Chapter Six
Practice went the same as it did every day. The coach paired Nate and Adam, and Nate worked really hard to keep up. He was getting better, but there was still no chance of him even winning one competition. Yet Nate took more time away from football drills just to run. Adam knew in their region there were four other schools, all with really good track teams. Most of their runners were like Adam, lanky and fast. Just because Northern lacked smaller athletic men didn’t mean they didn’t have a good sports team. But their basketball and swim teams sucked, and other than Adam, the track team wasn’t doing so hot. Football was their only strong point.
Maybe Nate hoped it would improve his overall game. Adam thought he played pretty well without having to run. Adam didn’t do much in football other than occasionally catch the ball to pass it. He’d been the running back for a while but was tackled so often the coach had benched him. The few times he got to play, Adam often hoped no one would throw the ball his way because even with all the padding, it really hurt to get tackled by guys twice his size.
He spent two hours trying not to search the stands for Ru. Every time he looked, they were empty. Maybe he wasn’t going to come. Maybe he’d only show up after Adam left school. If he wasn’t out either, that made sense. Adam still had no idea if Ru was in college or just high school.Crap. But at that moment, Adam would have given just about anything to see Ru’s pretty pale-blue eyes again.
After he showered, Adam put his school clothes back on and stared at himself in the mirror, suddenly wishing for time to go home and change. Sure, the sweater was okay, fitted and a bright blue, but the jeans were a little snug, too new-looking, and not the distressed wash that everyone wore. His blond hair was too fine to do more than hang in a semi-long beach cut. Any time it was shorter, it made him look bald.
Adam certainly didn’t look like he was ready for a date. But he also knew nothing about what it meant to get ready for a date.This was a date, wasn’t it?
“Everything okay?” Nate asked as he walked by, filling the doorway like some huge looming shadow. “Are you meeting that girl tonight?”
“No,” Adam told him quickly. “Just hanging with a friend.”
“Want me to come along?”
“No. I’m good. See you tomorrow. ’Kay?”
“Sure.” Nate stepped aside to let him pass, while Adam gathered his bag against his chest like a shield and made his way out.
Free from the locker room, out of the school, and finally across the parking lot, waited for Ru. Wondering if any of this was real.
A car pulled up beside him as he was wandering around, searching for a glimpse of Ru. The back window went down, and there he was. Dark hair falling around his face, eyes big and framed by long black lashes, lips just made for kissing...
“Adam?” Ru’s sounded like he’d said it several times before Adam finally heard him.
“Yeah?”
“Are we going to get pizza or no?”
Adam blinked at him for a moment. He glanced at the front of the car, but all the windows were blacked out. Did Ru have a parent driving him? That would be awkward.
“Yeah, okay,” Adam finally said.
Ru opened the door and slid over. Adam got in and shut the door. The window went up. The back of the car was more like a limo than any normal car he had seen. The seat was wide and had lots of leg room, and the light in the ceiling was on. The seats were leather. He buckled his seatbelt while staring at Ru, who looked amazing in his washed-out blue jeans and snug long-sleeved T-shirt. He was just so beautiful that Adam couldn’t do anything but doubt himself in that moment.
“Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” Adam told Ru. Was he ready for this yet? He wanted to be, but the queasiness in the pit of his stomach wasn’t helping. What if he said or did something stupid?
“Why?” Ru asked. The car was already moving, but there was some sort of divider between them and the driver. All Adam could see was a black wall. “I thought Dimitri’s would be good.”
Dimitri’s was actually the best pizza place in town. The tiny restaurant was known for having private little booths that were clean and well cared for. It was a really popular date place for the college kids. Most high schoolers couldn’t afford the steep price of twenty- dollar pies. Adam was more of a five-dollar Hot-and-Ready guy himself.
“How old are you?” He had to ask. Maybe that would be an easy out. There had to be something wrong with this guy that he wanted to hang out with Adam. Maybe he was just older than he looked and really into young guys. That would be sort of creepy, and Adam could escape with an excuse about age pretty easily.
“Seventeen. I’m a Pisces if you’re into that sort of thing. How about you?”
“My sign?”
“Well, anything you’d like to tell me would be great. I’d like to know more than just your name, Adam Corbin, and that you like to run.”
“You’re really only seventeen?”
He nodded. “I feel like eight hundred some days. But yeah, only seventeen.”
“I’m a Capricorn, and sixteen,” Adam said, not sure what else to say. They sat in awkward silence for a minute. “So, Dimitri’s is kind of expensive.” Adam had ten dollars in his pocket, more at home if he pulled out his saved allowance. Who usually paid for the date? Did they share? That wouldn’t leave enough for drinks and a tip, even if they only ordered one medium pizza, and Adam was crazy hungry. Too much running and not enough bulking up on calories to compensate.
“Dimitri is a friend of the family. I eat there all the time.”
