“We are.”
“Cool. Okay, bye.” He left, leaving Tanner and me alone on the couch. It was silly how my neck got hot or how my pulse quickened when he shifted to look at me. His brown eyes were soft, almost golden, when he snorted at me.
“Are you just dying to check off your ID from your list?”
I punched his arm and let my smile stretch as far as it needed. I wasn’t embarrassed by his question. If anything, I was proud. “You bet your ass I am.”
“Go get it, then.”
I ran upstairs and got my laptop, pad of paper and my favorite pen before rushing back down toward the living room. The game was still on in the background, but Tanner’s gaze was on me and, if I wasn’t mistaken, it lingered on my legs for a second too long and my stomach did the swoopy thing. “God, it gets me high when I cross something off.”
“You’re a nut.”
“So be it. I got my ID, got a tour of campus and am still speaking to my brother. Today might’ve started off bad, but it’s better now.” Instead of setting the pad of paper onto the coffee table situated between us, I held it against my chest so he wouldn’t be able to see all the items on my list.
“I thought I was going to give you a tour of campus today, hm?”
I winced and covered my face with the pad. “I knew I felt bad. Were you waiting around for me to come back? Please say no. I’d just feel awful if you were waiting on me.”
“Nah, I stayed at the gym longer than I usually do once Aaron texted me what was up. I’m real glad you two chatted. I’m sure you know this, but your brother has an odd way of showing how he cares.”
“Yeah, he does.” I plopped down on the couch, both of us in what I considered our usual positions, and studied my second bullet point. “I planned on making a work schedule for biology, but not our film class. What’s your schedule with baseball this week? Still want to watch movies together?”
“Absolutely.” He pulled out his phone, frowning at whatever met him on the screen, but it was fleeting. He transformed his face, erasing the sadness from it and plastering on a fake smile. It was so close to the real one I’d grown to know in the week I’d been there, and it bothered me that it wasn’t real. He ran his tongue over his bottom lip a couple of times before he frowned. “Shit, it looks like tonight is the only night I have open. We’re leaving tomorrow for a three-day tournament.”
“All of you?” I hoped my voice didn’t come out alarmed. It would make me look weak and pathetic, but Tanner didn’t give any indication I did and I relaxed a bit.
“Yeah,” he replied, giving me a coy smile. “We’ll be back soon enough. You can do whatever you want for three days. Run around naked, watch girly movies—you name it.”
I crossed my eyes at him, hoping he couldn’t see the slight blush on my face. “You nailed it. That’s exactly what I’m going to do.”
“Good, take pictures.”
“Pig,” I said, without any heat. His real smile returned and with it, all his charm and energy that drew people to him. “I guess tonight it is? I checked my calendar and I can fit you in between…stalking Sam Hunt online and painting my toenails.”
“What a busy night you have.” He glanced at my toes and his smile grew. “I like the lime-green polish.”
I wiggled my bare feet. “Yeah? Green is my favorite color. It’s the color of summer.”
“And also the color of the outfield.” He stretched and motioned upstairs with his head. “I’ll get it ready and you get popcorn?”
“We’re watching it upstairs?”
“Yeah, you have a nice TV in your room. I’m assuming you can hook up a streaming service to it?”
“S-sure,” I stumbled, suddenly nervous at the thought of watching a movie with Tanner in my room. “We could watch it down here?”
“It’s Monday. Zade’ll be back and he hogs the TV every Monday. He has his own set of shows and it’s the one TV with cable. You don’t get in the way of Zade and his shows.”
Cool, cool, cool.I was about to sit on a bed, with Tanner Johnson, and watch a movie. I was totally chill.
Chapter Six
Tanner
It was challenging not to watch Kenzie’s glasses slip down her cute nose every other minute, but I managed. I couldn’t sit next to her for over two hours and not have a handle on whatCitizen Kanewas about—even though I was bored out of my mind. We were an hour in, watching an awful relationship, when I’d rather be at a party, losing myself in a video game or hooking up. But as soon as the thought entered my mind, Kenzie shifted on the bed and stretched her long legs out, her left foot hitting mine for just a second.
“Oops, sorry,” she said in a tiny voice and jerked her foot back on her side. It wasn’t really fair. She was tiny. I was large and I took up most of the bed. The wall pressed up against my entire left side, but I tried making more room for her.
