“You shouldn’t move in if it’s so unbearable.” I point to the boxes in the corner. “Help Jamie pack if you’re so bored.”
My phone buzzes, and I grab it.
COLE: Landed. My security guard talked THE ENTIRE flight about his wart removal process.
I hold in a laugh, and it buzzes again.
COLE: I have serious concerns about his ability to defend against anything other than HPV.
ME: So, you won’t be inviting him into your room for a protein bar and sudoku?
COLE: Anyone ever tell you you’re a smartass?
“All right, that’s it.” Van claps her hands together.
Then I hear the distinct sound of the FaceTime tones. I slowly lower my phone to the couch and see three pairs of curious eyes staring at me.
“Hey, Van,” Lyla’s voice comes through the speaker, then her face appears on the screen, pointed straight at me. “Ry, uh, what’s going on?”
She sits on her couch, the one I recognize from my short visits to New York City, and brings the phone closer to her face.
“Ryder is about to tell us what’s really been happening with The Assignment,” Van declares from her perch across from me.
“Oh, okay! I can’t miss this.” She wiggles into her couch a little more as Van, Jos, and Jamie sit, encircling me like vultures eyeing their prey.
“Guys, there’snothingto tell,” I articulate clearly.
“Ha. That smile two seconds ago tells us there aredefinitelythings that need telling,” Jamie says.
The little swirls rotating through my stomach only moments ago are squandered by the intense pressure of having to talk about Cole.
My brownies squish upward, and I have to sit up.
“It was a big thing for you to involve Cole in what you do,” Van says softly. “We all know you didn’t just go home after he helped you rescue Mattie and pretend that nothing happened.”
Of course, they’d give that sweet boy a nickname, and my heart squeezes at the mention of him.
These chicks are wrong. We kind of did. But then, Cole dropped a huge-ass pile of vulnerability at my feet in the stadium parking lot.
I want to run and hide inside his sweatshirt that smells like clean man and fresh-cut grass. I inhale through my nose, pulling forth his unique scent. If he happened to hug me for a really long time while I was hiding in there, that’d be ok, too.
I slap a hand over my face like I said all that out loud.
Jamie leans a little closer. “You’ll feel better if you get it out.”
I pinch my eyes closed, knowing Idid notfeel better after leaving Kerry the other day. It’s all freaking nuts, like I’m on one of those whirly rides where you don’t know which way is up or if anything will ever feel normal again once you’re finished.
I drag my hand from my face. “Actually, we didn’t talk about it. I think we both needed to process. . .things. He had a rough game, and then I blew everything he thought he knew about me to shit.”
“You have a knack for that,” Jos tosses out, but there’s a gentleness to her usual sarcasm.
I drop my head against the couch and stare at the plastered waves in the ceiling. “He’s just so. . .good.”
Everything he dumped at my feet in that stadium parking lot has played on repeat in my head, and I don’t know what to do with any of it.
I want to understand whatever you’ll allow me.
He told me he’s scared, and he should be. He has no idea what he’s asking.
