for it.”
I immediately thought of how I always felt a rush of relief right before I clicked into the Link each night. It felt like a free pass. For a while I didn’t have to try to sort out the emotions, I could just let them dull to gray. But here Cole was, fighting to keep them.
“But why?” I whispered. “Why does he try so hard?”
“Oh, Zoe,” the Professor said with a smile, “look at the canvas. Can’t you see why?”
I couldn’t stop thinking about the canvas as I walked out of the class and down the empty hallway. I wanted to be like Cole and paint in color. I wanted to feel things, I was just tired of feeling bad things. I’d had enough of bad things. But I’d also felt the emotions Cole had captured in the painting before—beauty, color, delight. I’d felt them with Adrien.
My wrist com buzzed with a message:
It was as if Adrien had read my thoughts. I felt a flush of warmth and smiled. I hurried down the hallway to my dorm. He was waiting outside the door for me, his face dark and intense.
“I’m sorry,” he said as soon as I got close. He pulled me into a tight embrace. His words were a whisper against my neck. “I’ve been an idiot. I let this project I was working on distract me from what’s really important. So tonight,” he pulled back and brought my hands to his lips. He kissed my fingertips. “We are going on a date.”
“What’s that?” I asked, my heart fluttering erratically at his touch.
“It’s what they used to call them in the Old World,” he grinned. “Just two people going out to dinner. And not at the Caf.”
I scrunched up my face, confused. “Why not? We’ve repaired most of the fire damage. Everyone’s been eating there all week.”
“Because,” he laughed, then leaned in to kiss my nose. “The whole point is that it’s just the two of us together. Alone.” His voice dropped on the last word in a way that sent a quick shiver up my spine.
He’d been so distant the past few weeks, but here he was, grinning genuinely like there wasn’t a thing to worry about.
I shook away the confusion and smiled back at him. A night of forgetting about everything and simply being together sounded perfect.
“A date,” I said. “Will I eat my gruel out of a fancy cup?”
“Don’t ruin the surprise,” he smiled. “I already know you’re going to love it.”
I started. “Wait, you’ve had a vision of our date? No fair!”
He winked at me. “Let’s just say I have a good feeling about it. I’ll come back by your dorm room at seven so I can escort you to dinner.”
“This is so romantic,” Ginni squealed, and for once, Xona didn’t even bother to roll her eyes.
Ginni had pulled me in front of the mirror for the last half hour and was curling and pinning my hair up in intricate ways.
“I wish I had a boy who would ask me on dates. We’d talk about the books I love and he wouldn’t mind that I talk so much. In fact, that’s what he’d like about me most. We’d talk for hours and…” She paused. I looked at her in the mirror and her face held a puzzled frown.
“What?”
“Oh,” she giggled, shaking her head. “I just had the weirdest sense that I had met someone. But that’s impossible.”
“All those romantic books are giving you hallucinations. I knew reading that much couldn’t be healthy,” Xona said.
Ginni swatted at Xona with a spare piece of cloth from the sewing table. A knock sounded at the door.
I jumped up to open it. Adrien was wearing clothes I’d never seen before. His shirt was dark and fitted, and it slimmed into pants that hung a little off his hips. He’d even done something to tame his curls. My stomach did a little flip-flop.
He stared at me, his mouth dropping open a little. “You’re so beautiful.”
I was suddenly very glad I’d let Ginni talk me into wearing the skirt she’d made.
“I brought something for you.” He held up a small rectangular box. I opened it and gasped. A small silver chain was nestled inside with a blue stone embedded in a circular pendant. I touched the delicate stone with the tip of my finger. The tiny facets sparkled in the light whenever I moved the box. I’d never seen anything like it.
“It’s a necklace,” Adrien said, his voice a little higher-pitched than normal. “Henk helped me get it. Here, allow me.” He pulled the necklace from the box, then moved behind me and draped the chain over my neck, the little pendant hanging like a teardrop. His fingers trembled as he lifted my hair and closed the clasp. He leaned in from behind, his voice a whisper. “Don’t take it off, even when you sleep. I want a little part of me to be with you all the time.”
“It’s so pretty!” Ginni squealed.
I put my hand to my neck and traced the chain down to the pendent. I’d never owned something so special in all my life. I turned to look at Adrien. He’d pulled back slightly, but he held out an arm.
“Shall we?” he said.
I glanced back and saw Ginni’s swooning face. I laughed and grabbed Adrien’s proffered arm.
“We shall,” I said.
We walked down the hallway, and I felt a bit silly in the skirt. It whooshed around my legs in a way I wasn’t used to, and my calves were bare. It was a strange sensation.
Adrien raised one eyebrow and grinned as we passed the Caf. He finally stopped when we came to the training room.
“Are we going to be lifting weights or perfecting my aim?”
He smirked. “Neither.” He opened the door and I stepped in.
The lights were dimmed like they were during meditation, but in the farthest corner I could see a small table set up. Someone had draped a deep magenta fabric over the plain white walls beside the table, and as I came closer, I saw some of my newer drawings had been hung up. My brother’s face, my parents, even Max.
“I thought you might like to be surrounded by all the people you love tonight.”
I felt myself tearing up. I turned and hugged him. “It’s perfect,” I said.
He pulled back with a laugh. “But you haven’t even seen everything tonight has to offer.” The table itself had been covered in cloth too—a bright blue triangle piece was set over a bigger white cloth that draped over the edges of the table. A single rose spun in the light from a projection cube set in the center of the table.
Adrien popped the top of a tall bottle and poured sparkling liquid into our glasses.
“What is that?” I leaned in closer.
“The Community rations finally arrived, and I had Henk toss in some champagne as well.”
“But won’t I be allergic to it?”
“Nope. We’ve tested everything you’re going to eat tonight. It was all produced in the underground Community hothouses, with zero Surface allergens.”
“Wait,” I paused as what he said sank in. “You mean I’ll finally get to eat real food?”
He nodded, his grin so wide I thought it would split his face. “Surprise.”
I let out a giddy squeal and clapped my hands like Ginni did when she was excited.
“My lady,” he said, and held out a chair for me.
“Tonight you get to feast on braised beef and carrots, in a red wine sauce.” He clicked his com, and a few moments later, Jilia walked in carrying two loaded plates. She set them down in front of us.
“Thank you,” I said, but she didn’t respond, she just smiled and then walked out again.
I took a deep drink of the champagne and almost coughed because of the bubbles that seemed to fizz in my nose.
“Start out slow,” he said, patting my back as my coughs died down. “Take sips, not gulps.”
“It stung,” I said, my eyes watering.
