him. “Ginny is Adam’s sister and Heath’s—” He catches himself in time, but my blood pressure still rises. Mav coughs. “Friend.”
“Thanks, guys.” I bypass the weirdness by stepping away and inviting Tom to follow me with a head tilt in the opposite direction.
Tom is a quiet guy who doesn’t say a lot as I show him around. We go by all the usual places on the tour, but I still can’t get a read on him until we get to the last stop.
“And this is the hype room.” I do my best Vanna White as he stares into the darkened room with wide eyes and an excited smile. Upbeat music already pumps into the space, and with the press of a button, the TVs come to life with the standard Welcome to Valley message splashed across the entire room.
Tom walks in, slowly giving it the appropriate amount of awe. “This is so dope.”
“Right?” I follow behind him and close us inside.
I cue up the hockey team video and scoot to the back to let him enjoy the five-minute segment in as much privacy as I can.
The hype room is still my favorite part of this job. I could sit in here all day. Even I feel like a badass after watching the videos and I did not inherit the athleticism my brother did.
I wait for the bits with Heath in them, having practically memorized when his face or an action clip appear.
Things have been great. While I don’t love keeping it from my brother, it’s been nice to spend time with Heath without the judgment or questions from anyone. I love my brother and I understand why he wants to protect me, but I don’t need it in this scenario, and I’m not willing to gamble that he’ll be cool with it. Heath and I are having fun. A lot of it. And yes, maybe my feelings have gone beyond that, but I refuse to get swept up in analyzing it. But as Heath’s face displays on the screen, flashing a cocky and disarming smile, my body melts.
Fine, I like him a lot. Who knew dating could be so much fun? I’ve never laughed so much or felt so wanted. And I don’t mean his obvious appreciation for my body. We spend a lot of time together and only half of that is naked. Seventy percent tops.
As it gets to the end sequencing, I step closer and get my tablet ready. It’s the last tour of the day, and there’s a whole different set of steps for shutting down for the night that I haven’t done before. Dakota’s shown me a few times and she texted me instructions earlier today as a backup.
This room is worth a very pretty penny to the university and I don’t want to break anything.
When it finally freezes on the end frame, Tom turns to me.
“Awesome, right?” I ask at his captivated grin. I’ve seen this look before. He’s totally sold. “Let me just shut everything down and some of the guys should be waiting at the desk outside to take you over to the arena.”
I tap the screen and begin to shut things down. I’m sweating a little with Tom staring at me while I try to juggle my phone and the tablet. “Sorry, it’s my first time closing it out for the night.”
“No problem.” He shoves his hands in his pockets, and I turn slightly and walk toward the door. It isn’t pitch dark in here, but it isn’t exactly a comfortable light level either. Dakota is much better at sequencing everything, so it happens seamlessly.
“Okay, I think I got it,” I say as I tap the final button. Except instead of opening the door it shuts off all the TVs and now we really are in the pitch black.
Shit. I forgot to open the door before shutting down.
No problem. I’ve got this. With trembling hands, I try to turn on the TVs, but they won’t come back on until the system’s reset. I search for another button hoping to find one labeled lights.
Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit.
“One second. I’m so sorry.” My breaths come in quick, short gulps as I text Dakota and then press buttons at random on the tablet hoping I get lucky. I’m sure there is a very simple solution, but I’m panicking. Oh my god.
“Are you okay?” Tom asks.
I think I nod, but it isn’t exactly believable because I cower against the wall retreating into myself.
One,