“What the fuck!” The whole gym went quiet, and Mark sat up and clapped his hands. “As you were, maggots!”
The class looked decidedly unimpressed, and several kids hesitated because I knew they wanted to eavesdrop, but when Mark and I remained silent, they went back to the game.
Mark cleared his throat. “You can’t just drop that on me, Heath. What the hell? Spill.”
I rubbed a hand down my face and groaned. “It was during PT. We were fighting, then he just…kissed me.”
“Uh…”
“Yeah. It was…great and terrible at the same time. He’s so fucking hot, and I’ve had this monster crush on him, which felt safe because he hated my guts.” I dropped my hands between my thighs and leaned forward. “I don’t know if he’s having some kind of sexuality crisis or what, but I’m pretty sure he was flirting with me today.”
“Yeah. He wants to strip you down and lick body chocolate off your abs.”
I gave him a look. “Something is seriously wrong with you.”
“Don’t yuck my yums,” Mark said. “You get what I mean. He’s thirsty, and you’re a tall drink of ice water.”
Normally, I’d feel disgusted by the way Mark described me, but applying it to Creek felt, well, different. Good. Better than good. Goddammit. I was so screwed.
“I have to call him, don’t I?”
Mark laughed. “If you want to get laid sometime this century, you probably should.”
Yeah. I was definitely screwed. I just didn’t know if it was in the good way or the bad.
God, my ceiling fan really needed to be dusted. And the only reason I knew that was because I’d fallen and was now lying flat on my back, staring up at the ceiling.
And the reason I’d fallen? Panicked pacing, which was the worst idea on an already sore stump. Kent was going to murder me where I stood. Sat. Lay. Whatever. If I got another sore, he’d never let me live it down.
With a sigh, I lifted both legs, stretching my hips before rolling my sweats up. I carefully pulled down the sleeve and popped my leg off. My stump immediately got fat with blood flow and began to throb, but the sensation was kind of pleasant.
A bit like when I took my hair out of the tie after a long day of surfing.
The thought made me smile, and it briefly distracted me from the whole reason I was crisising all over my house: Creek. But it didn’t last long. I blinked, and his face was back. That annoying little smile, and the way his teeth poked over his bottom lip when he was concentrating, and the way his muscles bulged, and…
“Fuck my life.” Rolling onto my stomach, I did a couple of one-legged push-ups, then flopped back down and fumbled for my phone. I had his number. I had permission to use it. I just had to find my balls, which were tucked somewhere deep inside my body out of fear, nerves, or the terror of being rejected to my face.
“He was flirting with you,” I said to myself. Because he had been. Right?
That hadsobeen flirting.
My finger trembled as I held it over his contact, then took the easy way out and opened up a text thread.
Heath
Hey thanks for doing the school thing today
Sergeant Grumpy :(
No problem. Kids were pretty cool. Your job seems nice.
Heath
You got their good side, trust me
Sergeant Grumpy :(
Maybe I’m just better at it than you.
