The Design(57)

I squeezed his biceps reassuringly and stepped out of his grasp. I should have turned him down since my design submission wasn’t even close to be being complete, but it was my birthday and everyone deserves to take a break on their birthday.

“Fine. Let’s go somewhere, but I already know of the perfect place. Pick me up around 8:00 pm and bring some snacks,” I said with a wink before taking both of my cupcakes back to my desk.

Like I’d bring him a cupcake…

I was still mulling over the absurd thought when I noticed that my desk drawer was cracked open a few inches. An open desk drawer isn’t usually suspicious, but I remembered tidying up my desk just before lunch and I’d closed all of my drawers.

I set my cupcakes on my desk, glanced over my shoulder, and then pulled the drawer open all the way.

Inside, resting on a stack of pencils, there was a small card tied to a crystal paperweight in the shape of the Eiffel Tower. It was an exact replica of the real tower: someone had taken the time to painstakingly carve out every detail. Even in the shadows of my drawer, the crystal twinkled and I knew it’d be even more gorgeous in the light of day.

I flipped over the small card tied at the base of the tower to read what it said.



“Happy Birthday, Cameron. You deserve to have the real Eiffel Tower, but this will have to do for now. The French Government didn’t seem interested in selling me the real thing. Love, G.”

…



“And this is perfectly legal? To wander around back here at night?” Grayson asked as we pulled up to my spot at the cemetery behind LAX.

“Is anything perfectly legal?” I asked, turning to glance back at him after I’d opened my door.

He hadn’t made a move to get out.

“Going to sit there all night, Cole? Scared of ghosts?” I quipped, trying to get him to meet my eye.

“I’m not a big fan of cemeteries,” he admitted before reluctantly opening his door.

I hopped out and rounded the front of the car with my flashlight illuminating the ground in front of me.

“Are you serious? Grayson Cole is actually scared of something?” I asked, aiming the light at where he still sat in the safety of his car.

“I’m scared of a lot of things,” he assured me as he made his way out to join me. “Hurricanes, hippos, a zombie popping up out of one of these graves.” He reached for my hand and we started walking farther into the cemetery.

“Hippos? Seriously?”

He stopped walking and turned toward me, holding the flashlight up under his chin like he was getting ready to tell a scary story.

“Hippos are exceptionally dangerous. They attack more humans per year than any other animal. I think.” He added the last part with a little smile.

I laughed and tugged him forward, leading him along the path I normally traversed.

“Well, I promise there won’t be undead hippos popping up out of these graves. I come here a lot and have yet to be attacked.”

He laughed and I squeezed his hand for reassurance.

We walked in silence for a few yards until we arrived at a familiar clearing. I turned to flash my light onto one of the gravestones that had a row of fake flowers lining the ground around its base.

“Georgina Heart. 1893-1960,” Grayson read aloud. “Your great-grandmother?”

I smiled and shook my head. “No. I just like to pretend that I’m related to her. I brought those flowers out here last year. I have no clue how they’ve managed to stay there this long.”

“How do you know you aren’t related to her?” Grayson asked.

I took a seat in front of the gravestone, the bed of fake flowers offering a bit of support between my lower back and the aged concrete.

“I don’t,” I answered simply, feeling the ground start to shake. It was subtle, but I knew what it meant.

“Hurry! Sit!” I said, reaching for his hand and pulling him toward the ground.

I thought he’d be more hoity-toity about his suits—dirt didn’t mix well with Italian wool—but he didn’t seem to care. He nudged me over to get a bit of the gravestone for himself and then pulled my hand onto his lap.

“This is very romantic, Cammie. What's next on the birthday tour, jury duty?” he joked, still unsure of what we were doing at the cemetery.

“Be quiet and listen!” I said, holding my hand up to silence him.

He dropped a brow and stared at me with curiosity before I reached to turn off both of our flashlights. His features were impossible to make out in the darkness. We were left with one fewer sense as the earth started to shake harder.

The low rumble from the runway was impossible to miss.

“Oh! Are you serious? I didn’t even think we were close to the airport anymore,” Grayson said, sounding like a giddy child.

The rumble grew louder and louder, the ground shook harder, and the engines howled as we clutched each other’s hands.

“It’s coming,” I warned.

The plane picked up speed as the engines roared to full throttle. We were encased in darkness and then I spotted the first light from the plane. In a flash, a dozen more lights appeared in the sky, lit across the belly and the wings of the plane. I stared, mesmerized as it flew directly above us for one brief second. It was louder than ever, stealing every bit of sound from around us.