Luckily for me, though, the group leader, tired of waiting for us all, comes storming over to take charge.
“You: go with him,” he says, pointing from me to Alex. “And you, over there.”
He sends Chloe off in Jamie’s direction, and I clamber onto the back of Alex’s bike, grabbing frantically onto his shirt when the vehicle suddenly jerks forward, almost sending me toppling back off.
“Can you not do that?” Alex says in a choked sounding voice. “You’re kind of strangling me, here.”
Sure enough, the pressure of me hanging off the back of his t-shirt is making the neckline cut into his windpipe, so I let itgo and leave my arms dangling uselessly by my sides, not knowing what else to do with them.
“Summer, for God’s sake, hold on to something,” Alex yells over his shoulder. “You’re going to fall off if you try to balance like that.”
Up ahead, Chloe has her arms wrapped tightly around Jamie’s body, like a baby koala on its mum’s back. The idea of cuddling up to Alex like that feels like another thing that might end up being dangerous for me — which leaves me in a bit of an awkward position. Literally, I mean.
“There’s nothing to hold on to,” I shout back, looking desperately at the few bits of the bike I can see. “Maybe you should just stop and let me get off? My younger self was wrong; I really don’t think this is going to make me look cool, somehow.”
Alex hits the brake, and the bike stops abruptly, almost sending me flying over the top of it.
“Oh. Right. Thanks.”
I know I asked him to stop, but I didn’t really expect him todoit, and I can’t help but feel disappointed as I prepare to dismount.
“Hey. Not so fast.”
Alex twists around in his seat and holds a hand up to stop me getting off the bike.
“Come here, stupid,” he says.
Then he takes my hands in his and wraps my arms firmly around his waist before turning back to face the road.
“Ready?” he says, his voice muffled by the roar of the engine.
I have never been less ready for anything in my life. But as the rest of the group speed off ahead of us, Chloe clinging to Jamie’s back like a beautiful, blonde-haired limpet, I don’t feel like now is the time to admit that.
“Ready,” I reply confidently.
And we’re off.
Twenty
We drive slowly down a rough dirt track, me with my arms still wrapped tightly around Alex’s waist in a way that’s far too intimate to feel even vaguely appropriate.
“You okay back there?” he shouts. I nod against his shoulder, not trusting myself to speak.
The truth is, I’m not totally surehowI feel ‘back here’, other than confused.
Me, Jamie, Alex, Chloe… It’s not a ‘love triangle’, like Chloe said, but it’s still all kinds of uncomfortable — and I’m not just talking about the way I’m perched on the back of this quad bike.
So I keep my mouth closed, and just focus on remaining upright, while trying to ignore the way Alex’s muscles feel under his thin shirt.
No, I amdefinitelynot thinking about that.
As we emerge from the track into a more open area of the hillside, I look over Alex’s shoulder and see Chloe and Jamie up ahead. Suddenly worried about what Chloe could be saying to him about me and my reasons for being here, I nudge Alex sharply in the back.
“Can you catch up with them?” I yell over the roar of the engine. Alex’s body seems to tense beneath my arms, but, after a second, the bike picks up speed, and we draw level with Jamie. There’s just time for me to raise one hand to wave before our bike suddenly surges forward again, and I give a small shriek of fright and grab at Alex’s shirt again as we overtake them.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I yell, wondering if Alex can even hear me. “I meant drivebesidethem, not go in front.”
Alex’s shoulders rise in a shrug.
