my cheeks. “So, you’re in Coach Lloyd’s class?” He was covered in sweat, and the gym uniform was molded to him.
“Yeah, I wanted to talk to you, but you ran away,” he teased.
“I wasn’t running away!” This time, I didn’t laugh alone.
“I felt like a creep following you around the track.”
My cheeks stung from smiling so hard. “I think it would have been weirder if you watched me.”
His eyebrows rose. “Like those guys?”
My face fell when I followed the direction of his nod. What the hell?
Across the field, Ever had his arms braced on the bleacher railing. He was staring dead at me with Jamie wearing a shit-eating grin as he stood at his side. I didn’t know if it was just my body cooling down, but suddenly, the November air had a biting chill.
“They’re just my ride home. What did you want to talk about?”
“Right. Um…Would you like to grab a bite with me tonight?”
My eyes bulged. Was I actually being asked out on a date? I couldn’t keep from glancing across the field.
He’s engaged, you moron.
My handsome suitor, whose name I still didn’t know, rubbed his nape and said, “I’d understand if there was someone else.” I saw the truth in his eyes and couldn’t help feeling like a fool.
No more.
“What’s your name?” I was a little embarrassed to ask since we shared a class, and he probably knew mine.
“Michael.”
I stuck out my hand, which felt lame once I did it. “Michael, it’s a date.”
With a quiet chuckle, his hand enveloped mine.
“You can’t wear that dress without these earrings.”
“I’m not wearing those.”
“But they’ll go perfectly!”
“Put down the gold hoops, Tyra Bradley. It’s not going to happen.”
“Fine,” she grumbled and rummaged through her box full of costume jewelry. Rosalyn had my ears pierced when I was a kid, but I stopped wearing jewelry the day I started dressing myself. “How about a compromise?” She held up simple gold studs.
“No.”
“Honestly, Four!”
“Be grateful I put on the dress.” I didn’t even recognize the girl in the mirror. When I told Tyra about my date, she roped me into shopping and then bullied me into buying a light gray sweater dress and flat black boots that reached my calf. My hair fell in waves around my shoulders, and I’d let Tyra coat my lips in that sticky shit. When she came at me with a little brush covered in black gunk, I had to put my foot down.
“I guess we’re done here.” She looked me over and started squealing. “He’s going to eat his heart out!”
I smiled nervously while forcing myself not to undo all of her hard work. Knowing Tyra, she’d murder me and then cry over my dead body. “I don’t think he will since he’ll be on the date, too.”
That got me an eye roll. “I’m not talking about Michael.”
I didn’t have to ask who else she could mean. My stomach dipped at the thought of Ever seeing me like this. With my hair glossed and framing my face, and the short dress hugging my body, I looked like the kind of girl who belonged on his arm. “Ever isn’t the reason I agreed to this date.”
“Fine, but just tell me one thing.” I met her gaze and waited. “Does he know?”
By the time I jogged across the field after Michael and I exchanged numbers, Ever had disappeared, and the only explanation Jamie offered was that he caught a ride.
“It wouldn’t matter. He’s with Barbie, and I’m…exploring my options.”
“But are you sure it’s over between you two?”
“Hard to be over when we never started.” The doorbell rang, so I grabbed my phone and after a moment’s hesitation, the little purse a teary-eyed Rosalyn loaned me before heading out for her own date night. As much as I didn’t want to be seen with such a feminine thing, I could never deny her. I knew too well how much it hurt.
And if I ever had the courage, I would one day admit that against my will I truly loved Rosalyn.
As I stuffed my wallet, phone, Chapstick, and mace inside, I wondered if the purse was simply her sign of approval or a peace offering. It had been more than a week since she handed over my birth certificate, and since then, we’d gone back to living our separate lives.
“Thanks for looking after Jay D.”
“Yeah, sure,” Tyra absently replied.
I waved goodbye, but lost in her head, she didn’t wave back.
Not wanting to keep Michael waiting, I left her to her thoughts