Nev reappears in a denim romper that hits right above her knee.
“Yes,” Ten says, but I shake my head.
Nev checks her reflection, then wrinkles her nose. She’s so thin it hangs from her frame. She disappears back inside the fitting room.
“What was wrong with that one?” Ten asks me.
“It was shapeless.”
“So?”
“So no girl wants to wear a burlap sack.”
He tugs on his spiky hair, then sinks down on a bench that’s propped against the wall of the changing area. “I really don’t get women’s fashion.”
I smile down at him. “You’re only realizing this now?” I take a seat next to him, laying the mini over my lap. “Basically, whatever you think is awful, you can be sure we’ll find cute.”
Nev prances out of the stall in a black dress scattered with tiny red hearts.
“Too short,” Ten says.
“I love it,” I say.
Nev spins around, then flattens her palms in prayer again. “Please, Ten. Pretty please.Pleasepleaseplea—”
“Fine, but promise to wear it over tights or jeans.”
“Deal.”
She bounds back behind the curtain.
The bench is so close to the ground that Ten’s knees are almost to his shoulders. Okay, the bench isn’tthatlow, but he does look like a giant on it. He spreads his legs, probably to get more comfortable, and one of his knees knocks into mine. A spot of heat blooms around the area of contact. I assume he’ll notice our bodies are touching, and he’ll move, but he doesn’t move.
I’m about to shift away, when he says, “You have plans tonight?”
I stare at our joined knees, my pulse picking up speed. “Yeah. I’m having dinner with Rae. You?” Before he can sense my skittering pulse through my kneecap, I unglue my leg from his. I’m tempted to put more distance between us, but I can’t exactly scoot discreetly away.
“I was planning on grabbing dinner with Bolt and Archie after the meet. They run track with me,” he adds.
“I know who they are. Been in Reedwood my entire life, remember?” I fidget with the frayed hem of the skirt on my lap. “You should go to Guido’s. Best pizza in Nashville.”
Nev struts back out in a pair of black leggings and a plaid shirt that ties at the waist.
“The shirt’s cute,” I say. “Ten?”
He nods.
Nev’s freckles grow as bright as the red squares on her new top.
Once she’s back inside the changing room, Ten asks, “You and Rae want to come with us?”
“Um.” My nail snags on one of the black cotton threads. “We can’t tonight.” I don’t have to look at my reflection in the wall of mirrors opposite us to know I’m blushing. “But thanks for asking.”
Ten stays silent for so long that I sense my rejection bothers him. No one likes rejection, even when they don’t especially like the person rejecting them. Humans are strange like that.
“Where’s the meet taking place?” I ask him.
“Down in Arrington.”
