I turned back, still in my daze. “Whoops.”
She looked at me curiously. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I walked back to the locker room, pretending I hadn’t heard her, unsure how to answer that particular question.
Chapter 8
I’d walked home in a daze, let myself into my apartment, locked the door behind me and positioned myself on the fire escape, where I’d been sitting for the past two hours, staring at the number on my arm.
An hour into my staring marathon, I broke to look him up on Google, but then stopped myself before I saw anything I didn’t like. I was well aware of the reputation sports stars had, and given how I’d met him in the first place, decided I wasn’t exactly in a position to judge, because I was as bad as the rest of the girls they picked up.
Then I returned to staring.
What did I want to do with this number?
There were infinite possibilities.
Or, well, three that I could think of immediately.
One. Wash it off my arm.
Two. Save it, and then wash it off my arm.
Three. Leave it on my arm and decide later on whether to follow options one or two.
I wasn’t sure this was a decision I could make entirely on my own; the pressure was too much.
I picked up my phone, checking the time. It would be nine am in Hawaii. She’d definitely be up and done with her first surf of the day.
I dialed through on Facetime, waiting for her to pick up.
My childhood best friend, Mallory, and I had grown up together in California; our mornings spent hitting the beach for a run or a surf before school. But where I had just enjoyed it for fitness and fun, Mallory had fallen in love with the water, and by the time I’d graduated Stanford, she was a world champion surfer, traveling the globe. And when she wasn’t travelling, she split her time between California and Hawaii where she was right now.
“Hey, babe.” Her face filled the screen. Her white-blonde hair, lightened from the sun, was wet, and from her background, I could see she was still on the beach.
“Hey, Mal, how was the water?”
“It was okay, pretty calm today. Nothing too major,” she winked.
Seeing as I’d seen her surf over fifty-foot waves, ‘major’ for her meant something different to normal people.
“How was class today? Anyone puke?”
I laughed. “No, no puking.” I took a deep breath, “But something else happened.”
Her eyes opened wide in anticipation. “Go on.”
“Do you remember last year when we were in Vegas?”
She nodded.
“And I hooked up with that guy?”
“Yeah, Vegas Sex God.”
I scrunched my face up. “Well, he was in my class today.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Get out! No way. Oh my God, what happened? Did he recognize you? Did you speak to him?”
