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I sighed. “What do they say?”
“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”
And he walked over to get in the smoothie line.
I did not have a smoothie, but everyone else did, and I tried not to glare too much. Both squads were definitely mingling well, to my surprise. We’d seen each other enough times to start learning names and start getting familiar. I could see tentative friendships forming, and I was proud of my kids for being so welcoming. Honestly, it could have been a complete disaster, but my teens were classy. Maybe a little rough around the edges compared to the Bulldogs, but I was proud of them. Things would be different when we got to Orlando, and I think everyone was aware of that, but for right now, they were a bunch of teenagers getting excited about smoothies.
“Your face is going to freeze like that if you keep scowling,” Echo said, sidling up to me. I hadn’t been surprised by her, I seemed to be aware of her no matter where she was. I had Echolocation.
“That’s what Botox is for,” I said, drinking from my water bottle.
“Baby, you don’t need Botox.”
I gasped and stared at her.
“You—” I clenched my water bottle so hard my fingers ached. I couldn’t think of a witty comeback.
“Yes, what about me?” she asked, stepping closer. Her scent attacked me until I couldn’t smell the gym floor, or the sweat, or the mats. I could only smell something that was a mix of grapefruit and . . . sage maybe? I was thinking too much about the way Echo smelled.
When I’d first met her, she’d smelled like cotton candy—her perfume at the time. I’d probably been wearing something equally as juvenile in too large quantities. Now I wore men’s deodorant because I liked the scents better, and sometimes added a little cologne, but I hadn’t today.
“I don't know, what about you?” I snapped back at her.
She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “Easy, Kiri. You’d think I was getting under your skin.”
She was. She was under my skin. She was in my thoughts, and in the way my blood pulsed in my veins, and my heart pounded in my ears. Being so close to her was turning me inside out and I didn’t know how much longer I could take it.
I’d been waking up from dreams about her. About us together.
“I’m fine,” I said, and she laughed lightly.
“Just keep telling yourself that.”
“What is your problem?!” I said, turning to face her. The gym went completely silent and I realized that I had yelled it. Oops.
The blood instantly rushed to my face and I wanted to melt through the floor.
“Calm down, it’s nothing to get your panties in a twist over.” How did she make every single thing she said drip with innuendo and sexuality?
“Stop it,” I said, and I wanted to die right there.
“Fine, fine,” she said, walking away and leaving me to deal with the stares. What did I do? I ran to the bathroom like a coward.
I sat in the stall and tried to get myself together. Being in close proximity to Echo was just . . . I was losing it.
The door opened and someone walked in. I peered through a crack in the stall and almost told her to get the fuck out.
“Leave me alone,” I said, pulling back the curse word at the last second. It wouldn’t look good if one of the cheerleaders came in here and heard me cursing a blue streak. I couldn’t lose my job on top of everything else. Coaching fed my soul in a way that my other work didn’t.
“You okay in there?” She leaned against the sink and I wished for a sinkhole or a portal to open up and take her away. Take her away so she could stop driving me up a wall.
“It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Since those cheer camp days?” I decided it was ridiculous to sit in the stall and glare at her through the crack, so I stood up and yanked open the door so hard it slammed against the stall. She didn’t flinch.
“Why are you bringing this up?” I started to wash my hands for lack of anything better to do. Plus, I didn’t want her spreading a rumor that I didn’t wash after using the bathroom.
“Just thought that since we seem to have issues, we should go back to where we first met, talk it out, and then we can move on.” She crossed her arms and tilted her head back, her red hair falling almost to her waist. I remembered what that hair felt like when I ran my fingers through it. So soft and silky.
“Can’t we just pretend it didn’t happen? Seriously, I don’t want to have this thing between us. It’s fun for you, but it’s not fun for me.” I slammed the button on the hand dryer to drown out her response. She waited until my hands were as dry as they’d ever been in my entire life before she answered.
