Chapter 404: This is the first time we’ve been apart
Rhys didn’t lie when he said he was only going to be on the front lines for a minute. He also took almost exactly what he needed from Kellen to do so.
Rhys drove down to the front lines on his own in the middle of the night, saying goodbye to Kellen, rousing him just enough to get a kiss from him before he left. When Kellen woke up alone the next morning, he was a little upset, but he tried to go about his day as normal.
Even though it felt like there was a part missing when he’d woken up to an empty bed, Kellen pushed through. He’d even gone to the gym, chatted with the other Espers that he saw there, and put on his guide smile, his guide face. He could tell that Taylor was a bit concerned about him when she saw him in passing at lunch time, but she didn’t push it. Kellen was grateful for it.
He felt like his body, his mind was made of glass. He’d never felt like this before.
Kellen’s mind kept rushing back to where Rhys was, and how he was doing, but he had to keep his focus on his classes, on his work. It was hard. This was the first time as far as Kellen knew since their compatibility score came out that they weren’t in the same city.
That they weren’t within a few minutes from each other. That they couldn’t track the other down in about 15 minutes. It was strange. After going for so long avoiding each other, the two of them had been close to each other. Not quite attached at the hip, but fairly close.
The fluttery feeling in Kellen’s chest made him question his stance on imprinting all over again. In fact, he found himself reading the damn little books that Casper had given him after he’d jumped classes, reading the sections on imprinting just to see what they said about the benefits.
Kellen was sure that once Rhys was back within his tower, Kellen would be fine again, but he didn’t like this. He didn’t like the nagging feeling in his chest. The worry that filled him. The way that if he thought too long about Rhys, his whole body tensed up and he couldn’t focus on anything else.
He might have pushed his first class a bit too hard because of his own emotions, but he wouldn’t apologise. He needed it, probably just as much as they did. He’d been going easy on them with the rotations happening, so a hard day every once in a while wasn’t a bad thing.
He could tell that a few of them did want to check in with him, to make sure he was okay. It wasn’t until Gwen’s group passed by the Guides working in the obstacle course after lunch that Kellen thought he might be going a little too hard.
She was with a few of her friends from her group, and when she saw Kellen, she perked up. Then demanded that she joined in on the class just to see what Field Guides had to do.