“What is going on in that head of yours?” Ray questioned as he leaned forward.
It was nice to know that my misery was a good distraction from his. At least it was useful for something. “I left him alone with Aunt Ethel.”
“And?”
Right. He didn’t have a residence in my head. He didn’t have the context of my conversation with Ethel about Rowan. Hedidn’t even know about the arm and the butterflies. “And I might have admitted to Aunt Ethel that I kind of got butterflies about him.”
“That explains it.”
“The freaking out?”
“The heart eyes.” Heart eyes? The question must have been written plainly across my face because he was quick to explain. “When we were saying goodbye, you kept stealing looks at him, and you had heart eyes. Full cartoon emoji eyes.”
“I did not!”
“You did. You couldn’t see yourself, but I could. You’re a smitten kitten.”
Would it be cruel to send my best friend home after he’d just had his heart broken? Clearly, he was doing better if he was able to make fun of me.
I didn’t end up kicking Ray out for teasing me. He’d stayed for a few hours. We talked through the Luke stuff, going over every little detail in depth. It forced him to accept the fact that Luke was only good on paper, and by the end of it, he blocked him on every account. I was proud. He dragged details about Rowan out of me. He kept giving me knowing looks every time I said anything about him, and he kept calling me a smitten kitten.
By the time Ray went home, I was sure he was planning my wedding to Rowan.
After he left, I decided to get a jump on my packing for Roswell. It was either that or go over to Aunt Ethel’s and find out what they talked about after I left. If I did that, then there would be no hiding the fact that Ray was right. I was a smitten kitten.I had swarms of butterflies in my stomach every time I thought about Rowan. It was official. I had a crush. It was fine.
It was just a little crush. I’d get over it. It wasn’t like this was the first crush I’d ever had in my life, and I knew that this one couldn’t work out.
Unfortunately, packing for a two day trip didn’t take a lot of effort. Even after I double and triple checked that I had everything, I still had a lot of time to kill. I decided to go down to the gym. Working out always helped, and it wasn’t a bad thing to get in some exercise before we faced the Marauders. Maybe if I put in some extra time on the treadmill and with the weights, I could help the team not be completely demolished when we faced them.
I made sure I had my condo key when I left and caught the elevator down to the basement. Once again, I saw a familiar figure on the treadmill. When I got closer, I noticed he had earbuds in. I’d never seen him run on the treadmill with those. I’d also never seen that serious expression on his face when he ran.
I set the treadmill to a low speed and incline and started running. I kept stealing glances at him, studying him out of the corner of my eyes.
I noticed the obvious things first, like the shape of his arms in his black Scorpions tank top. They were always the first thing I noticed—thick and muscular and covered in red hair. My eyes moved to his Adam’s apple and the lines of his neck. There was a prominent vein on the side of it, and for a moment, I imagined tracing my tongue over it. I didn’t let my eyes linger for longer than a few moments at a time, not wanting to be caught staring.
My next stolen glance noticed the lines around his eyes and the way his lips were held in a flat line. His eyes stayed straight ahead, staring at the plain white walls of the gym. The last time we’d been in the gym together, he hadn’t kept his eyes trainedon the wall like that. Heck, even when I’d first seen him in the gym, he’d spared me a few glances. Granted, that was because I’d started talking to him.
Would he get mad if I started talking to him now?
I looked down at the red numbers on the treadmill, telling me how far I’d run and how many calories I’d burned, and decided to risk it. What was the worst that happened? He got annoyed with me again? I was pretty sure annoyed with me was his default setting.
(Point one in the column that said my feelings for him were entirely one-sided.)
I dragged my eyes back up to his face. Was it just me or was his jaw set more stubbornly than it had been when I’d looked down at the treadmill screen? I took a deep breath. “What are you listening to?”
It dawned on me that I didn’t know what kind of music he listened to, but he didn’t answer. Maybe he couldn’t hear me.
I reached over and tapped him on the forearm. He finally looked my way, but his hazel eyes were hard when he faced me. His lips grew thinner, and there was no mistaking the annoyance etched into his every feature. I wasn’t going to let that deter me though. “What are you listening to?” I repeated.
“Music.”
Great. A one-word answer. “Real descript there, Rowan,” I teased.
He turned his attention back to the wall, ignoring me again.
I huffed in frustration and tried a few more times to get his attention. It didn’t work, so I just ran in silence beside him.
What had Aunt Ethel said to him? Clearly, she had to have said something to make him switch up so quickly from that morning. I was determined to get to the bottom of it. I made the decision right then that I was not going to let it rest. I could be a very stubborn person when I set my mind to it, and my mind was set.I was going to find out what happened, and I was going to find outbeforewe went to Roswell.
