Forever Mine(3)

“I’m fine,” he said.



“Good.” She started untangling the earphone wire. She’d apparently taken it out of her ear when she stopped to check on him. She didn’t smile back or ask anything else. She seemed eager to be on her way. He watched as she adjusted it in her ear and got ready to go back to her running.



With his heart pounding and palms sweating, to his own surprise he stammered, “So, you like to run?”



Stupid, stupid, stupid.



She turned and looked at him without responding. Maybe she hadn’t heard him, he hoped.





“I’m Angel, what’s your name?”





“Sarah.”





All he could manage was a smile as the name sunk in.





“Well, have a good one,” she said, and ran off.





He watched as she ran up and across the bleachers. From a distance she looked very small with little to no curves. Then it hit him, lost girl, from the first day of school. That’s where he’d seen those eyes. He’d noticed them even then. He remembered feeling struck but he hadn’t seen her since and had almost forgotten about it. Almost.



He started his bleachers again, and his thoughts went back to his grades. Was he really gonna need to be tutored? He shook his head in disgust and picked up his pace.



********************





Sarah ran, concentrating hard. She had a feeling he was still watching her, and would die if she fell or tripped. The butterflies in her stomach were out of control. How could she almost knock him over? Of all people it had to be him. She should’ve said more to him but she'd been at a loss for words, thoughts, just like the first day of school when he’d caught her gawking at him like an idiot. Ever since then she’d avoided coming face to face with him again. Any time she even thought she saw him, she’d run in the opposite direction.



Her legs almost gave out when she realized who she bumped. Damn him and his smile. As sure as she was that he probably didn’t even remember her, she hadn’t wanted to chance making a fool of herself again.



Sarah knew all about the great Moreno brothers. Valerie had lived here her whole life, and had gone through grade school and middle school with them. Since Valerie had a huge crush on Angel’s older brother, Alex, she told Sarah about them all the time.



Sarah thought back to the first time she’d seen Angel, two summers ago. She and her mother had come out to visit her mother’s sister, Valerie’s step mom, Aunt Norma. Valerie had taken her along to a beach party with her.



It was an all-day party, but Valerie being self conscious about her body, decided they’d show up late, after all the swimming was done. They arrived when everyone was just hanging around the bonfires, and listening to music. Sarah had never really grasped everything Valerie had told her about Angel and his brothers. She made them out to be movie-star, drop-dead gorgeous. Valerie had poked her when he and his friends arrived. “There he is. That’s Alex’s little brother.”



Sarah had looked up and saw him in all his glory. He was anything but little, even back then. He and his friends seemed to move in slow motion toward a group of girls. The girls waited their anxious smiles enormous. He wore a tank top that showed off his muscles and denim shorts. Sarah had never seen a more finer-looking smile. His dimples were incredible. She watched as one of the girls practically jumped into his arms, hugging him, and then looked around casually to make sure everyone was watching.



“Is that his girlfriend?” She’d asked Valerie.



Valerie had immediately huffed, “She wishes. That’s Dana, the one I told you about, she’s forever throwing herself at him and tries to convince anyone that will listen that the two of them are an item. Everyone knows he’s never had a girlfriend. Why should he? When he can have all the girls he wants, whenever he wants?”



Sarah remembered watching him and fantasizing that day. It was all she could do. The girls he hung with seemed so experienced, and cool around him and his friends. They laughed sometimes a little too exaggerated, but still at least they could hold a conversation around him she had barely been able to breathe the first day of school when he looked at her. And now she had almost knocked him down. If he did remember her as the gaping fool from the first day, he’d now have yet another asinine memory of her. She was hopeless.



None of that mattered anyway. Making friends was not on her agenda. She didn’t plan on sticking around long enough for that.



She picked up the speed and tried to remove him from her mind. She remembered Sydney’s birthday. It was this weekend, and she had to make sure she finally emailed the gift. She’d made a slideshow with pictures of the good times they had had, along with all of the songs that held special meaning to just the two of them. She knew Sydney would appreciate it much more than any store-bought gift.