It's hours later when Jacob finds her.
She had made her way outside with one of those damned books she's supposed to be studying, flipping through the pages absently, while her mind turned over and over the information she had just learned.
Now she sees him approaching from the side, slow and silent, but obvious, she thinks, in an effort not to catch her unawares. He's trying to allow her to come to terms with his presence before she is faced with it outright.
He tended to be considerate like that, she had learned in the past weeks.
Leaning against the tree she had seated herself under, he asks quietly, "May I join you?"
Not looking at him, still staring blindly at the book settled in her lap, she nods.
He sits, leaving barely any room between them, not quite touching, yet close enou
