of planning.
Even perfect routines can fall apart with one wrong step, my high school gymnastics coach’s voice echoed in my head.
I sighed when my watch buzzed, vibrating with the reminder I’d set for my next class.
“Could you print those options out for me?” I asked. “I’ve got to get to class, but I’ll look them over and see if I can figure something out later.”
“Of course.” She hit the print button and walked over to grab the pages.
I thanked her quickly, took the packet, and headed out of the building into the cold air, flipping through the options as I walked toward the business building. The wind caught one of the pages and nearly ripped it from my hands, but I grabbed it in time, skimming through the final page.
There was one section—Tuesdays and Thursdays at two. A tiny flare of hope sparked…until I remembered: my chem lab.
Thursdays from one to four. That time slot was already locked.
Perfect.
I shoved the pages into my bag as I walked by the snow-covered quad. Hopefully, I’d figure something out later. But if I couldn’t…I’d just have to suck it up and go to Professor Park’s class on Wednesday.
And hope to survive without spontaneously combusting in my seat.