“You even started doing those awful morning runs with her. There’s no way your chain-smoking ass is doing that voluntarily. Even Haley notices.”
“Oh, well, fuck, if she notices it, then it must be true.” Abbyswatted another bug. “You’re just so blinded by love that you think everyone else around you is too.”
“You two are obsessed with each other.”
“Shut up.” Abby hissed. “I’m going to shove you off when we get to the top.”
“You okay back there?” Coach Whitley shouted.
“All good!” Abby waved. Kate glanced over her shoulder at them. Abby growled into Mick’s ear. “Kate is with Blake. I’m not in love with her and she’s not in love with me.”
Mick chuckled. “Well, I think she has a huge crush on you.”
Suddenly a figure launched out of the woods, roared violently, and clenched Abby’s shoulders. She jumped back and screamed, Mick cowering next to her. Abby raised a fist to strike when Jill’s obnoxious laughter erupted, arms shielding her face.
“It’s just me! It’s me!” Jill cackled.
“Fuck!” Abby lowered her fist.
Jill doubled over, tears in her eyes as she hooted. T.K., Kate, and the coaches snickered too. Abby yanked Mick off the ground where she’d dropped to the fetal position.
“You suck,” Mick said to Jill.
“I’m sorry.” Jill wheezed. “Hutch told me that Cruz is afraid of the woods, and I couldn’t help it.”
Abby’s mouth dropped. “I’m not afraid.”
“You seemed pretty scared.” Kate smiled.
“You almost punched me in the face,” Jill said.
“I did warn you she’d do that.”
“Okay, ladies, let’s go!” Coach Whitley ordered.
Abby shoved Jill before bounding to catch up with Kate. Undeterred by her conversation with Mick, Abby prodded her sides, rousing a yelp. She tickled fingers up her back and arms as Kate squirmed, the sliver of contact, the sweep of fingers, a nibble for her larger hunger.
“Did you tell her to do that?” Abby chuckled.
“No, no.” Kate laughed. “I swear.”
“You’re proving my point!” Mick yelled.
“What point?” Kate asked breathlessly.
Abby stopped tickling, glared at Mick, and mouthed a clear expletive. Kate didn’t notice, or at least pretended she didn’t as she hiked ahead. Abby stared after her, wondering how long she could keep up the charade everyone seemed to see through.
They stoked a fire and assembled s’mores when the moon and stars emerged. After hours of team building and setting goals, the conversation swerved from talk of softball to talk of summer. Coach Whitley, usually uninterested in their personal lives, asked about Mick’s new girlfriend at T.K.’s behest. Jill shared her enduring relationship with Dylan Farrelly, a cross-country-running accounting major who was as goofy and redheaded as she was. Jokes about their future ginger children piled on. When it got to Kate and Blake, Abby’s back tightened. She glared into the fire, didn’t partake as T.K. and Jill screeched about the prospect of a wedding, and shoved a s’more into her mouth.
“What about you, Cruz?” T.K. asked.
Abby shook her head, cheeks stuffed with an aggrieved mouthful. “Not much to tell.”
Mick snickered. “More like too much to tell.”
T.K.’s mouth dropped. “Oh, now I have to know.”
“There’s nothing to know,” Abby said, gaze darting to Kate, who stared at her through the fire.
