It was bright. So bright. Brighter than she remembered it being. Had she fallen asleep? Blue squinted against the glare of the sun and held her hand up to shield her eyes. Blinking she looked around. Where were the boys? Surely they wouldn't have gone off without her. Turning she spotted Gansey, right where he had been while she and the other boys lay looking at clouds. He was sitting with his back against the dreaming tree writing in his notebook, just as he had been doing earlier.
Blue could tell he felt her eyes on him. She watched as he slowly placed the leather bookmark in the notebook; as he purposefully set it down without looking at her. Just as slowly he raised his eyes to meet hers. This was not the rich Aglionby Gansey, son of politicians, nor was this the lofty academic searching for dead Welsh kings. No, this was Gansey the boy. The Gansey in love with a girl – an impossible girl he could never have. His eyes burned with the fire inside him. This was the reckless young Gansey. Blue's heart burned with the same fire reflected in his eyes.
It was too much. She was going to do something stupid and very un-sensible. Blue broke the gaze and looked down to catch her breath and
steady her racing thoughts. When she lifted her eyes again, Gansey stood in front of her. Close.
Close enough to kiss.
He slid a hand gently to the nape of her neck resting it where her hair met her neck. She couldn't take her eyes off him now. Blue burned with the desire of it – the impossibility. He's going to die, she thought. Gansey gently put his other hand to her neck, slowly tilting her face up to his. He kissed her.
The fire inside Blue exploded. It was at once both beautiful and terrifying.
Impossible.
Blue opened her eyes. She saw sky and clouds. She felt the waning warmth of the sun on her skin, the cool of the breeze, the tickle of grass beneath her back. She blinked and turned her head. She was laying on the ground in Cabeswater just as she had been. There was Ronan, Adam and Noah next to her still gazing up at the clouds. Nothing had changed; nothing had happened. But it had.
She looked at her watch. It had only been a few minutes. Her heart was thudding. Surely they could tell something was different about her? She sat up panting.
Slowly Blue turned to look at Gansey. He was still sitting under the dreaming tree. He'd been staring at her, waiting. His eyes were wide and she noticed how quickly his chest rose and fell with each breath. As if he had been sprinting, not sitting quietly under a tree. His eyes were on fire; mirroring the tumult of desire pounding in her heart.
Gansey raised his eyebrows at her as if to ask, What happened? She shrugged back in response, I don't know. He blinked, It can never happen. She blinked back tears, I know. Blue sighed to herself, Oh Gansey. He caught her eyes again, Oh Blue...
She looked away from him and started toward the Pig.
"Come on. Let's go. I've got to get home and actually do my homework tonight." She said more aggressively than she'd meant. Even though school had barely begun she was already falling behind with their increased Glendower escapades.