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I let my gaze linger on his face for a moment, taking in the patches of stubble that had formed on his cheeks, the fullness of his lips, and the strong curves of his jawline. He’d changed so much from that boy locked in the closet with me at Audrey’s party. It was hard to mesh the images together in my head.
I’d always assumed Jayden would be a pain in my side, but he’d surprised me a lot over the last couple weeks. It was about time for me to admit that he wasn’t the same person who’d teased me mercilessly throughout most of school. He was now the guy that rescued damsels from rivers, took them on road trips to the gas stations, and offered to listen to their problems.
Maybe, I was the one who hadn’t changed.
“So, what’s bothering you?” His gaze scanned my face expectantly.
I sunk a bit lower in the seat and turned my attention to playing with the ends of my blonde hair. “Oh, I think I’m just nearing my quarter-life crisis. Am I allowed to have one of those at seventeen?”
“I think you’re allowed one whenever you want.”
I glanced over at him. “Good. Sign me up for a Tesla roadster and a vacation home in the Caribbean, or whatever it is that people get when they’re going through a life crisis.”
He smirked and ran his hands down his thighs. “All my dad got was a new riding lawn mower.”
“Fine, I’ll take it.” I laughed and crossed my arms tight over my stomach. “It’s better than this stupid boot.”
Staring out the bus window, I kept my gaze on the lights of a nearby town as we passed them on the highway. Jayden might have been sitting silently beside me, but his close presence was causing a disruption like a foghorn in my skull. I couldn’t ignore it. Or the way the skin on my arm prickled when he shifted slightly in his seat.
“Are you still worried about your ankle?” he asked, drawing my attention back to his face. He was watching me closely, the darkness in the bus making the irises of his eyes appear almost black.
“Yeah...that’s a big part of it.” I sighed, feeling a tiny crack form in the dam I’d built around my emotions. It was hard to stay walled up with him looking at me like that. “But I guess everything from these past two weeks has me worried that I’ve built my life on this single talent that I have and now it could all be ripped away. Who am I when I’m not running? Am I good at anything else? Am I a fun sucker, like my little sister claims?”
Jayden snorted and I shot him a glare, although my lips twitched with a smile. He held up his hands and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I know I said I’d just listen, but I couldn’t hold it in. Fun sucker?”
I rolled my eyes. “Thanks a lot. Next time I need a therapy session, I know who not to come to.”
“No, please.” He reached over and tentatively touched my hand, sending electricity shooting up my arm and causing me to inhale sharply. “Don’t do that. I want to be someone you can talk to.”
I searched his face, not daring to move a single muscle. “Why?”
That single syllable felt loaded with a million different questions at once. Why was Jayden here? Why was he so willing to listen to all of my problems? And why was it that sitting next to him in the semi-darkness of the bus was making my heart thump so loudly?
“I...I don’t know.” He looked down at where his hand covered mine and his jaw flexed. “I guess it’s because you and me kind of go way back.”
My lips twitched. “All the way back to a tiny closet in sixth grade?”
I’d meant it as a joke, but when his gaze rose to meet mine, there was a flicker of need so strong in his pupils that I nearly forgot to breathe.
But then his gaze softened and he smirked, making me immediately wonder if I’d been hallucinating. Or maybe, it was the reflection of headlights in his eyes causing me to see things. Either way, he slipped his hand off of mine and slumped down farther in the seat, chuckling low and throaty.
“Nah, we go back further than that. Don’t you remember third grade? Hitting me in the head with a bat in gym class?”
I narrowed my eyes as I tried to recall, but then it all came back in a rush. “You’re right! I did hit you in the head with a bat. A hollow plastic bat, but still...”
He rubbed the side of his head as if he could still feel it. “Yep. I think that was how we met: a game of Wiffle ball in Mr. Earl’s gym class. I was the new kid. It
was my official welcome to the Rock Valley community.”
“In my defense, I was aiming at the ball, not your head.”
“It’s a good thing you decided to stick to track,” he said, grinning over at me. “I’m not sure anyone would’ve survived if you’d gone out for the softball team.”
I elbowed him in the side and he grunted in response. Still, we were both laughing. The black cloud hanging over my head had managed to float away for a few minutes. I felt lighter, somehow. As if this big hulking plastic boot on my foot had suddenly disappeared.
“So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” I asked, combing my fingers through my hair. “Maybe you’ll give me some inspiration.”
He didn’t even take a second to consider my question.
