In This Moment(29)

We stare hard. At least a half-minute passes. I catch the uncertainty flicker in her eyes and I almost tell her that I’m joking—that, of course, she can write an article about me and I won’t make her tell me anything about herself. But just before I can take the proposition back, Aimee nods her head and tells me that she’ll do it.

I rock back.

Shit. There’s this feeling inside of me like… I don’t know what. It’s like a balloon’s been inflated behind my ribs. I can’t seem to stop smiling at her.

“Wow,” Jodi mutters, and I realize that I’ve forgotten that she’s been sitting here with us the whole time. “That was so hot.”

Aimee turns to her friend. Tiny lines ripple across her forehead. “What do you mean?”

Jodi makes a movement with her hands. “You and him. Him and you.” Her eyes drift between us. “You guys are off the charts, like world-bending, air-pulsing H-O-T.”

Aimee looks ready to die. She bends her body inward and dips her head so that her hair shields her face. “Jodi, have I told you that sometimes I want to kill you?”

My laugh is uproarious. “Jodi, have I told you that sometimes I want to kiss you?”





CHAPTER SIX





Aimee



Earlier today Cole asked me to meet him at seven in the parking lot adjacent to where the track team practices. I spent most of the afternoon debating whether or not I should actually follow through. At six forty-five, I finally broke down and asked Mara for a ride.

“Be careful with him.” Mara’s voice is loaded with implication. “He has a reputation. If you could hear a few of the stories that Jenn has told me…”

Honestly, I’ve already heard enough “stories” about Cole Everly from Jodi to keep me mentally occupied for the next fifty years.

“Did Jenn date him or something?” I hate the way my stomach clenches when I ask the question.

Mara taps her manicured fingernails on the steering wheel. “No, but she’s got the inside scoop on a lot of the athlete gossip because her cousin plays basketball for the University. And the stuff about Cole is always entertaining, if you know what I mean.”

I click my tongue. “I think I get the gist. Player, womanizer, totally out of my league.”

“Look,” she says sedately. “I’m glad that you’re putting yourself out there, Aimee. I really am. And Cole is hot, but...”

Now I’m annoyed. “I already told you that I’m meeting Cole for his help with a class assignment. This is not a date, Mara. It’s not even close to a date so you don’t need to go all protective-big-sister on me because I’ve got this covered.”

She pauses thoughtfully and I’m not sure if it’s skepticism or disappointment, or possibly a little bit of both that I see on her face. I shake my head and step out of the car into the dancing orange and pink lights of evening. As I turn, a soft breeze moves in, tossing my hair around my face and kissing the bare skin of my arms. In front of me, a grey building that houses a ticketing office and locker rooms rises from the black asphalt.

Pulling away, Mara rolls her window down, leans out and adds: “Just don’t go thinking that I didn’t notice you changed your outfit four times… and that you put on mascara and lipstick!”

With a huff, I wipe at my mouth with the back of my hand and watch my sister drive away. When I’m sure that she’s out of sight, I sit down on a narrow concrete curb cradled between an overflowing trashcan and a bench and I wait. Cole told me that practice usually gets over just before seven and that he’d grab a quick shower in the locker room and meet me afterward. Trying to stay inconspicuous, I duck my head as the runners slowly trickle out of the east entrance of the building into the parking lot.

I see him before he sees me.

He’s wearing a yellow short-sleeved t-shirt and loose black athletic shorts that show the outline of his thighs when he walks. The strap of a dark green gym bag cuts diagonally across his chest, further emphasizing the hardness of those muscles, solidified by hours on the track and in the weight room. In the dwindling evening light, his wet hair looks silvery and he’s got it pushed back from his face so that I get the full-effect of his features. Even from this far away I can see the startling green hue of his eyes against his tan skin and the sharp cut of his unshaven jaw.

Maybe Jodi is rubbing off on me but all I can think is: W-O-W. I have to look down at my lap just so that I can get my crazy heartbeat under control.

What the hell is wrong with me?

“Hey!” Cole stops about five feet away and smiles at me. “You came.”