I almost laugh. Tiffani and I are on bad terms with one anothera lot, so I get to my feet and simply tell him, “No. Just Tiffani being Tiffani.C’mon, let’s get out of here.” I don’t want to get into the details, so I head for the lockers.
“Have you talked to Jake yet?” Dean asks as he follows me. I hate when he does this, when he begins to question me about everything and anything. I love the guy, but he’s infuriating sometimes.
I glance sideways at him as I pull open my locker door. “About what?”
“About Eden,” he clarifies. He looks away from me and shoves his head into his own locker, grabbing a towel and his car keys. “Is he seriously interested in her or is he just messing around?” he asks, and his voice echoes around inside his locker. I slam my locker door shut and turn toward him.
“Why don’tyouask him?” Fuck Jake. The thought of him and Eden… It pisses me off. Iwilltalk to him about Eden eventually, but not now, and I don’t need Dean to keep bringing it up.
“No. I’m not… I mean, I don’t care,” Dean murmurs quickly as he closes his locker and shrugs at me. “I guess I was just wondering. Let’s go.”
We leave the gym and head back to Dean’s car. Sometimes, we grab food or stop for coffee on our way home, but today I can’t. I have commitments to stick to, like all of the promises I’ve made to people asking for a hookup. I need to make some drop-offs before I do anything else today. That’s why I’m quiet during the ride home, because I can’t keep my head out of my phone. I have messages from Declan asking me when I’m dropping by his place, and Tiffani won’t stop texting me ten times every hour to ask what I’m doing. Over the past few days, she has become even more clingy than she usually is. I reply to her most recent message, telling her I’m heading to the beach with Dean for the afternoon, then I slide my phone back into the pocket of my shorts.
“If Tiffani asks,” I say, angling my jaw toward Dean, “we’re at the beach. All afternoon. Then we grabbed food. Okay?”
Dean makes a face as he glances at me out of the corner of his eye. The lights turn red, so we slow to a stop at the intersection. “What are youreallydoing today?”
I’m about to roll my eyes and ask him if he seriously thinks I will answer that, but my attention is distracted when a girl runs past the car. My head flips around so fast that my neck cracks, and I immediately sit upright and squint out of the window. She disappears across the street and down the sidewalk, blending into those around her as I stare after her. Her ponytail swings around her shoulders and her bare legs glisten in the sun. I have checked Eden out enough times to know that it’s her. And I also know that she likes to run.
Our light turns green again. We continue ahead and my eyes are scanning the sidewalk until we catch up with her again. She is easy to spot. She is the only person running, carefully weaving her way around everyone.
“Slow down a little,” I tell Dean, pressing my hand to the dashboard. My face is nearly pressed into the window. “That’s Eden. Pull up.” There is no way I am letting Dean just drive on by. Not when Eden looks so good.
Dean does as I tell him, and as we pull over to the right, he also lays on the horn. Eden has her earphones in, but she must hear the horn over the sound of her music, because suddenly her pace slows and she turns around. She is out of breath, her chest heaving, and she pulls out one earphone and takes a few cautious steps closer to the car. I’m not sure if she knows who we are yet since Dean’s windows are tinted, so I quickly roll down my window and flash her a smile. She looks even better without the filter.
“I knew it was you,” I tell her. I think I could recognize her anywhere now. All I’ve been thinking about is her.
“What gave it away?” Eden asks through her ragged breaths. She pulls out her other earphone and rests her hands on the door, leaningforward to look at me with a challenging smirk toying at her mouth. Not only am I in a good mood today, so is she.
I can’t answer her question though. Not in front of Dean, so I only laugh and glance away from her for a second. “We just got outta the gym,” I say, changing the subject. Teasingly, I add, “We’re heading back to my place and you look like you’re about to die, so you may as well just get in the car.”
“I am not dying,” she argues, narrowing her eyes at me. Loose strands of hair frame her face, and I catch her exchanging a glance with Dean before she sets her gaze back on me again. “I can run for miles, okay?”
“Okay,” I echo, raising the pitch of my voice in an effort to mimic her. I like messing with her, and even though I have places to be and people to see, I want to hang out with her. I push open the car door and she quickly steps back from the vehicle as I get out and join her on the sidewalk. “I’ll jog back with you.”
“But I like to run on my ow—” she tries to say, but I’m not giving her a choice.
Before she can finish, I step in front of her and lean back in through the window to grab my bag from inside the car. “Bro, you don’t mind, right?” I ask Dean.
He is watching me with what seems to be confusion, but then he shakes his head no and says, “Another session on Wednesday?”
“Yeah. See you then, man,” I say, stepping away from the car. Dean rolls the window back up and then heads off down the street. I stare after the car until he is completely gone, and then I turn back to Eden as we begin to walk. “Just so you know,” I say, smirking, “it was your ass that gave it away.”
Eden’s eyes widen and she looks herself up and down. “Um,” she says, and I realize that perhaps we don’t share theexactsame level of humor.
Quickening my pace, I change the subject in case I’ve offended herand instead tease her by saying, “I can probably walk faster than you can run.”
“I highly doubt it,” she says, not quite looking at me as she places one earphone back in and swigs her water. She keeps her gaze focused straight ahead as she matches her pace to mine.
“I bet I can beat you back to the house,” I challenge. I haven’t showered yet, so I don’t mind working up a sweat again, and besides, she will probably speed back up into a run any second now anyway. “Are you game?”
She rolls her eyes as she looks over at me. “I’m totally game.” As soon as she says it, she doesn’t wait to give us both a fair start. No, she sets off, exploding into a sprint and darting off down the sidewalk in front of me. I don’t mind though. I like watching her as she runs, as she dashes along in wide strides, her chin held high.
I can’t stare after her forever though, so I break out into my own sprint, slinging my bag over my shoulder and bounding down the street after her. I’m fast, but I don’t have the stamina like she does. It takes all of my energy just to catch up to her, and when I do, I race straight past her, playfully calling out, “Sucker.” I hear her laughter echo out around me, breathy and light, and suddenly she is by my side again, our footsteps in sync, thundering down the sidewalk. Already I have pushed myself too hard and I am struggling to breathe, so I slow myself down to a brisk jog. I expect Eden to continue without me, but I’m glad when she slows down too, sticking with me.
“You sure do run a hell of a lot,” I comment, but I am panting like a dog. I really, really don’t do this running thing. Eden, however, is good at it. “Do you do cross-country or something?”
“No. I just like running,” she says. Her gaze is focused on the route ahead, and her breathing is quiet and steady. “It’s the best way to work out.”
