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I waited what seemed like an eternity before Ellis finally responded.
ELLIS:Just tell him he’s hot and you want to bang him for science. I mean, you said he’s hot, right?
I didn’t have to look at Cade again to confirm this. My fingers moved over the screen.
TESSA:Very.
ELLIS:Hotter than me?
Not hotter. Just a different kind of hot. But I didn’t tell him that. In fact, I refused to respond.
ELLIS:Fine, don’t answer. But he’s definitely not as funny as me, right?
TESSA:Way funnier.
ELLIS:Taller?
TESSA:So much taller.
ELLIS:Tell me he’s not smarter? I couldn’t bear to hear he’s smarter than me.
Ellis had graduated UCLA with honors. The man was smart and knew it.
TESSA:He’s absolutely brilliant. Like, imagine Einstein with a man-bun.
ELLIS:Well, fuck.
I grinned at my screen. Ellis sounded jealous but I knew he was just joking. I checked back over my shoulder and saw Cade making his way into the studio, the woman gabbing away at his side as he nodded and smiled.
TESSA:Shit, he’s coming. Shut up.
ELLIS:Tessa, he can’t hear us texting.
I tossed my cell phone into my bag and hurried to my feet, pushing down as much fluff of my frizzy hair as I could. Glancing around at the women stretching around me, I attempted a little stretching of my own. This was my chance to impress Cade.
I bent at the hips and tried to reach for my toes. Feeling the back of my thighs rip apart as I stretched my fingers further down was uncomfortable. Lord, I couldn’t even touch my toes, how was I supposed to take a yoga class?
Checking from right to left at the other people stretching was a mistake. A big mistake.
The urge to bail always started the same way, a little itch to leave, annoying and pesky like a blackberry vine scratching my leg. But if I scratched it, even just a little bit, it grew into tendrils that twisted up my legs and squeezed tight my lungs. The only way to free myself was fresh air, far away from where the itch began.
This was a mistake. This was all a terrible mistake. I had to leave. I had to get out of there. Maybe if I asked nicely, Gym Membership Norse Viking God would give me my $15.50 back. I had to—
I felt a hand rest gently on my lower back. I froze.
It was Cade.
“Let your head hang heavy.” Cade said softly. “And breathe in to where my hand is.”
I wondered if he could feel how his touch made my heart rate spike faster than running the highest speed on the treadmill. I focused on his hand, how warm and soft and comforting the pressure of his palm was against my back, and breathed in.
“Good,” he whispered. “Now exhale slowly.”
In my mind, this single breath allowed me to fold over like a contortionist into a tiny box, but in reality my fingers stretched down maybe an inch.
“Great work, um...?”
“Tessa,” I said, standing up. I immediately felt blood rush from my head. I swayed as my vision blurred, and thought for sure I was going down like a sack of potatoes, but Cade’s hands on my elbows steadied me.
