Eric held my gaze from across the table. A flash of lightning lit up the kitchen briefly, followed by a quick snap of thunder."So Nova has a phobia of thunderstorms," he said, folding his hands on top of the table."Yeah," I said. "Ever since she was really young.""What are your phobias?"I thought about this for a moment. "Drowning.""Drowning," he repeated, the word rolling slowly off his tongue. "Explain.""I don't know," I said. "I guess…it's just, like, being dragged down and running out of oxygen and not being able to do anything about it.""Yeah," he agreed. "That is scary.""How about you?""I'm deat

He looked at me with his lips slightly parted for a few seconds before a slow smile spread across his face and he reached into his pocket, unfolding his map and smoothing it out.At this point, a little more than a third of the paper was drawn on; Eric's slanted writing crammed beside small drawings of what must be personal landmarks he had drawn.He handed me the map and reached into the pocket of his jacket for a small flashlight, clicking it on and we stood over the map together, deciding where next to go.We stood close to each other, and I could hear his light breathing as he poured over the map, the limited light from the flashlight illuminating his features. His brow was pulled low in concentration as he read his map, one of his fingers tracing over the smooth paper."Right," he said after a few moments.

I felt Genevieve looking at me."Are you alright, Luna?""Yes, why?""You seem a bit down lately.""What does that mean?""I don't know…you haven't spent much time with Nova…. mean, I'm not saying you have to but you usually do anyhow.""She's been busy with her tutoring.""You don't like Eric?"I raised an eyebrow, lifting my gaze to look at Genevieve quizzically. "Where did you deduce that from?""You seemed a bit resentful when you spoke of her tutoring.""No, Eric's fine. It's not him, don't wo

I turned to lock eyes with Eric, who smiled pleasantly at us both.He wore a black button down shirt with a light caramel tie and black slacks. I hadn't ever seen him wear anything but jeans and casual shirts, and tonight he was easily the most handsome boy here in such an effortless way. I looked at him gratefully, stepping away from James."Who are you?" James asked, a bit irritably."Eric," he said, extending his hand for James to shake. "Nice to meet you."James didn't shake his hand. He looked at Eric and then back at me. "How do you know each other?""Eric tutors Nova in science," I told him."Eric, this is James Greenwood."

The day passed quickly and before I knew it, it was 6:57 p.m. on Friday and the doorbell rang.I grabbed my phone and left a note for Genevieve before answering the door to Eric, who smiled at me. He wore a white button down shirt beneath his jacket with black jeans and boots, his cheeks pink from the cold."Hey," he said. "You look great.""So do you," I said, stepping outside and turning to lock the front door."Where is everyone?" He asked."Nova is spending the night at her friend's house and my father and Genevieve are at City Hall," I answered, pocketing my key. "The election is only a few weeks out now."We began to walk down the sidewalk together. "Are you still worried about it?" Eric asked."A