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She shook her head.
Relieved, I unmuted my phone and said to Stefon, “Have fun with Dillon. I’ll call you later.”
Seventeen
Xiomara
My heart must have been beatinga million times a minute. For a moment there, I had thought... I had thought Kiyana wanted to kiss me. Her glittering brown eyes had flicked to my lips, and then she’d met my gaze again. Just the look had been electrifying. I couldn’t imagine how her touch would feel.
But then Stefon had called, and I was still breathless.
She slipped her fingers through mine, leading me away from the gym and back to the parking lot. As soon as we exited the doors, she let her fingers fall from mine, and I tried not to be disappointed by the absence.
We got into her car, which smelled like her perfume and the takeout from earlier. Intoxicating. “Where to now?” I asked.
Wearing a wicked smile, she said, “It’s a surprise.”
I laughed. “Or is it payback?”
“Maybe both,” she replied with a wink.
I looked out the windows as she drove toward our unknown destination. “Can I ask you something—other than where we’re going?”
“Sure.”
“When are you planning on telling your parents?” I asked. I bit my lip, knowing this could very well be the question that ended it all, but I had to know. For me, hiding myself had been like living underneath a weighted blanket. At first it was comforting, but over time, it felt suffocating. Every word felt strained, every action measured. How she had managed such an act for so long... I could only imagine how exhausted she must have been.
She let out a humorless laugh. “Never? I don’t know how they’d take it, but my grandparents would disown me.”
A deep ache formed in my chest. I knew Abuela didn’t understand me, but at least she loved me. “That’s awful.”
She nodded. “But so is the alternative.” Her smile faltered, and then she said, “There it is.”
I raised my eyebrows as we approached Emerson Tumbling, a gymnastic gym that I’d only set foot in once at six years old, and that had been more than enough. “What are we doing here?”
“You showed me something you created. I thought I’d show you mine.”
Intrigued, I got out of her parked car and followed her through the empty parking lot toward the metal building. “Are we allowed to be here?”
She jangled her key ring. “It’s not breaking and entering if you have a key.”
That reminded me of something Lucy would say. As the second oldest, she had always broken more rules than she followed. Most of our parents’ gray hairs could definitely be attributed to her.
Kiyana slipped the key into the lock and turned it, letting us into the big, open space filled with mats and hanging bars and more things I had no idea how to name, much less describe. The whole place smelled faintly of sweat and disinfectant.
“This is where we practice most of our stunts for cheerleading,” Kiyana said, stepping farther inside. “But we just added a foam pit for the younger kids and an inflatable diving board.”
“That sounds more my speed,” I said. “The foam pit. Not the diving board. I’m pretty sure I’m the least coordinated person to ever set foot in here.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “My mom signed me up for gymnastic lessons when I was six, and I somehow managed to kick the instructor in the face while doing a somersault, and then I knocked all the other girls over like dominoes while we were stretching.”
“Stretching?” Kiyana said, giggling.
I gestured at my arms. “Weapons of mass destruction.”
She rewarded me with a full laugh that shook her stomach and squinted her eyes. It was beautiful, the way she laughed. At the edge of the mat, she kicked off her flip-flops, and I bent to untie my Chucks. With only my rainbow socks left, I followed her across the mat to a corner of the gym.
