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When we finally made it to the school, things seemed to be going smoothly. Greg was on his best behavior, and Naveen was seemingly making some headway with Wendy. The look on some of the varsity cheerleaders’ faces when they saw me on Greg’s arm was almost enough on its own to put up with his occasional inability to not act like a spoiled frat boy.
Then, I saw Hawk.
He was standing by the refreshment table, refilling his drink and laughing while he spoke to another guy I didn’t know. I knew he was on the track team, but only because I had seen him when I went to watch Hawk. He brushed his hand through his hair, which he had cut so it was shaggy on top but short in the back.
My knees nearly buckled, and I felt my skin grow hot. I didn’t even realize I had dropped Greg’s arm until he pulled it back up, and I shook my head. I focused on Greg, and we walked over to a corner and found a few seats and a small table.
Casually, Hawk and I met eyes a few times through the night as Greg and I mingled and occasionally did something that resembled dancing. Gerry might have been light on his feet on the gridiron, but he was no Fred Astaire. My toes were going to be throbbing in the next day or two, not just from the heels, but because he kept stepping on them.
I was just about to say something about it when I caught Hawk’s gaze. He was standing across from me, the champagne glass full of bubbly soda held near his hip and a grin on his face. I almost tripped, and Greg caught me, suddenly breaking my eye contact with Hawk by getting between us.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
He moved a little, trying his best to manage a box step, and I saw Hawk again. He was grinning harder, and I tried not to smile back. It didn’t work.
When the dance ended, we went back to our table, and Greg started a conversation with one of his friends from the team. I noticed his drink was empty, and I poked his arm, motioning to it.
“Want another drink?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said.
I took his glass, shaking my head at how any boy could let his date go get their drinks at a dance but glad he did. It let me work up the nerve as I headed directly to where I had seen Hawk. We had been making eye contact all night, and I had already decided my relationship with Greg was doomed.
Hawk was gone.
So was Amanda.
My shoulders dropped, and I stood there, staring into the gaggle of kids still on the dance floor, the empty glass still in my hand. Why would he do that? Why would he make eye contact with me all night and grin at me and be all stupidly sexy in my direction if he was just going to leave with his ex-girlfriend?
I had no right to be, but I was upset at him for it. He led me on. Now I was standing, embarrassed, with my feet hurting, in the middle of all my classmates. Grunting with anger, I turned to the table, slopped soda into the glasses, and headed back to Greg, forcing a smile back onto my face.
3
HAWK
Seven years ago…
I hadn’t thought about Deana in a couple of months, but sitting at the bus station, waiting on the only bus that would make a stop in Ashford, her face popped up in my memories yet again.
After Homecoming, I didn’t really see her much. It was weird—usually I saw her after class in the hallway every day, but suddenly, she was gone. I would occasionally catch a glimpse of her around the school, but she never seemed to want to make eye contact or speak to me, and since I was always busy, I didn’t reach out either. There were times I thought about it, and even outright decided to, but then we just wouldn’t cross paths again.
Still, the image of her in that sparkly red dress, staring at me over her date’s shoulder, was going to stick with me for a long time.
She was just too young. That’s what I chalked it up to. She was young for a junior, and I was old for a senior, on account of how our birthdays worked out. It was one of the few things I knew about her, since it had come up during the one class we had together. A class that I no longer had after the first semester. Things were changing so much at home that I needed to drop it so I could fit another class in that spot and be able to go home earlier.
