“Well, no, I mean….” Uh oh. He was seething now. “I have three brothers!” That was the weakest defense and I knew it, but still.
“So what? Just because you’re three brothers treat girls like trash doesn’t mean I’m going to. Is that what you think of me? That’s really how you think I would react to random girls, I barely know, showing up on my doorstep?” He wasn’t shouting, in fact his voice had gone perilously soft, his body dangerously still.
“Ok, not all of my brothers would do that. Probably just Beckett,” I amended my argument before I addressed the rest of his defense.
“Well, Beckett has a…. short attention span,” he agreed, his face softening just a teeny bit. “Do you really think I’m that bad, Ellie? Do you think I’m just like Beckett?”
No, I didn’t. Maybe at first, but not anymore. Not for a while. I sighed and then admitted, “Maybe at first, but I don’t anymore. It was a joke, it got out of hand. I’m…. I’m sorry.” And now I felt terrible. Great.
He gazed down at me for almost a full minute, probably trying to decide if I was serious or not. “Did I pass?”
“Excuse me?”
“It was a test wasn’t it?” his voice was relaxed and almost playful. He was making me nervous again, I didn’t trust him. “Did I pass?”
“I suppose you did,” I admitted, but my eyes were narrowed at him.
“Good,” he sighed, but then his expression went grim again, “But Ellie, don’t do that again. I won’t be as understanding and it’s not nice to involve other people in our relationship.”
“We don’t have a relationship,” I retorted quickly, automatically. But then I softened too, “But you’re right. It’s not and I won’t.”
“Good,” he repeated. “Now we can get to why we’re really here. How you can get out of this debt.”
“How’s that?” I waved him on with a lazy hand.
He smiled down at me. “The same way you got into it, a bet.”
“What do you mean?” The hair on the back of my neck stood up and my fingers started to tremble with anticipation. I realized for the first time that Fin was dressed for running too, with black athletic shorts, a gray t-shirt and his running shoes.
“Once around the track, you win, I’ll release you from the debt completely,” he offered magnanimously. In my head I was screaming for this opportunity all the while I was talking myself out of it because of how ridiculous the chances were. He just won regionals for the four hundred. The best I ever did was third at state…. for girls and that was two years ago. There was no way.
But still, I played, “What do you get?”
“A date.” His serious tone made it clear he would not be convinced of something else. This was what he wanted, this was what he was going to get.
“A date? We spend two nights a week together,” I argued. “Plus, you buy me dinner all the time.”
“A real date Ellie, separated from all this bullshit we’re tangled up in. You let me take you out,” Fin was steely and sure. “And we don’t let any of this get in the way.”
I was wavering, because this was starting to sound like a win-win. “But I thought you needed the money?”
His jaw ticked with frustration, but he said, “I’ll figure it out. This is for you. Take it or leave it.”
“I want to take it,” I admitted and I watched his shoulders relax noticeably. “But you have to realize this isn’t fair. You are one of the fastest people on the planet, how exactly is this evenly matched?”
“On the planet?” he laughed.
“Ok, that I’ve ever met.”
“I’m giving you the inside lane and I’m going to run backwards,” he finished matter of factly.
“Yikes, don’t spare my pride or anything,” I grumbled. But it was actually starting to sound fair.
“You’re fast, Ellie. This should be easy for you.”
It should be if he was runningbackwards. He was right. Plus, he was giving me a fight, not just backing down. I could leave with my integrity.
“Ok,” I finally admitted in an uneasy voice. “I’ll take your bet.”
